OCI - Houston Tracker

jaggumal said:
I received this email yesterday..10th Aug 2011 from CGI Houston...

Sir/Madam,


Please refer to your application for Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI).

We are happy to inform you that your application for OCI and ‘U’ Visa has been approved and the OCI Card/s with the U Visa/s has/have been received by us from India.

You are requested to send your original US passport for stamping the “U” Visa and the Indian Passport(where applicable) for verification by mail. Though the Indian passport is cancelled we need to verify it, so please do enclose it. In case you are a PIO card holder, pls send your PIO card for cancellation.

In case you have not already paid the return fee, please send a Cashier’s cheque or a money order for $ 20/- payable to “Consulate General of India, Houston” to return your Passport and OCI Card by express mail.

In case you want to come and collect the OCI cards in person, pls give your passports at the counter between 9am and 12:30pm and collect then between 4pm and 5pm.


Pls. mail the documents to the address given below, " Attention: OCI "



Thanks,

OCI Section
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jaggumal said:
Update of my OCI saga...

Went personally to the CGI Houston office around 930AM. Stood in the line..there were about 8 to 10 people in line line and one at the window.
Only one window was open. After the lady got done with that person..she called out if anyone here for OCI...I raised my hand and rushed to the window.
She asked if I had applied here or at TRAVISA...I said here. She took my US passport and told me to come and pick it up after 4pm.
I had also taken my cancelled Indian passport (just in case), but so far they have not asked for it. Met some other people who had come for their OCI all the way from DALLAS. They did not want to mail in their passports from DALLAS fearing that CGI Houston might lose them.... I was in and out of CGI Houston within 20 mins...lets hope it goes as smooth at 4pm, when I go back to pickup my passport and OCI booklet.......to be continued
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Even though the electronic mail you received stated that you needed to bring the expired, and canceled Indian passport to Consulate General of India - Houston for verification purposes, somehow they do not check it. That is weird. It is good that you took the canceled Indian Passport to Consulate General of India - Houston for verification purposes, and you were keeping yourself fail proof in a sense that you will get those O.C.I documents without any more delays by Consulate General of India - Houston just because you did not bring the expired, and canceled Indian Passport.

The lady that left the message on the answering machine stated to only send in the U.S.A passport ( see my previous message when I was updating this forum ), and nothing else.

Anyways, There is no doubt in my mind that you will get your documents before today is done and over with.

We have yet to send our passports to Consulate General of India - Houston.

Also, I see that your response just looks like the one I read later in the month of June / 2011 or July / 2011 when someone else who did the same thing as you did.

Story after story I read on this forum, experiences of people seems to be the same and predictable.

I will update this forum as to what happens with our process, and the complete outline for others to see.

yours,

Super_Duper
 
Is there any downside to applying for the OCI and the SC together (now that Travisa handles these matters in Houston)?

Sometime back, soon after the processing at Houston was taken over by Travisa, I had read that it was an unwise idea. I am asking, now that a a little time has passed, what is the general consensus? It appears to me from the recent posts here that there is no increased likelihood of trouble if the applications are made together. Am I correct in that inference?

Thank you for your attention.
 
Hello All,
I got it...after a wait of more than 7 months..finally I had my OCI in my hand.
Went to CGI Houston office yesterday morning and dropped off my passport. Nothing else was required. Went back at 4pm and got my passport with U visa and the OCI booklet. After checking everything was OK...I got the hell out of there. Reached home and celebrated with some scotch.
For those who had the misfortune (like me) to apply at the CGI Houston office...I can only say that I feel your pain. Have patience...lots of patience.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and good luck.
 
SC and OCI together

javacafe: I do not see any downside as many apply for SC and OCI together. The process is so streamlined at Travisa now that many get their SC + OCI within 30~40 days. If the Indian passport was originally issued by the same consulate, for example issued by Houston CGI and you are applying for SC + OCI at Houston, the process is even faster. If you have SC already, and apply only for OCI then that processing time is obviously shorter. Please see the timeline of supan at Newyork forum whose OCI has been printed within a week of applying. I am assuming he/she had the SC already and applied only for OCI. One advantage in applying together is you pay the Travisa processing fees of $ 12 only once and not twice. However, when you are paying so much for the application fees this $ 12 will be the last consideration in one's mind. Good luck.

javacafe said:
Is there any downside to applying for the OCI and the SC together (now that Travisa handles these matters in Houston)?

