Minister of state for external affairs E. Ahamed on Monday announced that only those who have not cleared their Class X will be required to get an emigration clearance.
"It has also been decided that henceforth, passports will not have the page which asks for emigration clearance. Instead, the law would become applicable that all those who don't have a Class X qualification will have to get the emigration clearance," Ahmed said at a function to inaugurate the fourth passport office at Malappuram in Kerala.
According to current rules, all applicants who did not have the Class XII qualification had to take an emigration clearance before being allowed to go abroad.
Later, the minister said that in the first phase, e-passports would be given to diplomats and officials from 2007. It would be given to others too.
"We have also decided that there would be a regional passport office at all state headquarters. New passport offices would be opened at Shimla, Dehradun, Raipur and Amritsar this year,” the minister said.
