Embassy of India

Sao Tome, São Tomé and Príncipe

• Issue of fresh Passport

• Re-issue of Passport – Issuance of a new passport in lieu of an existing one on expiry of current passport, exhaustion of pages of current passport, change in personal particulars like change of address, addition of spouse name etc. of applicant. (An applicant may apply for a new passport in lieu of an expired/about to expire passport up to 3 years after and 1 year before the expiry of the Passport).

• Issue of new Passport in lieu of a lost/stolen/damaged Passport

• Issue of new passport to a minor child

• Issuance of Emergency Certificate

• Renewal of passport – In cases where a passport was originally issued for a short validity of one to five years - under certain emergency conditions on the part of the applicant and is now required to be extended to its full validity of ten years from the date of issue of the passport. (Renewal for extension of validity is a zero fee service and the application should be made in a separate Form).

General information for applicants:

A passport is issued under the Passports Act, 1967. It is an offence punishable with imprisonment or fine or both, to furnish false information or suppress information, which attracts penal and other action under relevant provisions of Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967. Passport is a very valuable document. Hence, all holders are required to take due care that it does not get damaged, mutilated or lost. Passports should not be sent out to any country by post/ courier.

Loss of passport should be immediately reported to the nearest Police Station and to the Passport Office or Indian Mission, if abroad. Passport holder shall be responsible for misuse of passport, due to non-intimation of loss, to the concerned Passport Office/Indian Mission. Passport is a government property and should be surrendered when demanded in writing by any Passport Issuing Authority.

Passport facilities could be denied on grounds of suppression of material information, submission of incorrect particulars, wilful damage/loss of passport or for unauthorized change/tampering. The Passport can be impounded or revoked for violation of one or more of the provisions of the Passport Act. Fines also can be imposed.

Merely submission of an application, however, does not constitute a claim for issue of a passport. It remains a request/requisition for a passport, which may be rejected due to deficiency in the supporting documents, not following the prescribed procedures or any other reason.

It is advisable to hold only machine readable passports.  Application can be made for issue of new passports where the current passport is handwritten. Issue of handwritten passports has been discontinued in line with orders of Government of India and in view of the requirements of ICAO to be implemented in 2012.

It is an offence to hold more than one valid passport at a time. Those Indian citizens acquiring citizenship/passport of another country should immediately surrender their Indian Passport to the nearest Indian Mission/Post.

Passport Application, Click here: https://passport.gov.in/nri 

Photo Specifications, Click here: https://ociservices.gov.in/Photo-Spec-FINAL.pdf 

HOW TO APPLY:-

Application to be filled online, using the website: https://passport.gov.in/nri  then select mission: Sao Tome-Democratic Republic of Sao Tome-Principe

• Take a printout of the duly filled online application containing the webfile number beginning with STPSP

• Fill in the remaining columns by hand

• Put signature/thumb impression in the specimen signature box, at the first page and put your signatures/thumb impressions along with date and place at the other pages in the relevant column(s).

Processing time :  

It is important to note that the passports are printed in India and total processing time is likely to take around 15 days, or more, in most cases. Accordingly, it is in the interest of the applicant to ensure that applications are submitted sufficiently in advance.

In cases of applicants whose Passports were previously issued from another passport issuing, such applicants may face longer processing time.

In cases of applicants requiring Police Verification, passport services cannot be extended till completion of verification. In that event you are required to submit a completed Personal Particulars form along with an explanation for non-completion of verification/police clearance. These forms are to be submitted in four copies along with photographs pasted on each of the form and can be submitted along with the application for reissue of passport. Processing time may extend to 30-45 days in such cases.

Old passport :

Original passport is returned for purposes of travel after application has been accepted. Original passports are to be brought at the time of collection of new passport for cancellation except the pages containing the visa. If the old passport was an additional booklet, the original passports need to be submitted for cancellation.

Passport Fee:-

Fees Structure for Passport and Miscellaneous Consular Services:
Note 1 – Additional fee of STN 50.00 (w.e.f. 01 April 2023) will be chargeable for all type of Consular Service applications (other than in death cases) towards ICWF fee. [The fees prescribed are valid until 31.03.2024 or until further notification.]

Note 2 - Passport fees are payable by bank deposit to the embassy account (Annexure 1). No payment by check or Bank Transfer is acceptable.  

The Passport fee and ICWF charges should be deposited in the following respective accounts of the Embassy:

• Name of Bank: BISTP

• Embassy of India, Account number: 71444 941 0001--- For Passport/Consular fee

• Embassy of India, ICWF Account number: 71444 941 0003 ---- ICWF Charges

Note: The Embassy does not accept Passport fees by Credit / Debit Cards or by personal cheques. No application will be accepted without the bank receipt of the payment of fee.

Fees Structure for Visa, OCI, PIO  and Miscellaneous Consular Services:

The Visa/OCI/PIO fee and ICWF charges should be deposited in the following respective accounts of the Embassy:

• Name of Bank: BISTP

• Embassy of India, Account number: 71444 941 0001--- For Passport/Consular fee

• Embassy of India, ICWF Account number: 71444 941 0003 ---- ICWF Charges

Note: The Embassy does not accept Passport fees by Credit / Debit Cards or by personal cheques. No application will be accepted without the bank receipt of the payment of fee. 

Note 1 -Additional fee of  STN 75.00 (w.e.f. 01 April 2023) will be chargeable for all type of Consular Service applications (other than in death cases) towards ICWF fee.  [The fees prescribed are valid until 31.03.2024 or until further notification.]