The Regional Passport Office (RPO) Kolkata announced on 3 January 2026 that it will conduct six special ‘passport adalats’—quasi-judicial sittings designed to fast-track stuck files—on 6, 8, 13, 15, 20 and 29 January. Each session will process up to 800 long-pending cases, with applicants booked into five half-day slots to prevent overcrowding. Walk-in services and phone enquiries will be suspended on adalat days so officials can focus exclusively on backlog clearance.
RPO data show eastern India’s passport demand jumped 28 % in FY 2025-26, fuelled by easing international travel norms and a surge in student-visa applications to Australia and the U.K. System upgrades under Passport Seva Programme 2.0 have reduced average issuance time to nine working days, but legacy files awaiting police verification or document correction continue to clog the pipeline.
Applicants selected for the adalats will receive SMS notifications with a specific time window; missing the slot will push the file back into the general queue. The RPO has asked candidates to carry original supporting documents—even if already uploaded online—to allow on-the-spot approval.
![Kolkata Passport Office to hold six January ‘adalats’ to clear 25 000-application backlog]()
If, after attending an adalat, travellers still need help navigating destination-country paperwork, VisaHQ can step in with professional visa and passport services—covering everything from digital application prep to courier logistics—see https://www.visahq.com/india/ for details.
For global-mobility teams relocating staff overseas, the adalats offer a chance to accelerate pending dependent passports and hence visa submissions. Employers should coordinate with employees to confirm appointment details and arrange paid time off, as no rescheduling is permitted.
Passport consultants predict that more offices may adopt monthly adalats as India ramps up issuance of chip-embedded e-passports. Companies planning mass rotations later in 2026 should thus monitor local RPO calendars and encourage employees to apply early to avoid peak-season crunches.
RPO data show eastern India’s passport demand jumped 28 % in FY 2025-26, fuelled by easing international travel norms and a surge in student-visa applications to Australia and the U.K. System upgrades under Passport Seva Programme 2.0 have reduced average issuance time to nine working days, but legacy files awaiting police verification or document correction continue to clog the pipeline.
Applicants selected for the adalats will receive SMS notifications with a specific time window; missing the slot will push the file back into the general queue. The RPO has asked candidates to carry original supporting documents—even if already uploaded online—to allow on-the-spot approval.
If, after attending an adalat, travellers still need help navigating destination-country paperwork, VisaHQ can step in with professional visa and passport services—covering everything from digital application prep to courier logistics—see https://www.visahq.com/india/ for details.
For global-mobility teams relocating staff overseas, the adalats offer a chance to accelerate pending dependent passports and hence visa submissions. Employers should coordinate with employees to confirm appointment details and arrange paid time off, as no rescheduling is permitted.
Passport consultants predict that more offices may adopt monthly adalats as India ramps up issuance of chip-embedded e-passports. Companies planning mass rotations later in 2026 should thus monitor local RPO calendars and encourage employees to apply early to avoid peak-season crunches.
