Hello,
I want to share my experience with you all. Hope it is of some benefit to you.
I and my husband had been to Indian Consulate of Chicago for applying of second stage of Police clearance certificate. (See Indian consulate of Chicago website for more details on what is the second stage of PCC).
There was a long queue and after taking our tokens we were served after 2 hrs of waiting at 12:15 pm when they collected our 2nd stage PCC applications and original passports. We were then asked to come between 4 pm to 5 pm the same day for passport collection and PCC certificate collection.
At 4 pm when we went for collection there was not a long queue and we immediately received our original passports and PCC certificates.
Now here is the twist, I have a problem with my passport - its lamination on first page was coming out. It was a problem for me when I was getting my H4 visa stamped back in India. The US consulate was reluctant to stamp on it saying it was damaged. But after much persuasion by my husband since our tickets were already booked and we were newly married, they understood and stamped our passport after 2 days of delay.
So I thought about inquiring the duplicate passport at Indian Consulate in Chicago, now since I was already in USA. But again another constraint is since I am on H4 I cant get SSN -> hence cant get driver license ID. ( I know Illinois issues temporary driver license for such people, but beware it cant be used as an Identity card). So my only identification doc was my damaged passport. Application of duplicate passport requires submission of original passport and takes about 30-45 days. That would have meant to identity document for all these days!!!!
When I showed my damaged passport to him after collection of PCC narrating my story and problem, he asked me to wait for 5 mins!
After some time he called my name and gave me my damaged passport back! What a surprise - he had re-laminated my passport!
My problem got solved! Officers back in India were hell-bent to ask me to re-issue a duplicate passport and here at this consulate I was relieved of all tensions in 5 mins - at no extra cost!
So guys moral of the story - if you have small issues with your passport, like damaged lamination etc you can check at the consulate to fix it - they have a standard machine for passports. Do no try to do it on your own. It may damage it more and then you may end up compulsorily re-issuing a duplicate passport!
Pallavi
I want to share my experience with you all. Hope it is of some benefit to you.
I and my husband had been to Indian Consulate of Chicago for applying of second stage of Police clearance certificate. (See Indian consulate of Chicago website for more details on what is the second stage of PCC).
There was a long queue and after taking our tokens we were served after 2 hrs of waiting at 12:15 pm when they collected our 2nd stage PCC applications and original passports. We were then asked to come between 4 pm to 5 pm the same day for passport collection and PCC certificate collection.
At 4 pm when we went for collection there was not a long queue and we immediately received our original passports and PCC certificates.
Now here is the twist, I have a problem with my passport - its lamination on first page was coming out. It was a problem for me when I was getting my H4 visa stamped back in India. The US consulate was reluctant to stamp on it saying it was damaged. But after much persuasion by my husband since our tickets were already booked and we were newly married, they understood and stamped our passport after 2 days of delay.
So I thought about inquiring the duplicate passport at Indian Consulate in Chicago, now since I was already in USA. But again another constraint is since I am on H4 I cant get SSN -> hence cant get driver license ID. ( I know Illinois issues temporary driver license for such people, but beware it cant be used as an Identity card). So my only identification doc was my damaged passport. Application of duplicate passport requires submission of original passport and takes about 30-45 days. That would have meant to identity document for all these days!!!!
When I showed my damaged passport to him after collection of PCC narrating my story and problem, he asked me to wait for 5 mins!
After some time he called my name and gave me my damaged passport back! What a surprise - he had re-laminated my passport!
My problem got solved! Officers back in India were hell-bent to ask me to re-issue a duplicate passport and here at this consulate I was relieved of all tensions in 5 mins - at no extra cost!
So guys moral of the story - if you have small issues with your passport, like damaged lamination etc you can check at the consulate to fix it - they have a standard machine for passports. Do no try to do it on your own. It may damage it more and then you may end up compulsorily re-issuing a duplicate passport!
Pallavi
