OCI - Houston Tracker

OCI Granted for Wife and Son

I just checked my OCI status and the status is Granted. I have a question about my son's passport. When I applied, my son has a different passport and we lost it in India. So we applied an emergency passport in US consulate (Hyderabad) and that is set to expire in April. We are going to apply for a new U.S passport and mail the new one to Houston for U visa stamp. So the passport number would be different when we applied OCI in August 2010 and now (when granted). Does it complicate anything. Please advise.

Here is the time line:

Application Mailed Date: 08-23-2010
Date of Acknowledgement: 24-SEP-2010
Photo/Signature Scanned : 24-SEP-2010
Registration Status Granted: 28-MAR-2011
 
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LofKing,

Yikes! This is not something new. These dudes listen to loud music and dance inside their vans and always mess up. First they put two of my family member's new US passports in some other city mailbox. Luckily the inadvertant recipient have the greatness to drop it back in my mailbox and leave a note. After a month, our visas from Travisa was delivered who knows where. I was tracking it because of the previous experience and it showed delivered at 12.04 PM. But there was no freaking package at the door. So I complained and they were searching for 3 days with no clue. Finally when I hopefully opened my mailbox one morning there was an opened package with all passports. Yet another good soul who understood the value of the passports. But the package contained some poor applicant's renounciation form. So it was my turn to find the owner which I did. Nice going with all these pricey guaranteed couriers. It is better to travel 1000 miles to get these in person rather than trust these folks.
 
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Vellabadu

Vellabadu,

Let me know what you are doing as I am in the same boat as UPS lost my passport in mail to HOUSTON and I am trying to call them but no luck so far as nobody answers phone in HOUSTON consulate I guess. Is anybody here from Houston be kind and can find out the process for lost passport and continuation of OCI process.
 
kofking said:
Vellabadu,

Let me know what you are doing as I am in the same boat as UPS lost my passport in mail to HOUSTON and I am trying to call them but no luck so far as nobody answers phone in HOUSTON consulate I guess. Is anybody here from Houston be kind and can find out the process for lost passport and continuation of OCI process.
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Kofking,,

I just applied for a new passport for my son. Hopefully I will get the new passport in the next 2 to 3 weeks. Hopefully, by that time we will get the OCI documents to Houston. Then I am going to send my son's new passport and a letter I received from U.S consulate, Hyderabad (basically they just gave a letter that we lost our passport and issued an emergency temporary passport) and his PIO. I hope they will issue the U stamp on the new passport. Other than this, I can't think of anything. I know calling them is just a waste of time.
 
Kofking,
I will be sending my passports for stamping sooner. I am very sorry to hear that you lost passport in transit by courier.
Did UPS lose the passports OR did consulate in houston lost the recieved passports of yours.

Our application has been granted but not printed yet.

Can you please clarify if ups lost your package or cgihouston lost recieved package (passports).
 
Looks like Houston CGI is catching up. I don't see the 180 day processing message on the Travisa site anymore. In the requirements instruction, Travisa mentioned that the processing time is 40 days.

"Those applying in the New York and Houston jurisdictions have an approximate processing time of 40 days. "

Have a nice weekend.
 
ism said:
Looks like Houston CGI is catching up. I don't see the 180 day processing message on the Travisa site anymore. In the requirements instruction, Travisa mentioned that the processing time is 40 days.

"Those applying in the New York and Houston jurisdictions have an approximate processing time of 40 days. "
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That is a a good sign and a very big relief! It must have been aided by the possibility that many people, who saw the 180 day gestation period, opted not to apply for the OCI at this time (and either chose to wait it out or apply for a visa instead). This must have have thinned out the input stream.

I will not get my US passport until May or June (if things go according to schedule). But, under no condition will I apply for anything that involves me being without my passport for 6 months.
 
OCI granted for family of four

Here is our timeline:

Application Received Date: 27-AUG-2010
Date of Acknowledgement: 29-SEP-2010
Photo/Signature Scanned : 29-SEP-2010
Registration Status Granted: 31-MAR-2011
 
ism said:
Looks like Houston CGI is catching up. I don't see the 180 day processing message on the Travisa site anymore. In the requirements instruction, Travisa mentioned that the processing time is 40 days.

