Regex for Indian Passport Number Validation

Indian passport numbers follow a simple, consistent structure, which makes them one of the easier government-issued ID formats to validate with regex. This guide gives you the pattern, a working JavaScript validator, and the edge cases worth handling in a real KYC or travel-booking form.

The Indian Passport Number Format

An Indian passport number is one uppercase letter followed by seven digits — for example A1234567 or M7654321. Unlike PAN or Aadhaar, there is no checksum digit embedded in the number, so validation is purely a format check.

Regex Pattern

const passportRegex = /^[A-Z][0-9]{7}$/;

function isValidIndianPassport(input) {
  return passportRegex.test(input.trim().toUpperCase());
}

isValidIndianPassport('A1234567');  // true
isValidIndianPassport('a1234567');  // true — normalized to uppercase first
isValidIndianPassport('AB123456');  // false — two letters instead of one
isValidIndianPassport('A123456');   // false — only 6 digits

Using It in a Form Validator

function PassportInput({ value, onChange }) {
  const normalized = value.trim().toUpperCase();
  const isValid = /^[A-Z][0-9]{7}$/.test(normalized);

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        value={value}
        onChange={(e) => onChange(e.target.value)}
        placeholder="A1234567"
        maxLength={8}
        style={{ borderColor: isValid ? '#16a34a' : '#dc2626' }}
      />
      {!isValid && value.length > 0 && (
        <span>Enter a valid passport number, e.g. A1234567</span>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}

Edge Cases and Practical Notes

• Always trim whitespace and convert to uppercase before validating — users often paste numbers with trailing spaces or type in lowercase
• Passport numbers alone don't include a checksum, so regex validation is purely structural — it cannot detect a mistyped but format-valid number
• Combine passport number validation with a date-of-issue and date-of-expiry check when building travel/KYC forms, since airlines and visa portals typically validate all three together
• Do not assume the pattern applies to other countries' passports — formats vary widely (e.g. UK passports are 9 digits, US passports can be 9 digits with no letters)
• Never attempt to "verify" a passport number's authenticity client-side — that requires an official government API/database lookup, not a regex check

Combining with Other Indian ID Validators

KYC forms in India often collect multiple ID types together. Here's how a passport check fits alongside PAN and Aadhaar validators:

const validators = {
  passport: /^[A-Z][0-9]{7}$/,
  pan: /^[A-Z]{5}[0-9]{4}[A-Z]$/,
  aadhaar: /^[2-9][0-9]{11}$/,
};

function validateIdField(type, value) {
  const pattern = validators[type];
  return pattern ? pattern.test(value.trim().toUpperCase()) : false;
}

Frequently Asked Questions