Indian Passport

Sharing my passport renewal experience with Atlanta Jurisdiction.

I wanted to have my passport as soon as possible for extension to be raised. So I opted for Tatkal renewal. After opting for that option, I was little weary on seeing few experiences of other people.Initially I had below doubts but eventually they got resolved.

1) US Residence proof : I used to get updates from few friends that best residence proof would be driving licence and because of COVID, Florida DMV was closed for quite a few time. I could not get my DL. Second best and quick option is to get State ID. Though I got few hiccups in getting State ID, due to COVID, I got it finally which resolved my first issue. Lease was another option I thought of, but I was not sure if 5/6 page of lease without any authorized signatory would be accepted or not.
2) No Change in Appearance Photo : I wanted my Passport asap and of course my appearance had not been changed much since last passport. Mostly if we have time, I read, It is better to choose change in appearance but it doesn't work for Tatkal passport. I had doubt whether photo need to be added with Glasses or without it. My 10 year old passport had it with glasses. Finally I chose to send photo with glasses(as it was in my last passport). Some people told me that you should send photo without glasses but CKGS change in appearance details clearly mentions that if you had glasses and now not wearing it, it is part of change in appearance. Also though bit costly, I got my photo from wallgreens and their software if really good. It takes care of all the criteria of photo that CKGS has.
3) Parent's name : In my old passport, my parent's name was added with Surname, Given Name format but when you fill details in current Passport form, It gets added in Given Name, Surname format. I was worried if that would be considered change in name or not. Fortunately it doesn't. So if anyone has such situation, you can be relieved.
4) Address : My old passport had my city name as 'SURAT" but currently online application form doesnt allow us to select 'SURAT'. It is either 'SURAT CITY' or 'SURAT RURAL'. Same thing may have happened to other cities as well. Just FYI, It is also not considered as change in address.
5) Police Verification : Finally after submission of all documents, on second day night, I got a mail for police verification. I told my parents to go to police for verification. But on the same day my passport got sent from consulate without further verification. It seems, that is default mail and it is better to get your police verification done, it will not stop our passport to be sent back to us. I got my passport on Friday itself and got police verification on Monday.

Advice :
1) Send only those documents that are part of check list. It may create confusion if there are more docs.
2) Send all docs in the order of check list you get. Use some U-Pins. Don't staple any docs.
3) Be ready with all extra docs, that you think will may get asked for and send them immediately.

The process of CKGS and Indian Consulate is really quick. The changes are little high like they also charge us for SMS and Mail updates. 5$ for 4-5 SMS and Mail is really too much. Of course we don't have much options there.