"Those applying in the New York and Houston jurisdictions have an approximate processing time of 40 days. "

Have a nice weekend.
Click to expand...

I doubt that CGI Houston caught up. If they did we would be seeing approvals for January and February 2011 applicants now. But we are seeing August/September 2010 approvals.

Possibly CGI Houston never had a problem, but wantonly delayed all OCI processing to force outsourcing to Travisa; maybe someone is getting a kickback here. Or maybe the wanted to get the next consulate in Atlanta rather than Seattle so that their workload is lowered. So they delayed all applications including OCI. Now if they approve all outstanding OCI right away, they will be caught in the lie; so they are continuing to delay.

If someone is in Houston and with ack. date in 2010, they should go directly to CGI Houston office with passport and ask for OCI stamp; if they get it same day or in a week, then we know something is rotten.
 
doubter said:
I doubt that CGI Houston caught up. If they did we would be seeing approvals for January and February 2011 applicants now. But we are seeing August/September 2010 approvals.

Possibly CGI Houston never had a problem, but wantonly delayed all OCI processing to force outsourcing to Travisa; maybe someone is getting a kickback here. Or maybe the wanted to get the next consulate in Atlanta rather than Seattle so that their workload is lowered. So they delayed all applications including OCI. Now if they approve all outstanding OCI right away, they will be caught in the lie; so they are continuing to delay.

If someone is in Houston and with ack. date in 2010, they should go directly to CGI Houston office with passport and ask for OCI stamp; if they get it same day or in a week, then we know something is rotten.
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You will see processing time difference for those who are submitting OCI with travisa here onwards.But those submitted already directly to consulate may not see the quick processing times.
 
devanpk - issue is Houston CGI not Newyork.

Doubter is absolutely right - it is highly unlikely that you can seen 40 days turnaround from Houston Office in the near future. Based on what I can see in various posts, they have just cleared SEP-2010 apps. It is hard to believe that they will be able to process 7 months ( all with ack date of OCT-2010 onwards ) in the next 40 days -

I certainly hope that do so though -
 
It is possible though that Houston CGI will be handling all those past applications all by themselves. And, the applications sent to Travisa after March 15 will be handled on an outsourced basis. In that case, there is a distinct possibility that we may see some of the later applications finishing off earlier than the applications sent directly to Houston CGI prior to March 15. That will be a travesty, but at the CGI, who worries about fairness and justice!

I know a few people, who could have applied in January and February, but waited until March 15, so that they could apply through Travisa. When Travisa's web site specifically mentions 40 days of processing time for Houston, after having shown 180 days for a while, it is more reasonable to assume that they have streamlined their (not CGI's) pipeline somewhat. Otherwise, they have no incentive to remove that 180 warning notice. As a private company, you can expect them to be extra careful. With a 180-day CGI processing time, they would begin to lose (and were likely experiencing a drop in) business related to the OCI. That could have eased the wait time. With a notice that falsely states 40 days of processing time (while actually taking 180 days), they would be lying deliberately and openly. That is less possible, but unlikely.
 
javacafe said:
It is possible though that Houston CGI will be handling all those past applications all by themselves. And, the applications sent to Travisa after March 15 will be handled on an outsourced basis. In that case, there is a distinct possibility that we may see some of the later applications finishing off earlier than the applications sent directly to Houston CGI prior to March 15. That will be a travesty, but at the CGI, who worries about fairness and justice!

I know a few people, who could have applied in January and February, but waited until March 15, so that they could apply through Travisa. When Travisa's web site specifically mentions 40 days of processing time for Houston, after having shown 180 days for a while, it is more reasonable to assume that they have streamlined their (not CGI's) pipeline somewhat. Otherwise, they have no incentive to remove that 180 warning notice. As a private company, you can expect them to be extra careful. With a 180-day CGI processing time, they would begin to lose (and were likely experiencing a drop in) business related to the OCI. That could have eased the wait time. With a notice that falsely states 40 days of processing time (while actually taking 180 days), they would be lying deliberately and openly. That is less possible, but unlikely.
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Yes exactly i meant to say same. NY consulate used to be taking 2-3 month prior to travisa. Now with travisa everything changed and i am able to get OCI with in month.
Because lot of processing activities taken care of by travisa , the consulate should be simply scanning and forwarding to Delhi for document printing
 
how long does it take to print the granted application ?

