India Dual Citizenship Mega Thread (Merged)

The India Dual Citizenship will be Operational:

  • In 2003

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • In 2004

    Votes: 11 55.0%

  • Sometime after 2004

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • I am skeptical if this will happen

    Votes: 1 5.0%
  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
ASGK said:
Did you have a PIO card before applying for OCI????? Does anyone here know if having a PIO card before applying for OCI accelerates the OCI card approval???

Thanks,
Click to expand...


Our Status also changed from "Under Process" to "Granted" today. We did not have PIO card. There was small problem with my middle name. They mispelled (added one extra letter) my middle name. When contacted by email, I got a reply that it can not be corrected and middle name does not have much significance.

Mangal and anybody, what is your take on this? Should I insist on getting it corrected or just let it go. Please advice. Also anybody who have gone through this (correcting information after you receive OCI) please let me know the proper procedure for it.

Thanks and Regards,

Dilip Jaju
 
dilipjaju said:
Our Status also changed from "Under Process" to "Granted" today. We did not have PIO card. There was small problem with my middle name. They mispelled (added one extra letter) my middle name. When contacted by email, I got a reply that it can not be corrected and middle name does not have much significance.

Mangal and anybody, what is your take on this? Should I insist on getting it corrected or just let it go. Please advice. Also anybody who have gone through this (correcting information after you receive OCI) please let me know the proper procedure for it.

Thanks and Regards,

Dilip Jaju
Click to expand...

It's safer to get it corrected.Who did you talk to -the MEA or the consulate ?
Here is what i suggest you do-Let the OCI card and visa come it probably must already be printed.When it comes go to pick it up personally and let he consular officer enter an "observation" about the error on the OCI card.But admittedly no one is really going to notice it.
 
mangal969 said:
It's safer to get it corrected.Who did you talk to -the MEA or the consulate ?
Here is what i suggest you do-Let the OCI card and visa come it probably must already be printed.When it comes go to pick it up personally and let he consular officer enter an "observation" about the error on the OCI card.But admittedly no one is really going to notice it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for quick reply. I sent an email to CGISF. I did not get a chance to talk to anyone either MEA or consulate. I will try to get it corrected OR I can carry copy of an email from CGISF stating the facts.

Regards,

Dilip Jaju
 
Sent Photos for OCI for the third time

I called CGI-Houston to ask them to upload the photos properly. The person started arguing with me that it is not their scanner problem. He said daily they scan about 70 photos and therefore it is not the scanner problem. He asked me to send the photos again, this time photos taken from a different store. I tried to tell him that the photos requested were non-standard: 35mmx35mm. Not many stores have that kind of ultra-stupid sizes. He was not willing to listen saying that they cannot do anything about that because those are the rules.

Anyway, I sent the photos again by overnight FEDEX. Yesterday I called this person at DCG office as he said he will personally take care of it. Though it was clearly made attention to DCG's office, the ultra-urgent FEDEX envelope never reached this office, it is probably languishing in the mail room. This person said he will go and check it. I doubt he will even take trouble to get that FEDEX envelope.

At this point, I am at peace with my situation with OCI and sincerely feeling pity for those billion people back in India who are stuck and have had to deal with these kind of people in Indian govt offices day in and day out. God save them from the clutches of these utterly inefficient and lazy people at govt offices. I agree some are good but the majority of these others bring the bad name to govt offices.
 
Sent a long letter to MOIA

Sent a long letter to MOIA describing how the people are being treated at the consulates. How are working for every Indian cause and in return we are not being treated right etc

I just got a one sentence crisp reply with no return address: "kindly contact cgi-houston"

Duh!!! I dont get any responses from them, that's why I am writing to you.

I started feeling this ministry of overseas affairs set up to take care of the needs of NRIs etc is a joke.
 
WHat after online status shows granted for oci

Hi,
I applied for OCI in 1st week of Feb in NY and status shows granted on March 16th, but what shall I do after that?
 
I have removed the links to other forums from the thread. I feel atleast regisration related info should be there.
 
mangal969 said:
I just heard of this "case" of a friend and his brother who applied at CGINY together.Even though they had seperate application forms they sent a common Money Order to save on Bank Charges.The they got a call from CGINY saying that this will not do.So they requested him to tear the draft up and sent them 2 new MO's.They got their respective letters requesting them to send their passports for U visa stamping.They sent their passports and then 3 weeks ago they got a call from CGINY stating that the MO they gave bounced ! On furthur inquiry they found out that CGINY in all it's wisdom sent the common MO for encashing and left the two individual dafts in the file ! When they pointed this out to the person who called,she said she'll present the MO's for clearing and as soon as the MO's clear send their passports and U visas back.But in 3 weeks CGINY hasnt presented the checks and these people are in limbo with CGINY holding their passports.
CGINY has also disabled their published OCI cell Phone and fax nos,they never replied to e-mails and there is no reply to faxes sent to the central fax no.

