India runs three passport police verification modes, not two: Pre, Post and No. Pre is the default for a fresh passport, and a message telling you the application has been “granted on Pre Police Verification basis” is good news, because “granted” is the word that matters in it. The mode decides when the police visit happens relative to your passport being issued, and it is set by the Passport Office, not chosen by you (Police Verification Mode Details, Passport Seva, accessed 2026-08-27).
This guide is maintained by Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered general insurer in India and part of the Zurich Insurance Group.
How Zurich Kotak fits in: The verification mode is set by the Passport Office and no insurer influences it, but Zurich Kotak covers the travel that follows it. Zurich Kotak’s Smart Travel policy covers emergency medical treatment abroad, medical evacuation, baggage loss or delay and loss of passport overseas, up to the limits of the plan you buy. Because it is bought per trip and issued online, it is arranged once the booklet is in hand and the departure date is certain, not while verification is still running.
Last verified: 2026-08-27.
The three modes
Passport Seva tabulates three modes, and the Acknowledgement Letter you were handed at the exit counter of the Passport Seva Kendra prints one of them in its Police Verification Mode field.
Mode | When verification happens | What it means for you |
Pre | Before the passport is issued | The booklet is not printed until a recommendatory police report reaches the Passport Office |
Post | After the passport has been issued | You receive the passport first, and the police visit follows |
No | No police verification is carried out | Nothing to wait for on the police side |
Passport Seva’s own wording is that “By default Police Verification Mode is set to ‘Pre’.” To get Post or No you have to belong to a specified category, or produce specified additional documents, or both. That single sentence resolves most of the worry this page exists to answer: Pre is the setting the system starts from, not a conclusion it has reached about you.
“Granted on Pre Police Verification basis”: what it actually means
It means your application has been approved, and it names the mode your file was processed under. Nothing in it is a warning. The Ministry publishes no glossary of Passport Seva status messages, so the wording below is as applicants report seeing it; the meaning comes from Passport Seva’s own published material.
“Your application with File No. [number] has been granted on Pre Police Verification basis. -PASSPORTSP”
That message carries two separate pieces of information, and people read the wrong one first. “Pre Police Verification basis” is the mode, meaning verification is carried out before the passport is issued. “Granted” is the Passport Office’s approval to issue your passport, and it is the part that should have your attention.
Under the Pre mode a file does not reach grant until a recommendatory police verification report has reached the Passport Office, and dispatch is expected within three working days of that report being received, not counting the day it arrives. So a grant message on a Pre-mode file means the police stage is behind you.
Your status tracker remains the record for your file. If it still shows the police report as under review, ask the Passport Office rather than assuming one message has overtaken the other.
The confusion is entirely in the word “Pre”. It is one of the most searched Passport Seva messages in India, and a large share of those searches ask what it means in Hindi, which tells you how unclear the phrasing is. It describes when verification happens. It is not a warning, a condition or a shortfall.
Who gets which mode
You do not choose your mode and no fee buys a different one. It follows from the category you fall into and the documents you produce.
Your situation | Usual mode | The condition |
Fresh passport, most applicants | Pre | In most cases of issue of a fresh passport, pre-police verification is required |
First-time applicant furnishing Aadhaar, Voter ID (EPIC), PAN and an affidavit in the Annexure-E format | Post | Subject to successful online validation of the Aadhaar number, and with no additional fee |
Re-issue, most cases | No or Post | Depending on the records already available in the Passport Office system |
Re-issue in lieu of a lost passport, or a complete change of name | Pre | The two named exceptions to the re-issue rule |
Government, PSU or statutory body employee, or a retired official, with an Identity Certificate (Annexure A) in original | No | Original Annexure A required |
The same, with a No Objection Certificate (Annexure G) | Post |
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The same, with a Prior Intimation letter (Annexure H) | Pre |
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Dependent family member of a government employee | No | Annexure A in original for the dependent |
Minor up to 18, where either or both parents hold a valid passport, the spouse’s name is endorsed and consent is given on Annexure D | Generally No | For a 5-year or limited-validity passport. Where neither parent holds a valid passport, the passport issues only after verification |
Child aged 15 to 18 opting for a full 10-year passport | Pre | The final decision rests with the Passport Office |
Tatkaal | Post | Police verification is not done before issue under Tatkaal |
Resident of Jammu and Kashmir | Pre | Verification at both the permanent and the present address |
Resident of Nagaland | Pre | Verification is done before issuance |
Senior citizens, chamber of commerce members, retired government officials outside the Annexure A route | No exemption | Passport Seva’s answer is that a passport cannot be issued without police verification in these cases |
What each mode means for your timeline
The police stage sits outside every published timeline, so your mode decides whether you are waiting on a clock the government commits to or on one it does not.
The Citizen’s Charter (July 2026) promises up to 30 working days for a fresh ordinary passport and up to 7 working days for a re-issue where verification is not required, and states in the same document that all timelines exclude the police verification period and run only from the date of receipt of complete documentation (Citizen’s Charter, Ministry of External Affairs, July 2026, accessed 2026-08-27).
Against that, Passport Seva’s published dispatch expectations by mode are, in one line each:
· Pre: dispatch within three working days of receipt of a recommendatory police verification report, not counting the day it is received. Everything before that is the police stage, and nothing published covers it.