Mine was granted March-23-2011, so far it has been 15 days. not printed yet.
who prints and mails the granted application to consulates (in my case its houston).

I see all other timelines for other consulates takes 3-5 days to print the granted application.

We started our application in July 2010 starting with the draconian renunciation rule blah blah blah. After the renunciation, we applied for OCI in August-2010 and acknowledged by houston in Sept-2010.

Whats happening here. Now I am hearing some posts on this thread from Kofking and others that passports that were sent were lost via UPS. If that keeps happening UPS will be out of business. (I am just venting)
 
Anyone with OCI 'U' sticker stamping on new passport (Misc Service) ?

Per OCI Misc services, it says, anyone with age 20 or below should get new sticker on their new passport however looking at the OCI timeline, I am just wondering if it is wise to send it in or just don't worry about it?

When I filled out details on OCI renewal (Misc Service) page, it gave me a pop-up message saying 'It is not necessary to get OCI renewed'.
 
javacafe said:
It is possible though that Houston CGI will be handling all those past applications all by themselves. And, the applications sent to Travisa after March 15 will be handled on an outsourced basis. In that case, there is a distinct possibility that we may see some of the later applications finishing off earlier than the applications sent directly to Houston CGI prior to March 15. That will be a travesty, but at the CGI, who worries about fairness and justice!

I know a few people, who could have applied in January and February, but waited until March 15, so that they could apply through Travisa. When Travisa's web site specifically mentions 40 days of processing time for Houston, after having shown 180 days for a while, it is more reasonable to assume that they have streamlined their (not CGI's) pipeline somewhat. Otherwise, they have no incentive to remove that 180 warning notice. As a private company, you can expect them to be extra careful. With a 180-day CGI processing time, they would begin to lose (and were likely experiencing a drop in) business related to the OCI. That could have eased the wait time. With a notice that falsely states 40 days of processing time (while actually taking 180 days), they would be lying deliberately and openly. That is less possible, but unlikely.
Click to expand...

Travisa applications will get approvals long before pre-March 15 applicants to CGI Houston -- guaranteed.

The cruel joke will be when CGI Houston either informs us of lost application or incorrect/incomplete application and asks to reapply through Travisa, all the way at the back of the queue.

As for "private company falsely claiming 40 days of processing time" -- check CGI Houston webpage for OCI. They talk about 40 day processing time through Travisa -- no mention of people who applied before March 15.

This is a monopoly people. What are you going to do? Move to another state and apply at another consulate? "Punish" CGI Houston by not going to India? Take your "business" to Pakistan instead? File RTI? Then you will have catch-22 where more time will be spent on RTI work and not on visa processing. Every way, we lose.
 
dallasn400guy said:
When I looked at the Houston Consulate's website, at one place it says that only two photos are required and in another place it says that five photographs are required. How many photographs are actually required? Can I send the US passport photo with a white background? Please advice. Thanks. Dallas N400 Guy
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Two pictures as per new rules. I don't know if US passport will work or not. Everything else is right for the US passport picture but background has to be non-white.
 
OCIJungle said:
how long does it take to print the granted application ?

Mine was granted March-23-2011, so far it has been 15 days. not printed yet.
who prints and mails the granted application to consulates (in my case its houston).

I see all other timelines for other consulates takes 3-5 days to print the granted application.

We started our application in July 2010 starting with the draconian renunciation rule blah blah blah. After the renunciation, we applied for OCI in August-2010 and acknowledged by houston in Sept-2010.

Whats happening here. Now I am hearing some posts on this thread from Kofking and others that passports that were sent were lost via UPS. If that keeps happening UPS will be out of business. (I am just venting)
Click to expand...

We are also in the same boat. No change in the status yet.

------------------------------------------
Application Received Date: 27-AUG-2010
Date of Acknowledgement: 29-SEP-2010
Photo Scanned : 29-SEP-2010
Registration Status Granted: 31-MAR-2011
 
Since printing happens in delhi for all consulate, does any body had printing done for OCI where registration was granted on or after March 25, 2011?
 
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