India Dual Citizenship Mega Thread (Merged)

[mangal969]

You must be kidding..that means someone receiving an OCI in a weeks time...thats impossible. I am prepared to lay a bet that someone will get an OCI before we hit page 125. I still think my chances of losing are pretty high!

Actually if you count Rai & Sharief you've already won your bet ! !
If your bet was a total of 10 people getting their OCI 's before page 125 you'd probably lose

 

[qwert97]

I can't believe that the scheme has been open from more than 2 months (2nd December) and its been one month since PM promised it in the pravasi diwas. There is still no sign of any OCI card.

I am getting really frustrated since its been 1 year 3 months since I have submitted my application and there is no one who can tell me the status. I wonder how India will lead the world in this century. They need to change their attitude.

 

[mangal969]

I submitted my OCI application to CGI NY and they received it on Jan 20th.
Today, I tried to view my status on line, and I keyed in just my reference number and pressed the GO button. My application status says "IN PROCESS".
It automatically fills in the File number. If you just pressed your Enter key after filling in the reference number, it does ask for the file number. Just FYI for mangal who has been very valuable to this thread.
Krishnan

Thank you Mr Krishnan.
If i may ask you a question-Are you a direct applicant (i.e you had an indian passport prior) or an inherited applicant (on the basis of your parents grandparents etc) ?
From what i have seen most of the people who have been granted or are in the "In process" stage are direct applicants.
I personally am an inherited applicant.

 

[mangal969]

When you go through the list posted at Chicago you will notice that all OCI cards are sequentially numbered which will mean that they are processing the cards by embassies. Since Chicago is earlier in the alphabetical list (letter C) perhaps they were processed earlier than my local embassy Toronto.

I dont think it is alphabetical.The visa nos are sequential but the earliest no is 408.I dont think there were many A and B named embassies to issue 406 visas.
Also they are sequential only in patches.The last visa no is around 1500.There certainly are not 1100 applicants from chicago alone !
Of course this is all academic.

 

[krishnan1]

Thank you Mr Krishnan.
If i may ask you a question-Are you a direct applicant (i.e you had an indian passport prior) or an inherited applicant (on the basis of your parents grandparents etc) ?
From what i have seen most of the people who have been granted or are in the "In process" stage are direct applicants.
I personally am an inherited applicant.

I am a direct applicant (prior holder of indian passport). I applied for myself, my wife(another direct applicant) and my son (who is an inherited applicant). All reference numbers indicate "in process".

 

[akkcausa]

I agree with all the postings about the inefficiency and inexcusable delays in giving the OCI cards as I also applied in Dec 2004 and have been waiting with great frustration.

Many posters have wondered why things are so slow. I think one answer is simply the mindset and attitude of the bureaucrats. They simply do not care about deadlines etc.

To give an example, I met the MOIA official who had come to promote PBD. With him was a SFO consulate official. This was after MHA had grandly announced that the scheme was operational and CGI SFO was still yet to even announce that they will accept applications. The MOIA official announced that CGI SFO would start accepting applications in a week or so. The consulate official cut in and said they would do it 'soon' and refused to give any date or reason why there was a delay. He did not appear to be concerned at all - this is just the attitude that they have towards the whole thing. If you send a detailed email asking about case status, they just have a standard reply ('we dont know anything') sent after a week.

So, while we debate that the scheme is operational for 2 months, PM gave OCI one month ago, Mr Sharma has cleared all applications, it has been dispatched and count days (hours, minutes?), the bureaucrats in general are not concerned. Their attitude (unfortunately) is 'we will get to it sometime'.

I will not be surprised if at every step from clearing applications to sending it to consulates, sending notifications to applicants, sticking the U visa there will be long delays just because they work at their own speed.

I look in my mailbox every evening and there is no sign of anything. I guess we will get used to this routine since there is no accountability anywhere in this process.

 

[Indian4]

I am a direct applicant (prior holder of indian passport). I applied for myself, my wife(another direct applicant) and my son (who is an inherited applicant). All reference numbers indicate "in process".

Hey krishnan your are one of those lucky ones who have reached "In Process" stage good on you mate. Mangal's " FIle does not exist" stage --for me the HCI wellington NZ hasn't touched my papers yet as they are waiting for a good time and date(Full moon on a mid day). Their only answer is we don't know its processed in India-- GOd bless HCI wellington NZ.

 

[Indian4]

After a bad day at work, your collective comments on OCI cracked me up. I'm still teary-eyed from all the laughing
I must commend on the sense of humor present in this thread, despite the fact that the Consulates and GOI are sitting tight on your application and of course your money.

I registered for the OCI, but am determined to send the application and the fee, only after I see Mangal get something from CGINY.

we are all in the same boat man(Hope its not a sinking boat) cheer-up we will all be OBSOLETE CITIZEN OF INDIA(OCI) someday

 

[Hotdiggety]

What are the chances that the Indian government will cancel this program in a couple of weeks or so, and then announce that it's looking into changing the Constitution, so everyone come back in 5 years?

Against my better judgement, I'm considering applying for one of these U visas myself, but I'm going to hold myself in check until the process becomes smoother than it is now. These people are not to be trusted in the slightest. Patience is definitely a virtue in this case.

 

[mangal969]

What are the chances that the Indian government will cancel this program in a couple of weeks or so, and then announce that it's looking into changing the Constitution, so everyone come back in 5 years?

