OCI - New York Tracker

Seems like..

From some of the most recent posts it seems like anywhere between a week to 10 days.

I would say business days not just elapsed time. I am still waiting.
 
Notarizing didn't cost me a dime

I have an account with Citibank and all I had to do was walk down to my branch and ask for the papers to be notarized.

The Lady asked me to write "Seen Original - Certifying the copy is as per original & sign" and she notarized with her signature and notary signature.
It didn't cost me anything.

regarding picture I went o Kinkos and take the pictures against a grey wall. A fther that I just took a ruler and maked it in pencil cut out the extra sides of the picture and pasted it on the application. One picture per application.


So I would suggest, why not try your bank, it maybe free.
 
xkuger,
Thank you very much for your reply. Today I got pictures taken at CVS pharmacy. Six photos for $7.99 plus tax. Pictures were taken by digital camera instead of Polaroid, so background automatically came out to be blue. My photo problem is solved.

So looks like you pasted two photos total, one on each application and did not include any loose photos with the applications. Is that correct.

Problem with notarising the copies is that certain states allows notaries to certify the copies as true copies and certain states do not. I believe New Jersey and New york do not.

Did you get the copies notarized in New York state. If you got it notarized in NY state, then probably notary did you a favor or He/She did not know the rule.

Again thank you very much.
 
That is correct...

I notarized the copies in New York, I don't think she notiarized "AS TRUE COPY". She clearly started saying "SEEN ORIGINAL" I don't know what that means. Is it legal I don't know...

Its like, they say "DO NOT PHOTOCOPY THE GREEN CARD" but then its the very same department of state that want a photocopy of your green card front and back when you apply for naturalization..

No I did not send any additional photos, I read the instruction a number of time, I don't think they asked for any additional photos. Well if they want more they should have been more clear...
 
Xkuger,
Thank you very much for your reply. Your reply gas been of help to me.
One of the way out I see is this:
I certify the copy myself. I do something like this:
Compared with original - Certifying that copy is as per original. Then I
sign it. Then notary certifies my signature with stamp etc. Actually When Part B instructions from India prints then in instruction 7)-9 it says: The
documents enclosed with the application should be self attested.

You wrrote the following:
The Lady asked me to write "Seen Original - Certifying the copy is as per original & sign" and she notarized with her signature and notary signature.
So the question I want to ask you is this: What does & sign means. Does this means that you signed. If you signed it, then you certified copy as true copy yourself. Everything is fine then.
By the way notary I talked to is at a local Commerce bank. Ofcourse
another notary at the same bank may do things differently or give different
answer.

I think only 2 photos are needed. Instructions are definitely confusing. That
is why we have this forum. We can not expect any better from government
employees. Remember the phrase: "Good enough for government work"

Again Thank you very much.
 
I see your point of view..

Ok I see what the Notary did. Basically all she is saying is that she is certifying my signature and my statment. So its probabily an indirect way to notarize the document. I never thought of that loop hole.

I think you can speak to the Bank, if they scream about notarizing the document you can ask them if its Ok for you to sign and they notarize it, this seems like a viable option that will be accepted.
 
Got OCI and passport in mail from NY

Applied end of March.

Passports arrived today in mail from NY :)
 
Maybe NY is not that fast after all..

I applied on Jun 28th but still have not got at acknowledgment even so maybe NY is not that fast.

It also seems from desi111's post that it took him about 3 months... :mad:
 
Tips

No acknowledgment for us at any point. It took may be more than two months to see the database show a ref# and then the process was fast!
I didn't cancel my Indian passport
For those applying now, just used my digital camera to get passport picts to print passport size photos on Kodak machines- cut them to right size.

For kids tried thumb impression (but it was smudge)-my advice is it is of no use and they didn't add to the cards.
Interestingly, i recvd a call from NY saying they were ready to mail cards and passport but wanted to verify address. I called late next day and they said they had mailed to address in the passport.

Thanks to some folks on chatboard whose messages saved me a trip to NY city-otherwise i was going to personally go and get passports stamped.


FOR those waiting -good luck...I was in no hurry but surely it feels good to have the process behind...

India trip next...
 
OCI granted

Hi XKUGER,

I sent my OCI application on June 29 and got acknowledgement on July 06th.
On July 12th my application status changes to granted.

So you would get your application acknowledgement within 1 or 2 days :) .

Best of Luck.
 
OCI Granted for my kids in a week

I read all your posts prior to mailing our kids OCI applications. Thanks for all the great info you guys have provided here.

We couldnt find a place to get 35mm x 35mm pictures, so we got the regular passport size pictures and trimmed them.

Our daughters are 7mos old so we couldnt get a clear fingerprint. It was smudge. For anyone who is looking for a child safe, non-toxic, washable stamp pad to get infants finger prints, go to Joann-Fabrics or any place who carries scrapbook accessories.

Here are our timelines -

Mail send with entire Application : 6 JUL 06
Acknowledged on - 12 JUL 06
Photos Scanned on - 13 JUL 06
Granted on - 15 JUL 06
Printed on - 15 JUL 06
Dispatched to NY on - 17 JUL 06
Received OCI card to New York - NOT YET
 
Recvd. OCI (27 days start to finish)

Got my OCI card visa yesterday. It took 27 days.

Mail send with entire Application (AND old Indian passports): 14 Jun06
Acknowledged on - 21 JUN 06
Approved ON - 23 JUN 06
Printed on - 26 Jun 06
Dispatched to NY on - 27 Jun 06
Received OCI card to New York on - 5 Jul 06
Mailed passports - 6 Jul 06 Recd. by CGNY 10 Jul 06
Recd. old Indian passports - 13 Jul 06
Recd. OCI card, visa and passports - 16 Jul 06

Used regular passport photographs got from CVS Pharmacy - i.e nothing special.
Didnt notarize any passport/PIO card copy.
Requested CGNy to mail old Indian passports along with OCI card & US Passports upon approval, but recd. them separately in 2 Express Mail pkgs. Wasnt asked to pay extra.

After a few early missteps, they seem to be cranking these out very efficiently. If they can only fix the insecure website, then it'd be perfect (Asking too much huh? )

-sr
 
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Reply to Swami2000

Actually, my children had PIO cards. Me & my wife didnt. Perhaps the fact that we had renewed our Indian passports earlier from CGNY helped a bit. Dont know - just a guess.

-sr
 
thank you very much for your previous response. Did the OCI online Status gets updated every time there was change in your status at the same time? or Did you have to wait and all of a sudden everything changed ? I am sorry to bother you one more time. thanks again.
 
Re: to Swami2000

Actually I wasnt keeping track of the MHA website. After waiting for some 3 weeks, I checked one day, and the website said that they had returned back the OCI to CGNY on that very day (very coincidental) -so I mailed out my passports the next day. So, I'm not sure if they updated it one by one or it was all updated at once.

-sr
 
What happened to my application..

My application was send on June 28th. Today is July 20th and I don't have even an aknowledgment yet.

Looks like they just thew my application away, a lot of people applying after me seems to have got their acknowledgment.

I sent my passport for cancellation with it, no news of that too...
 
I think the status website gets updated only on fridays. You may want to check it out tomorrow afternoon. Again, this is just my assumption. thanks
 
Swami2100, your assumption may not be correct because I checked the OCI staus page everyday after I mailed out our applications. It got updated everyday/every time there was a change in status (like photos scanned, printed, etc....)
 
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