Some of you have been enquiring about why it takes such a long time to obtain a PAP, so we would like to take this opportunity to explain the rather complicated process required to issue a PAP:
After you submit your PAP application and supporting documents to the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Delhi, they make three photocopies of all of your documents and personally hand deliver them to the Indian Government’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Delhi (who do not accept PAP applications by email). Your application is then sent to the Indian Governement’s Central Security Department, then the State Security Department, and then to the local Indian government authorities in each Tibetan Settlement you wish to visit. Once the local authorities in each settlement have given their approval for your visit, your application must pass back through the State Security Department to the Central Security Department to the MHA who actually issues the PAP. Because the MHA can only send PAP’s by post to Indian addresses (not by email or by international post), the Bureau collects your issued PAP and sends it to you by email. This means that your application passes twice through at least 5 to 8+ different Indian offices (depending on how many settlements you apply for permission to visit), which requires a great deal of time and which also leaves many opportunities for mistakes to occur (lost applications, for example).
Though they are not required to do so, the Bureau of His Holiness has very kindly volunteered their time and financial support to help facilitate the PAP application process for the foreign attendees of His Holiness’ teachings. The Jangchup Lamrim Teaching Organisers would like to express our deep gratitude to Representative Mr. Tempa Tsering and the PAP Division Staff at the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India, for all of their extremely hard work in assisting thousands of foreign attendees to obtain PAPs for the 2012 – 2015 Jangchup Lamrim Teachings.