Wanted to share a stressful experience I just went through at the passport office, mostly because I know someone else is going to walk into the same trap and feel as hopeless as I did.

Applying Online

I applied for a fresh passport under the Non-ECR category. I lost my original physical 10th marksheet a while back, so I did exactly what the government recommends, I fetched and verified it digitally via DigiLocker during the online application. It cleared perfectly on the portal.

Signing Under Duress

On July 3rd, I went into PSK Amritsar for my appointment. The counter clerk completely refused to look at the DigiLocker verification and demanded the physical hard copy. I tried explaining that the original was lost and that the digital log is legally valid, but they just didn't listen.

I knew arguing right then and there wasn't going to change a thing, so I just accepted it as is to keep the application moving past the counter and signed the form under duress. The clerk forced a manual override on the system and handed me a receipt stamped "ECR Status: Yes." I walked out knowing I would have to fight this from the outside.

CPGRAMS Rejection

The moment I got home, I filed a grievance on CPGRAMS explaining the ground-level rejection. The very next day (July 4th), a local officer from RPO Amritsar called my phone. Instead of helping, they basically told me that what I was asking wasn't possible and that the backend status couldn't be changed.

Emailing Delhi

Refusing to accept that a digital policy doesn't matter on the ground, I bypassed the local office entirely. I drafted an email detailing the policy conflict and sent it directly to the central passport leadership desks in Delhi:

• Joint Secretary & Chief Passport Officer (CPO) (jscpo@mea.gov.in)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Passport Seva (ctopassportseva@mea.gov.in)
• MEA Public Grievance Cell (passport.pg@mea.gov.in)
• Section Officer for Passport Policy (sopsp1@mea.gov.in)

The Resolution

A day later, the phone rang again. This time it was the authorities confirming they had looked into the file.

I logged into the Passport Seva portal today, and the live database has officially been updated to "ECR Status: No" and the file is marked as "Granted." The central team overrode the local desk's mistake before the passport went to print, and it's finally moving to police verification. Though I am not sure if central team helped or not because they did not replied to my email. But seeing the RPO having a change of heart out of the blue makes me think that emailing the CPO and others helped.

If a local clerk tries to bully you into an ECR status or rejects your DigiLocker documents, don't give up when they say "it's not possible." The ground-level staff might not listen, but if you escalate past them to Delhi, the digital rules actually get followed.

I am 22M. I have a CIBIL of 774 and earning around 75k-100k a month as a self employed professional.

I already have a CC by another reputed bank and the limit is 62k. Which I feel is quite low and wanted to add another card so I might get a better limit. I always pay the bills on time and always make sure to not use more than 30% of the limit. I have been holding this card for 2 years now.

Then I found Uni CC and the limit they offered me was a whopping 20k.

This is way too low (and insulting tbh) than I expected. My expectations were around 50-80k something.

Do any of the veterans here know what might have caused this?