Chennai CP Experience

K

kumar461

Registered Users (C)
Hello All, I got my CP done today (11/18/2004) at Chennai.

I had to go through lot of bad experiences with the Hotels in Chennai which are useless to discuss here:)

If you are looking for Budget Hotels go to either "Palm Grove"(1595/night) or the Hotel next to Chola Sheraton which is comparable to Palm Grove with less expensive(995/night).

If you are willing to spend around 2500+/night then try to go for Residency hotel or another hotel opp to Residency. They are really good and you need to reserve in Advance.

Try to reach Chennai three days before the Interview date which will give you some breathing time to relax.

I found Dr Vijaya Laxmi to be one of the good doctors. She looked at my previous vaccinations which were administered to me 71/2 years back when I first came to US and she waived all the vaccinations to me which is really good.
My sincere advice to folks here is not go to Embassy before your Interview date and talk to other immigrants experiences while in Chennai bcos it will create unncessary tensions and trust you will not be relaxed. Anyways thats individual preference!!

Try to put ur documents in the order specified in P4(original followed by a photo copy,if you place sticky tags thats even better). Trust me the document collecter will be very happy to see that :)

My Experience:

I went to the Embassy at 9:45 (my interview is at 10) and went directly to the counters and was let inside.

After 30 minutes, I was called by Indian guy to collect the documents. He was impressed at looking my order of docs(exactly as in P4). He returned all the originals to me.

After another 30 min I was called by an American.

me and my wife:Good Morning Sir, How are you doing?
Officer:I am doing good. How about you Sir?
Me: Doing good.
Officer:How long have you been working in US Sir
Me:I am working for the past 71/2 years in US.
Officer:Oh..OK. What is the current title?
Me:Systems Analyst
Officer to My Wife: How long have you been married mam?
My Wife:nearly five years.
Officer:Good. So you are stuck with this guy now.Laughs.....(we laughed with him).
Oficer took fingure prints and asked us to wait.
After a minute he called us and said you are through and you can expect ur visas in two days.

We said thanks and left the consulate.

Interview was a breeze. I suggest everyone to go with it if you have all the documentation. Let me know if I can answer any questions. Thanks to everyone in this forum for their valueble suggestions directly/indirectly and special thanks to Raju595, Alren and most Importantly RAJIV KANNA.


Kumar
 
Kumar,

Congratulations on your success. For those interested, my co-brother who
attended on 11/16 also got the IV.
Raju
 
alren said:
Congrats Kumar ..

I've been meaning to ask Raju, what's a co-brother?
Click to expand...


Indians, particularly those from the south, use the terms "co- brother" and "co son-in-law" to refer to one's wife's sister's husband. Native speakers of English however do not use these terms. Co-brother and co-son in law are terms used in Indian English alone. If you were to introduce someone as your "co- brother" to a native speaker of English, he/she would not understand you.

I used the term in reference to my wife's sister's husband. For native speakers of English it would usually be 'Brother-in-law'.

Hope this clarifies!

Raju
 
Ok! Makes sense. I read a few times and was not sure, I was speculating cousin brother ...

Cheers!
 
alren:

boss you have forgotten desi english after getting GC....not to know what c-brother means...just pulling your leg - don't take it seriously coz even i was thinking the same.
 
another happy CP applicant

Congrats kumar!

I got done with my CP on Nov 16th (medicals on 9th).
Everything went smooth. My interview time was given as 8:00am. It was like a market place outside the consulate with people pushing and shoving and jumping the queue. And one poor security guy trying to handle the crowd at the entry gate. Anyways got in around 8:15 - was directed to another building - waited 20 min - an indian genlteman at one of the windows called my name - he was very polite and efficient - collected originals (DS230 -II, PC, employers letter) and copies of appt letter, BC, tax transcripts, and most recent bank statement and pay slip, and one photograph (i had mine taken in US). After collecting docs he asked me to wait till i was called for the interview. About 15 min later another window opened and i was the first to be called. The interviewing officer was a very pleasant elderly gentleman - he seemed almost very happy to see me (made me feel more at ease) - he indulged in a little chit chat (how are you, where are you working, how do you like it there, how is the winter, etc) and then said he has approved my application. He said it would be 20-30 min before my info would show up in their system and said he would call me back again. About 10-15 min later he calls me and said I was all done and I should be receiving my passport in 2-3 days. By 9:20 i was out of the consulate gate and on my way back to the hotel.
In all the interview was a very pleasant experience. Two days later, received my passport along with 3 large heavy envelops (to submit at POE) by courrier.
Celebrated and finally feel relaxed. So now i am all set for POE.