· Post: dispatch on the third working day excluding the date of submission, without waiting for the report. The same applies under Tatkaal.
· No: dispatch on the third working day excluding the date of submission. The instruction booklet records a faster one-working-day figure where verification is not required at all, but Tatkaal is always a post-verification scheme, so that figure is not a Tatkaal commitment and we do not publish it as one.
For the specific question of how many days a passport takes once verification is complete, our dedicated guide answers it properly: how long a passport takes after police verification .
Why Tatkaal changes the mode
Tatkaal is a post-verification scheme. Police verification is not carried out before the passport is issued, and that is where most of the speed comes from.
The Citizen’s Charter allows up to three working days for a Tatkaal ordinary passport, subject to the applicant being eligible under the scheme. The verification itself still happens, just afterwards.
Two things worth knowing before you use it:
1. The Gazetted Officer verification certificate was abolished in 2019, by G.S.R. 939(E) dated 16 December 2019. Applicants over 18 submit any three documents from the List of Acceptable Documents, and under 18 any two. Several widely-read pages still present this as a recent change. It is not.
2. If you take a Tatkaal passport and leave India before verification completes, your report stays adverse, and no passport services are given until you return and complete it. That is a real trap and it usually surfaces years later, at a re-issue. It is covered in police verification delayed, negative or stuck .
The fees, eligibility and document rules are set out in full on our tatkal passport process guide.
Why pre-verification is not the bad outcome
Pre is the default. It is what the system applies unless a category or a document moves you, and it carries a genuine advantage that the faster route does not.
Under the Pre mode you are verified before you ever hold the passport. Nothing is hanging over the file afterwards, there is no visit still to come while you are travelling, and none of the post-verification traps can apply to you. Under Post you get the booklet sooner, and the verification remains outstanding.
Neither is better in every case. Post is faster to the passport, Pre is settled once it is done. Nobody is being punished by either.
How to find out which mode your file is on
Look at the Police Verification Mode field on the Acknowledgement Letter handed to you at the Passport Seva Kendra exit counter. Observed values include “Pre Verification”.
That same letter carries two other things worth noting. Your File Number is printed at the top right, and it is what the status tracker needs; our guide to the passport file number explains how it differs from the reference you received when you submitted the form online. Service Completed At Counter shows the last counter your file cleared inside the Kendra.
If you have applied online but not yet attended your appointment, you do not have a File Number yet, and there is nothing to track. The letter is issued at the appointment.
Common misunderstandings
Six things people believe about verification modes, and what is actually the case.
Belief | What is actually the case |
“Pre means my verification failed” | Pre is the default mode for a fresh passport, set before anybody looked at your file |
“Granted on pre police verification basis means it is still pending” | Granted is the approval to issue. The mode is separate information in the same sentence |
“There are two modes” | Passport Seva tabulates three: Pre, Post and No |
“I can pay to switch to post verification” | The mode follows your category and documents. The Aadhaar, EPIC, PAN and Annexure-E route carries no additional fee at all |
“Tatkaal skips police verification” | It moves it after issue. It still happens |
“Senior citizens are exempt” | They are not. Passport Seva says a passport cannot be issued without verification in those cases |
Where this sits in your passport journey
Your mode decides which of the next pages you actually need.
· If your verification is stalled, or the report came back adverse: police verification delayed, negative or stuck .
· Once the status reaches dispatch: passport dispatched, how long until it arrives .
· If you are choosing the faster route: tatkal passport process .
· For the wait after verification is done: how long a passport takes after police verification .
If you are planning a trip around a passport that has not arrived, book what you can change and leave the travel insurance until the booklet is in your hand. A policy covers the journey, not the application, and buying one against a departure date you are not yet certain of helps nobody.
Frequently asked questions
How many police verification modes are there for an Indian passport? Three: Pre, Post and No. Passport Seva’s Police Verification Mode Details page tabulates all three, and the Acknowledgement Letter prints one of them in its Police Verification Mode field. Pre is the default for a fresh passport.
What does “granted on Pre Police Verification basis” mean? It carries two pieces of information. Granted is the Passport Office’s approval to issue your passport. Pre Police Verification basis is the mode, meaning verification is carried out before the passport is issued. Under that mode a file does not reach grant until a recommendatory police report has reached the Passport Office, so the police stage is behind you.
Is pre police verification a bad sign? No. Passport Seva states that by default the mode is set to Pre, so it applies before anybody has looked at your file. Post or No modes require you to belong to a specified category or to produce specified additional documents.
Which is faster, pre or post police verification? Post is faster to the passport, because dispatch is expected on the third working day excluding the date of submission without waiting for the report. Under Pre, dispatch is expected within three working days of a recommendatory report reaching the Passport Office, and the police stage before that is not covered by any published timeline.
Does a Tatkaal passport need police verification? Yes, but afterwards. Tatkaal is a post-verification scheme, so verification is not done before the passport is issued. If you leave India before it completes, the report stays adverse and no passport services are given until you return and complete it.
Where can I see which police verification mode my application is on? On the Acknowledgement Letter handed to you at the Passport Seva Kendra exit counter, in the Police Verification Mode field. The same letter carries your File Number at the top right, which is what the status tracker needs.