Against my better judgement, I'm considering applying for one of these U visas myself, but I'm going to hold myself in check until the process becomes smoother than it is now. These people are not to be trusted in the slightest. Patience is definitely a virtue in this case.

Dont expect the process to become smoother anytime soon ! You are seeing the no of applicants imagine the backlog . Just jump in like the rest of us have and enjoy the ride !

Doesnt being exposed to such a big load of bull remind you of the good ol'days ??

 

[qwert97]

Dont expect the process to become smoother anytime soon ! You are seeing the no of applicants imagine the backlog . Just jump in like the rest of us have and enjoy the ride !

Doesnt being exposed to such a big load of bull remind you of the good ol'days ??

I think it is time again to start writing to the leading newspapers since we are getting a lot of bulls**t from MHA and the local embassies. MHA have already sent the OCI's and embassies have not received them.

 

[mangal969]

I am sure some members and almost all the newcomers will be surprised at the amount of cynicism dripping from almost all the posts.But we expected better from the Government of India but unfortunately didnt get it.The OCI process has gotten off to a very shaky start and the requirements are different from embassy to embassy and what the embassy says defies in the logic of anyone who bothers to read the rules and law formulated.
But think of it as a one time inconvinience.The OCI is a part of what a good majority of us want and desire.
So just get the documents straight send the forms and wait for it to happen.

 

[Indian4]

I am sure some members and almost all the newcomers will be surprised at the amount of cynicism dripping from almost all the posts.But we expected better from the Government of India but unfortunately didnt get it.The OCI process has gotten off to a very shaky start and the requirements are different from embassy to embassy and what the embassy says defies in the logic of anyone who bothers to read the rules and law formulated.
But think of it as a one time inconvinience.The OCI is a part of what a good majority of us want and desire.
So just get the documents straight send the forms and wait for it to happen.

Thanks mangal for your optimism it really encourages us even after taking so much bull Looks like we(OCI FORUM) can start a political party in India and the party name being OCI--- to beat the crap out of the red tapes. At the moment looks like all we need is patience. Not for people who intend to travel to india tho. Im trying really hard to go to page 97 that will be great

 

[PIO1]

I still think, it does not mean that GoI can make everyone's passport number/name pasted on the internet....

Exactly. Nowhere on the applications does it say "I authorise the GoI to give my private information to the general public". It is like us applying for a bank account, signing, and the bank publishing all our details on the internet. It's illegal. They must explicitly seek our permission to publish information of a private nature, or unless publication is permitted by legislation (which it is not), then they are breaking the law.

 

[lagadamane]

Chicago Consulate displayed list of 2004/2005 applicants and their OCI and visa sticker number. They have not received the visa stickers yet !!

 

[Indian4]

India has bulls that can swim ! ! ! ! ! Or are they gas propelled

Did you check on ebay ? or maybe ihaveyouroci.com ???

I wouldnt trust a word of what these people say.I heard of a guy who mailed his application on 25th Jan and was approved on 31st Jan.How could they send it to India in 4 days and process it ? (25 to 31 is 7 days but republic day and the weekend were in between). And if they can why are they not doing it for me (21 days and my file still doesnt exist.no contact from the embassy,no response to e-mails,nothing wrong with my application! ! )

I know a little boy on the footpath who sells Indian passports in front of shastri Bhavan chennai I will check with him next week through my contacts he might have some OCI cards and stickers

 

[Mangal Pandey]

Here comes the new information. I just called the Sydney consulate and the person told me "yes we have finally some information for 2004 applicants, we need some more documents, and we are sending the details by post to everybody this week, you will get it next week, thank you very much" So I think all 2004 applicants, all of us would have to wait for another 2 months to get the crap

 

[mangal969]

Here comes the new information. I just called the Sydney consulate and the person told me "yes we have finally some information for 2004 applicants, we need some more documents, and we are sending the details by post to everybody this week, you will get it next week, thank you very much" So I think all 2004 applicants, all of us would have to wait for another 2 months to get the crap

If you see the Chicago list there were people who need to get their documents in order but there were also people who were issued their cards and visas.So stick around.It might not be over yet.
You know what the current document requirements are as well as what documents you have sent.So you basically know what they are going to ask for.Just get it ready by this weekend and send it to them !

 

[mangal969]

Thanks mangal for your optimism it really encourages us even after taking so much bull Looks like we(OCI FORUM) can start a political party in India and the party name being OCI--- to beat the crap out of the red tapes. At the moment looks like all we need is patience. Not for people who intend to travel to india tho. Im trying really hard to go to page 97 that will be great

No let's buy a big piece of land and open a gas bottling plant ( I hear bulls are an excellent source of gas) and a fully automated milk plant.We can then approach the GoI and then sell it to them at a subsidised rate .
We use the government bull to make something useful and sell it to them at a subsidised rate !
How intelligent is that ?

 

[mangal969]

Chicago Consulate displayed list of 2004/2005 applicants and their OCI and visa sticker number. They have not received the visa stickers yet !!

So the MHA is sending each embassy a list of their 2004 applicants with their visa and OCI card nos and are going to send the actual cards seperatley ????
They are dumber than i gave them credit for ! ! !
Actually this shows that what ever Mr Sharma from New Delhi told people over the phone was accurate.