Use of handwritten passport for visitor visa?

[elvampiro]

Hello

My mum had her passport stolen while abroad a few years ago, and the Indian consulate had issued a temporary handwritten passport (not machine readable) for her to return to India. Upon return, instead of issuing her a machine readable passport, the passport office in India increased the validity of that handwritten passport for 10 years by putting a stamp on one of the pages that said "this passport has been extended till ....".

Can she use this passport to apply for UK visa and then travel?
Or could the visa/travel be denied because the passport is not machine readable?
I would have applied for a machine readable passport, but since we are very close to applying for a visitor visa, thought I would check with the experts here for previous experience?

[elvampiro]

Just wanted to add that the last time she travelled with the handwritten passport was in 2011

[CMOSUK]

Hi,

Took a bit of research, it would seem these are now invalid as of November 2015 as ICAO International civil aviation organisation which sets the passport standards that most countries have to comply.

It would seem that the Indian government since November 2015 won't accept them either.

These are 2 public media websites that explain in detail:

Hindustan Times

Emirates 24/7

It would also seem from this Pdf document from ICAO would confirm this. Click here

As far as I can remember, there where a number of countries & airlines a few years back that did not accept a passport if it was not machine readable, it caused quite the stir.

It would best of you applied for a new one as one of the requirements for a UK leave to remain of any category is to have a valid passport, since 24 November 2015, handwritten passports are considered invalid as they are non machine readable and are insecure, therefore are invalid even by the Indian government.

[elvampiro]

Thanks for your time and research, it has been very helpful.