No, a registered rent agreement is not strictly required to apply for a passport, but there are important conditions about how rent agreements are accepted as address proof under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) guidelines.
Is a Rent Agreement Required for a Passport?
The passport rules list rent agreement as one of the acceptable proof of address documents. This means a rent agreement can be used for passport applications, but it must meet certain criteria;
Registered Rent Agreement: This is a rent agreement registered with the Sub-Registrar under Section 17 of the Registration Act. Historically, passport offices accepted only registered ones. Even though MEA rules now allow flexibility, registered agreements are widely accepted and preferred by Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) and police during verification.
Unregistered Rent Agreement: Recent MEA notifications say that an unregistered rent agreement can also be accepted as proof of address and authorities should not reject applications only because the rent agreement isn’t registered.
This change was introduced to reduce hardship for applicants who frequently move or have short-term rentals.
Many PSKs and police officers prefer a registered rent agreement during the police verification stage because it is easier for verification and correlates with other identity proofs.
Some officers may reject unregistered agreements and ask for additional proof such as Aadhaar, utility bills, bank statements, or a landlord’s NOC if the rent agreement isn’t registered though this is more of a practical administrative preference than a strict legal requirement.
I hope this helps!
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Is Registered Rent Agreement Required for Passport?
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2026-01-23T09:29:32+00:00 2026-01-23T09:29:34+00:00Comment
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