A few additional info - for hotels i would recommend Hotel Mari's next to Chola Sheraton - relatively clean, pleasant and reasonably priced (Rs 750 or so for a non A/C double room) - even their restaurant serves pretty good food. Had stayed at Palm grove during my medicals - did not like it at all.
For medicals, events at Lister were pretty straight forward. Went to Dr. Vijayalakshmi at 5:30pm, after Lister. She was pleasant - very quiet, she carefully filled out the forms - I only needed to take MMR which brought up my bill to Rs 750 (only Rs 150 for the vaccination). I had had chicken pox while i was young, so she did not ask me to take any additional shots. She arranged to have one of the attendants get a xerox copy of my report so I didnt have to bother with it.

Will be happy to give more details if anyone wants.

-lamhe
 
congrats lamhe

I would certainly recommend Hotel Maris for many of you who are not aware of it, very reasonable and good clean hotel with decent food.
Had used it for years when i was in india, keeps up its good reputation.

/S
 
Our Records for Medical vaccinations etc

Do we need to have our vaccination records ? Since I have spent most of my time in India, I do not have vaccination records.
 
I dont have mine either and i beleive my wife doesnt have hers either
what is the procedure if we dont have our vaccination records. ?

/S
 
My CP Experience at Chennai

Hi,

CP process was relatively smooth but for some tense moments at the consulate.

Medicals were usual stuff - Lister and Dr. Vijayalakshmi. Got MMR vaccine which was only Rs. 150.

Appointment was at 9:00 AM and was at the gate by 8:30 AM. There was a long line and the guard has asked us to get in that line :-( .

Also we were carrying bags and cell phone :-(. Consulate does not allow these items into the premises. Rushed back to the hotel to drop everything that is not needed (stayed at Grand Orient - ok hotel. Little expensive but serves complimentary breakfast). Back at the consulate by 8:45 AM.

Still a long line. Got into the line but something reminded me from this forum that I was in the wrong line. There are actually two lines - one for the immigration visa line (shorter one) and another for non-immigration line. I went back to the same guard and showed the yellow paper this time and he asked me to get into the shorter line (big relief).

Been through the security screening (the guy was little impatient with the search - dropped my files twice while searching). But finally through the security and was directed to the main building. The doors were so heavy was trying gently to open them but could not :). Finally in the main building through the security again.

A lady in the lobby asked us whether immigrant or non-imigrant and asked us to wait. In five minutes she directed us to the counter 13 where the lady patiently collected all the documents. Original documents submitted - DS-230, Job Verification letter, PCC and Affidavits for my family. Rest were copies.

Asked us to wait. Since there were no vacant chairs in the immigration section went to the non-immigration section to wait. And was waiting .... Waiting continued. Enquired with the lady and she informed us that, they will call us by name and so waited. The wait was the longest. Since i was sitting in the non-immigration section, there were many rejections on that day and that did not help my already tense mental state ???

So decided to move to the immigration section where the atmosphere was little friendly and cordial !! That improved my perception. On that day there were many nurses. Most of them were called once and were asked to wait for half an hour. We were never called even once and the time was 11:30 AM already. We were little nervous :-(.

Finally our names were called at 11:35 and we were at the counter 10. The officer was friendly and jovial. Had little conversation about the job and asked us about the W2 and Tax returns (originals). While talking to us he stamped something on our old visas (not sure what it was - have not received the passports yet). He breezed through the documents sent by NVC and asked me to get the DD for the courier (Forgot to carry one for Blue Dart). Was back to the embassy with the DD by 12:20. Took the DD and said everything is done and shall receive my Passports shortly.

Got my passports in two days via the courier. Had fun in India and finally entered US through Detroit on Dec 29th. The POE official was cool and took my finger prints. Stamped my immigration visa for One year (initially they were valid for only 6 months) and told us that the visa is equivalent to green card till one arrives by mail. He also informed us that it will take anywhere between 6-9 months to receive the GC card. Hope it does not take that long.

Overall it was good experience with the CP. Highly recommended for everyone. No issues and no delays. Everything went by schedule :).

All the best for new CP'rs.

Sam
 
Last edited by a moderator:
List of documents

Sam
could you provide the list of documents asked to you by the indian lady/gentleman first

and subsequent documents asked by the consular later.
You had mentioned about W2 originals asked by consular was it to verify your photo copies ?

/S
 
Congrats Sam! If you can post the questions and the complete list of documents it will be helpful to the forum readers.

Have a Great Vacation!
 
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