I too am yet to get my passport-OCI stamping takes 3 weeks.

In short CGINY is a huge mess.I wouldnt advise anyone to apply through CGINY for the time being unless they get their act together. Take a PIO card and hold on or apply in India and/or just wait !
Click to expand...

mangal, just to let you know, my daughter collected my OCI card and U sticker from NY on friday.
 
gaurav2005 said:
I called CGI-Houston to ask them to upload the photos properly. The person started arguing with me that it is not their scanner problem. He said daily they scan about 70 photos and therefore it is not the scanner problem. He asked me to send the photos again, this time photos taken from a different store. I tried to tell him that the photos requested were non-standard: 35mmx35mm. Not many stores have that kind of ultra-stupid sizes. He was not willing to listen saying that they cannot do anything about that because those are the rules.

Anyway, I sent the photos again by overnight FEDEX. Yesterday I called this person at DCG office as he said he will personally take care of it. Though it was clearly made attention to DCG's office, the ultra-urgent FEDEX envelope never reached this office, it is probably languishing in the mail room. This person said he will go and check it. I doubt he will even take trouble to get that FEDEX envelope.

At this point, I am at peace with my situation with OCI and sincerely feeling pity for those billion people back in India who are stuck and have had to deal with these kind of people in Indian govt offices day in and day out. God save them from the clutches of these utterly inefficient and lazy people at govt offices. I agree some are good but the majority of these others bring the bad name to govt offices.
Click to expand...

I hope you get your OIC soon. The customer service from most GoI employees not only sucks, but it also bites! :rolleyes:
 
But it has been more than the timeline you mentioned

mangal969 said:
WAIT for them to send you a letter.Do nothing
Click to expand...
Thank you very much mangal for reply.
It has been more than the timeline you mentioned
Shall I remind them on those emails which you mentioned in your thread.

thx
 
genesis1 said:
mangal, just to let you know, my daughter collected my OCI card and U sticker from NY on friday.
Click to expand...

genesis1,
i need to talk to the lady who called you up.please pm me her extension no and or phone no at cginy.

thanks
 
GaramChai2go said:
Thank you very much mangal for reply.
It has been more than the timeline you mentioned
Shall I remind them on those emails which you mentioned in your thread.

thx
Click to expand...

You can email the MEA/MOIA to find out the status of your card
 
Respone from MEA/MOIA???

Hi Mangal,

Do you know what would be general time frame for MEA/MOIA takes to respond to emails.

I sent couple of emails about my wifes OCI card status after Houston consulate put their hands up about why it was held up after granted status. :confused: to MOIA almost a week back and till to date I haven't received any responses.

Thanks,

Srini
 
ATLVAS said:
Hi Mangal,

Do you know what would be general time frame for MEA/MOIA takes to respond to emails.

I sent couple of emails about my wifes OCI card status after Houston consulate put their hands up about why it was held up after granted status. :confused: to MOIA almost a week back and till to date I haven't received any responses.

Thanks,

Srini
Click to expand...

In my case I had got a reply in 5 days.But i would imagine the person would be receiving a lot of mail now,so you can probably expect a bigger wait.
 
Make no errors

Hi,

Make no errors, while you are sending OCI application to CGI-SF. The reason for this is, I got mail from CGI-SF saying that, even if your photos are not good your 12 week clock starts again from the day you have sent your new pictures.

:confused:
 
After how long

after you've sent in the OCI app., photos, etc.. would be the appropriate time if they haven't contacted you, your money order hasn't been cashed, and your status hasn't changed, should you contact the CGINY?

Thanks,
:(
 
My OCI journey is done!

I finally received my U Visa and OCI registration certificate today from CGI-Houston (and my PIO card has been cancelled and returned to me). I have to say the OCI book and the U Visa look pretty clean and they are printed as opposed to written by hand. I posted my timeline in CGI Houston tracker.

This forum has been excellent to get information on OCI as well as other NRI issues over the past several years.

I wish everyone the best in their immigration or visa related journeys. Good luck! :)
 
OCI dispatched from NewDelhi

I got an email from MEA saying that they have dispatched my OCI card finally. I had sent the new photos (wasting time and money) by FEDEX OVERNIGHT to CGI-Houston for nothing. Based on the timeline, they have not used the new photos as they probably were still languishing in the mail room of CGI-Houston though it was marked overnight and urgent.

Obviously, I have two more hurdles from CGI-Houston. I have to wait for an email from CGI-Houston and based on that I have send my US passport. Next hurdle is after receiving US passport, CGI-Houston have to send back the passports. Based on my past experience, I have to be ready for another two tough battles to win before I can get the OCI on my hand. After that I never have to deal with this consulate folks ever again during my lifetime.(hopefully). Wish me good luck..
 
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