The increasing digitization of government services poses significant accessibility challenges for older adults, particularly on high-dependence platforms like India’s Passport Seva portal. While standards such as WCAG 2.0 provide technical benchmarks, they often neglect the nuanced usability needs of aging populations, such as reduced cognitive load, intuitive navigation, and adaptive interfaces. Prior research emphasizes compliance over practical usability, leaving gaps in addressing real-world barriers like cluttered layouts, inconsistent workflows, and sensory impairments. To bridge this gap, we present a user-centered redesign of the Passport Seva website, integrating simplified task-based navigation, multimodal input (voice commands, keyboard shortcuts), personalized accessibility settings (adjustable contrast, font scaling), and real-time feedback mechanisms. Our mixed-methods approach combined usability testing, heuristic evaluations, and surveys with 60 elderly participants (aged 50–85) to evaluate both the original and redesigned interfaces. Findings underscore the effectiveness of features like visual hierarchy improvements, step-by-step task guidance, ease navigation flow etc. This work challenges the adequacy of compliance-driven frameworks and advocates for inclusive design practices tailored to aging users’ sensory, motor, and cognitive needs. By prioritizing empathy and adaptability, our study provides actionable strategies for policymakers and designers to create equitable digital government services, fostering independence and reducing reliance on external support for older adults.