Sometime back, soon after the processing at Houston was taken over by Travisa, I had read that it was an unwise idea. I am asking, now that a a little time has passed, what is the general consensus? It appears to me from the recent posts here that there is no increased likelihood of trouble if the applications are made together. Am I correct in that inference?

Thank you for your attention.
Click to expand...
 
jaggumal said:
Hello All,
I got it...after a wait of more than 7 months..finally I had my OCI in my hand.
Went to CGI Houston office yesterday morning and dropped off my passport. Nothing else was required. Went back at 4pm and got my passport with U visa and the OCI booklet. After checking everything was OK...I got the hell out of there. Reached home and celebrated with some scotch.
For those who had the misfortune (like me) to apply at the CGI Houston office...I can only say that I feel your pain. Have patience...lots of patience.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and good luck.
Click to expand...

Congratulations jaggumal.

My father sent the U.S.A passport yesterday to Consulate General of India - Houston. Hopefully early to later part of next week we should get our U.S.A Passport back with O.C.I documents from Consulate General of India - Houston.

Congratulations again jaggumal.

Super_Duper
 
Thank you Super_Duper....Hopefully you should get yours by the end of next week....the consulates are closed on 15th Aug on account of Independence day.
I have a question for all of you....Both my kids are born in the USA and they both are over 18 yrs. My wife and I are born in Bombay and now naturalised US cotizens.
The question is....Are my kids eligible for OCI.....Thanks.
 
jaggumal said:
Thank you Super_Duper....Hopefully you should get yours by the end of next week....the consulates are closed on 15th Aug on account of Independence day.
I have a question for all of you....Both my kids are born in the USA and they both are over 18 yrs. My wife and I are born in Bombay and now naturalised US cotizens.
The question is....Are my kids eligible for OCI.....Thanks.
Click to expand...

jaggumal,
your children are perfectly eligible for O.C.I since you and your wife are born in India.
However, they have to apply independently and not with parents (in other words, they can not apply as a family { family as in: father, mother, and maximum of two siblings / childrens } ) since they are over 18 years old. I had to apply independently, not with my parents as an family application since I am over 18 years old. Having said that, I did send an application with my parents to keep the postal service charge to a minimum.

So, in your particular case, just go ahead, and tell your children ( or now young adults ) to apply for the O.C.I application through TRAVISA, and give them their copy of the birth certificate as well as something to identify their Indian heritage by blood either through your canceled Indian Passport renunciation certificate, or both your wife and yourself birth certificates to prove that your siblings are of Indian heritage by blood and you and yours' wife birth in India.

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me that 15th of August was the consulate holiday.

I hope this helps.
 
Thank you Super_Duper much apprreciated.
Another OCI question for all.... After gettting a NEW US passport...is it MANDATORY to transfer the U visa from the old passsport to the new passport??
Or can one travel to India with the U visa on the old passsport and the new passport and the OCI card? Has anyone done that? Please post your experriences.
By the way I am over 50 yrs old. Thaanks in advance for your reeplies.
 
Hi
I and my wife are about to apply for (1) Indian Passport renunciation (2) OCI card. I have few questions - can someone please reply?
1) Fees - 275 (OCI Mine) + 275 (OCI Wife) + 175 (Renounce - mine) + 175 (Renounce - wife) - Total 900$ - is this correct? or any other additional fees needed?
2) Can I send everything as one cashier check or do they need multiple cashier checks (4 - one for each of the above amounts?) or (2 - one for each person?)
3) Where do we get the cashier checks? Banks? Is here any charge? How long does it take?
4) What is the best way to send the return shipping label? Fedex? Has anybody tried to open a FedEx account and given their credit card # there and included this Fedex account# later on the return shipping label?
5) Can the address on the return shipping label be different from the current address? Are there any issues if we use a different address?
6) Do we fill the permanent address anywhere on the application? If yes, can this be different from the present address?
7) How many return shipping labels are needed - just one or 2? Reason I ask this is we will send the stuff 2 times (first time Renounce app, Indian Passport, OCI App and then once they request we will send the US passport) - likewise do they ship us back twice (first the renounce certificate + Cancelled Indian passport and then second time - OCI card + US passport?) or will they send us back everything in one go in the end?
8) If they send us everything back in one go (2 Indian passports, 2 US passports + renounce certificate) – is one shipping label good enough or do they send 2?

Thanks
 
Travisa Houston OCI Application

I filled in the order form and application in May 2011, but mailed application in August. I thought we were supposed to sent the US passport with the application, but that has changed. I sent our US passport with the application and I am concerned. Has anyone else done the same thing?


