International Driving Permit Name Mismatch in Uttarakhand: Licence and Passport

From published guides to the permit. We did not read the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, and guides differ on some points. Your transport office has the present requirements.

One guide adds that the licence details fill in by themselves on the online application, from the licence database. If so, the name on the permit is whatever the licence record holds.

The first is the usual one. A licence taken at eighteen in a short name sits in a wallet for twenty years, and nobody compares it with anything until it has to cross a border.

Step 1: Lay your driving licence beside your passport

Read the name on each, letter by letter, and the date of birth.

Step 2: Note how the passport divides your name

Given name in one box, surname in another. A licence has one line.

Step 3: If the two differ, correct the licence first

At the transport office, on the passport or another identity paper. The permit is made from the licence.

Step 4: See that the licence is valid well beyond your trip

The permit lasts a year, or until the licence expires if that is sooner.

Step 5: Apply for the permit, online or at the transport office for where you live

On the application form the rules prescribe, with passport and visa details as asked.

Step 6: Type the passport number and its dates from the passport

Not from memory, and not from an old booking.

Step 7: Read the permit before you leave the counter, or as soon as you download it

Name, date of birth, licence number and the classes of vehicle.

Step 8: Carry the permit, the original licence and the passport together abroad

The permit is read with the other two, and is of no use alone.

• A passport sets out a name in two boxes: surname, and given name.
• A driving licence gives the name on one line.
• "Negi Suresh Kumar" on a licence and given name "Suresh Kumar", surname "Negi", on a passport are the same name in a different order.
• An official abroad may not see that at once.
• Where you can, have the licence carry the name in the order given name first, surname last, with every word the passport has.
• A passport with a single name and a blank surname box is a difficulty of its own. Settle the passport first.

Read name change in passport, on the two boxes, and adding a surname to a single name.

• A car rental desk asks for the passport, the licence and the permit, and reads the name across all three.
• So may a police officer at a roadside check, and an insurer after an accident.
• A difference gives each of them a reason to refuse: the car, the cover or the claim.
• The office that could correct the paper is then in another country.
• Each country decides for itself what it accepts from a foreign driver, and for how long. A permit is not accepted everywhere.
• Check the rule for the country you are visiting, on its own official site, before you rely on the permit.

Read visa application name mismatch and flight ticket name mismatch.

Step 1: Confirm that your own name has in fact changed

A licence that spells your name differently from your passport is corrected at the transport office.

Step 2: Allow for the time

A Gazette, a passport re-issue and a licence change cannot be fitted into the weeks before a trip.

Step 3: Fix the exact new name

As it will stand in the passport's two boxes and on the licence.

Step 4: Make the affidavit and publish the newspaper notice

Sign before a notary. Publish in a daily local leading newspaper, and keep the original newspaper.

Step 5: Type the form and sign the undertaking

Two typed copies of the specimen, signed in your old name with two witnesses, and the undertaking.

Step 6: Prepare the CD, photographs and certificate

The same text on a CD in MS Word, two self-attested photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.

Step 7: Pay the charge on BharatKosh

Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. It is not refunded.

Step 8: Send the file yourself, then update in order

Send it to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Then Aadhaar, the passport, the licence, and last the permit.

See gazette name change in Uttarakhand.

A typical case we handle: a young man from Dehradun, leaving to study abroad, took a permit a week before his flight. His licence read "R S Bisht". His passport read "Rohit Singh Bisht". His father asked us afterwards if a Gazette would join the two. It would not, and none was needed. Nothing about his name had changed. He should have had the licence corrected to the full name on his passport before applying. He did so on his first visit home, and took a fresh permit. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.

When you do not need us

For initials, a spelling, a married surname and a slip in the application. The transport office settles those. We are useful only where your own name has changed by choice and a Gazette notification is needed.

Which documents are needed for an International Driving Permit?

A valid Indian licence, the passport and a visa, as guides say.

Should the name on the permit match the passport?

Yes. They are read together abroad.

Where does the permit take the name from?

From the Indian driving licence.

How long is an International Driving Permit valid?

One year, or until the licence expires.

Is a gazette needed for an International Driving Permit name mismatch?

No.

Is the permit a licence by itself?

No. It is carried with the Indian licence.

Can an International Driving Permit be renewed abroad?

Yes, since 15 February 2021. An Indian mission in a country that signed the 1949 Geneva Convention verifies the papers and gives a receipt, the holder applies for a fresh permit on the Parivahan portal with that receipt, and the licensing authority couriers the new permit.

Which papers does the embassy ask for to re-issue a permit?

Indian missions list a valid Indian driving licence, a valid passport and the expired permit, and some also ask for a photograph and a copy of the visa. The names on all of them are read together, so the licence should already match the passport.

Why does every Indian permit now look the same?

The transport ministry's notification of 26 August 2022 standardised the format, size and colour of the permit across India, in line with the Geneva Convention, because state formats had differed and caused trouble abroad.

What is the QR code on the permit for?

The 2022 notification provides a QR code that links the permit to the driving licence. That link is another reason to correct the licence first: the permit is checked against it.

In which script is the name written on the permit?

Reports of the rules say entries on the permit are made in Latin characters, that is, in English. Make sure the English spelling on your licence is the one in your passport.

Which countries recognise an Indian permit?

India issues it under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, for acceptance on a reciprocal basis by other parties. Check each country's own rule before you drive there.