Misc. OCI Application Questions

In addition to $275 fee per applicant you have to pay $20 per family as fee for return mail.
 
OCI processing taking long

All
I applied for OCI misellaneous service due to the new passport for my 4 year old daughter. It is received at chennai, forwarded to New Delphi andthe photo is scanned. It has been that status for about 45 days now. I need to travel to US ASAP. I know i have the OCI visa on her old passport but rule stipuates for child below 20 years it needs to be on the new passport. Is there any way i can escalate this. I keep calling New Delhi between 3 and 4 PM and nobody answers or it is disconnected temporarily.

Is there a minister or an office of a minister i can talk to esclate this

Any help is appreciated
 
No connections to minister etc., but

#1. It is possible that the online status is wrong. Have you checked with Chennai FRRO?
#2. There was a post sometime back that Delhi dispatches documents to regional FRROs on a scheduled (monthly?) basis. That might be the reason for delay.

Short of someone going to MHA, I do not see an easy way. Also, why are you calling 3-4 PM. Try between 10-12 in the morning.
 
He forgot to take the passport that has "U sticker" on it, even though expired. Efficient or not, that is the procedure so he cannot blame the indian immigration. There was a detailed discussion on how the OCI card needs to be made a self sufficient document, but there you go.
 
I think the article is much more balanced the prior rant of some emeritus college professor. The author of this article brings forward some very valid points - regarding the lackluster websites for consulates, having two documents that essentially do the same thing, confusion because of US GC association (where if you have a GC, you dont need to have a VISA stamped to enter US), etc. Yes it is his fault that he forgot the U-visa stamped old passport but that is not the prime focus of the article.
 
The fact the counsulates dont even acknowledge an application for a month is the most horrendous thing out there...
 
vip1r said:
The fact the counsulates dont even acknowledge an application for a month is the most horrendous thing out there...
Click to expand...

I have a different experience with Houston consulate. They received my OCI application on 10th March, now Delhi has sent the printed Visas back to the consulate. They are extremely fast.
 
Someone I know actually doesn't even take the OCI book, and just uses his passport with the U visa, and he is allowed into India with no problems.
 
I go with the brokenarrow - yes, the guy went through a lot of grief and the processes could be much much better. However, the fact that you need to take the U-VISA passport along with your new passport is well known here - and I think equally clear on MHA websites.

For those who say the OCI book and visa are redundant. That may be true. But if the government issued you 2 things, and you travel with only 1 - you are just assuming things, aren't you?
 
OCI book is primarily intended for use inside India, most agencies recognize a passport like document rather than a visa sticker in a foreign passport.
 
So they can make the OCI booklet a valid travel document too, when presented with a valid US (foreign) passport. Now you have to transfer the U sticker whenever you have a new passport (mandatory for some age groups). And everybody interpreting this in their own way. Look at this on the Air India website ....

http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/International---U-Sticker-Visa-for-OCI-Card-Holders.aspx

They do not mention any age group so if you are flying Air India, then you will have to do this transfer.
 
brokenarrow said:
So they can make the OCI booklet a valid travel document too, when presented with a valid US (foreign) passport. Now you have to transfer the U sticker whenever you have a new passport (mandatory for some age groups). And everybody interpreting this in their own way. Look at this on the Air India website ....

http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/International---U-Sticker-Visa-for-OCI-Card-Holders.aspx

They do not mention any age group so if you are flying Air India, then you will have to do this transfer.
Click to expand...

I suspect Air India will be more accommodating that what their website states.
 
The whole OCI is made unnecessarily complicated. I know this has been said before, however why not make the OCI booklet independent just like the PIO card. This woulkd make life so much easier and one won't need to keep changing the 'U' stickers in their passports if it expires, different age group and so forth. If OCI is a Visa, then what is PIO ? How come that doesn't need to be stamped on a passport ? I believe the whole scheme was designed to keep drawing funds from customers. everytime the U visa needs to be stamped on a passport, under miscellaneous services it generates revenue for them. However for the customers, this is a complete pain in the neck. And their timelines aren't that great either. For e.g. miscellaneous services: I was told by Pushpa Kumar that this would take 6-8 weeks. I don't understand which bit of this process takes 6-8 weeks. This is for a customer (myself) who already has OCI however needs to get it transferred to a different passport. It can take 2 months for this ?? Gimme a break !!

It seems that CGINY has inherited the "Indian bureautic" ways all the way to NY !!
 
They could better reorganize is such a way::)
1)The U sticker for indefinite time validity can be issued at a higher(to satiate the fee grabbing habbit) price FIXED for one time.
2)Fix this so called U sticker in the same OCI card book, which again has indefinite validity.
This serves both GOI and candidates requirements!
Why not?:)
 
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