05/17/2011 10:17am CST Service order form completed online
08/17/2011 12:14pm CST OCI application arrived in the mail at Travisa Outsourcing. Please allow Travisa Outsourcing up to 7 business days before the application status changes. Note that your application will undergo several steps before the status is updated.
 
I am one of the unfortunate one who applied before travisa. I guess there were few in my category who were adding posts to this forum and they all got OCI in the past weeks. I have passed the 7 month threshhold now still no progress except the "NOT YET" mark after documents scanned. To add to injury, the OCI tracker link is not working for many days now. Is there anybody else in the same situation like me? This is getting to a point where it is ridiculous and stressful. Nobody ever answers the phone so what are your options really.... I was postponing my visit to India for all these months expecting they will stick to the 6 month rule at least but now it seems like rain in Texas. Please provide some feedback if you some thoughts
 
Consulate is in process of scheduled relocation, aug 25 to aug 30 to their own building purchased. Check CGI Houston web site. may be due to this system is not available.
 
I don't think CGI Houston is the agency maintaining the OCI enquiry site. The URL given in all consulate sites is http : // ociindia.nic.in /ociindia / OnlineOCIenquiry.jsp . This link is not working for months now. I don't know why this link is not corrected for this amount of time?? I searched the web and found the following link which used to work until Aug 18th. Thereafter it is the same message "System is under maintainence. Please check later" https : // passport.gov.in /oci / OnlineOCIenquiry. jsp

Now there is no way for folks like me to check the status after 7 months of waiting. Please let us know if anybody else is in the same situation so we can know if there are other people facing same issue.
 
Here is the homepage for the O.C.I services as provided by the N.I.C, which is Central Government of India's premier website maintainer all of the official web portal : http://ociindia.nic.in/


Yes, there is some maintenance going on which is outside the control of the Embassy of India, as well as all of Consulate(s) General of India's control.


Good news is that, a good news for me, and rest of my family members, and not for you guys, is that I, and my entire family just got the U.S.A passport back with 'U' Visa affixed, and it also contained the only O.C.I documents, namely O.C.I card / O.C.I booklet.


Here is the complete timeline:


January / 03 / 2011 - O.C.I application sent to Consulate General of India - Houston Directly { Before TRAVISA days } along with renunciation forms, and expired Indian Passports

February / 03 / 2011 - O.C.I application acknowledgement date, Photos and Signatures scanned, and Renunciation forms stamped {now became a renunciation certificates}

Special Note: Only mine, and both of my parents photos and signatures were scanned on February / 03 / 2011. My younger brother's Photos and signatures were scanned in at March / 10 / 2011.

.
.
.
after a long waiting period
.
.
.
August / 04 / 2011 - O.C.I application Granted from the Consulate General of India - Houston

Everything else happened after August / 04 / 2011, like printing on August / 05 / 2011, and dispatched happened on August / 06 / 2011. By August / 10 / 2011, documents already reached the Consulate General of India - Houston.

Today, August / 22 / 2011, we received our documents in Fedex. ;) :) :cool:

Well, good luck to everyone else.
 
Hello super_duper.....I believe congratulations are in order. Most of us who were unfortunate to apply for our OCi through CGI Houston before March 2011 had to go through a very trying time and a lot of patience. There are a few who are still waiting for their OCI to come thru. My advice to them is just hang in there...I know not much can be done about it...just grin and bear it...like I did.

I believe that indian link mentioned above by super_duper to check your OCI status is now working.
 
One More Pre-Travisa OCI Granted

Here is My Stat:

Photo/Signature at Mission : Scanned On 17-FEB-2011
Registration Status at Mission : Granted On 22-AUG-2011
Documents Printing Status: PRINTED On 23-AUG-2011
Dispatched From MOIA (OCI ): NEW DELHI On NOT DISPATCHED
Documents Received at HOUSTON NOT YET
 
Anba said:
One More Pre-Travisa OCI Granted

Here is My Stat:

Photo/Signature at Mission : Scanned On 17-FEB-2011
Registration Status at Mission : Granted On 22-AUG-2011
Documents Printing Status: PRINTED On 23-AUG-2011
Dispatched From MOIA (OCI ): NEW DELHI On NOT DISPATCHED
Documents Received at HOUSTON NOT YET
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Granted on 22nd August, that means somebody was working when the CGI was closed.
 
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