OCI - New York Tracker

This is from San Fransisco site:

Instructions regarding Dispatch of OCI cards from CGISF

We are required to affix the U-visa on your US/foreign passport and also deliver the OCI card to you (and your family, if applicable). In order to complete the work, you are requested to:

Step 1: Send your and your family member’s US passport/s and PIO card/s, if any, to us by mail marking attention to "OCI (Dispatch)", Consulate General of India, 540 Arguello Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118.

Step 2: Kindly quote applicant’s/applicants file number and current address in a cover letter along with the passports.

Step 3: In Case return mail charges, or pre- paid envelope was not sent earlier, enclose a self addressed stamped (Postage Prepaid $17.50) USPS Express Mail envelope for returning the passport. Please ensure that the complete current mailing address is mentioned on the USPS Express Mail envelope.

Step 4: In case you have acquired a new US/Foreign passport since you applied for OCI, kindly send Expired US/Foreign passport in original and a photocopy of first page of new US/Foreign Passport. The U visa sticker has to be pasted on the Passport with which application was made.

Important:

There is no option for personal pick-up. US/Foreign Passport should be sent by MAIL only. It will take 7-8 working days for the OCI Cell to mail back the passport and OCI card.


I am in situation referenced here in Step 4. NY office required me to do Misc. Service by paying $25 and refiling for OCI certificate. To date it has not been completed and unfortunately the status is not changing on online status check. What can I do? Any suggestions?
 
OCI Stamping at NY on Jun 3rd

Hello All

Just wanted to share my experience of getting the OCI stamping at NY consulate.

My (along with my son) approved OCI documents were received by NY consulate on May 27th. Due to the SC fiasco, I decided to wait until the dust settled.

Background: I became citizen 2 years ago and my son is born in USA. My India Passport was not cancelled.

Yesterday morning at 11:40 AM, I reached the consulate at 64th street. It was absolute chaos. Couple of hundered people scrambling to get their SC for various reasons.

I approached Window 4 (OCI card). It was empty as the gentleman was trying to process some paperwork and was directing everyone to Window 3 (which was not too much crowded as well, may be 10 mins wait). However when I quickly explained him (less than 30 seconds) that I will be travelling to India in July, he took our US passports and asked me to come back at 5 PM.

I was puzzled that he did not ask for my Indian passport or travel document or Surrender Certificate, but I hoped for the best and left. In all, i spent less than 10 minutes in the consulate. On the other side of the hall (window 5, 6, 7, 8), it was like a jungle. No rules and no direction.

I am still confused why 100s of people trying to get the SC certificate in a hurry (did i miss anything?). As per my understanding, if you got the citizenship before May 31st, you do not need SC, and I really doubt anyone who got the citizenship in last three days would rush to get OCI that fast.

Anyway, I came back around 4:45 PM. There was a long line outside of the consulate but very disciplined. Within 15 minutes, I was at the Window 3, the gentleman asked for my last name and gave me our passports. Then I asked him to cancel my passport, but in a very polite way, he waived his hands to say, probably, "I can't do it now, you can see line behind you", or "forget about it for now, we have other things to worry about", or, "you need to apply for it separately".

So I got my OCI and passport is still not cancelled :)

One more thing I would stress that we should not blame the consulate employees too much. I think the culprit is the GOI. There were may be 6 working windows to handle several hundred people, with each of them having a unique situation to discuss. They may not be polite in some situations, but they all looked very stressed due to the workload. Also the space at the consulate is very little, so that adds to confusion and chaos as most of the people do not even know where the line start or end.

Then its our indian brothers, who would spend at least 10 minutes each at the window, hoping to get a different answer than the one that they got to begin with. I noticed men and women trying to sneak into the lines without any shame.

It does not make much senses to have 2 rooms at the most expensive location in the NY city, when you could buy 4x more space just around 3rd ave and 30th to 40th streets, which would still be prominent location, but with formal waiting area etc.

Anyway, depending on what I read on this forum next few days, I will plan to visit the consulate again to get the SC.

Thanks a lot for your comments. It has been very helpful all along since I applied for Labor in 2000.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
tanha-one said:
I am still confused why 100s of people trying to get the SC certificate in a hurry (did i miss anything?). As per my understanding, if you got the citizenship before May 31st, you do not need SC, and I really doubt anyone who got the citizenship in last three days would rush to get OCI that fast.
Click to expand...

I would think a lot of people were there trying to get back their hopefully unused Cashier's Checks before the US Consulate quickly cashed them and then said "Sorry, no refunds on checks that have already been cashed!" which seems to be happening now.
 
That could be true, but there was some chatter about "travisa needs it", "we can't get the visa" " we are flying next week" and they all looked as if they really needed the SC ASAP. Could it be that its a pre-requisite to get the visa for the US citizens?
 
Out of curiosity, I checked out the travisa site and the following could explain the long SC line at the consulate...

"Persons of Indian Origin Alert - Effective June 1st, 2010, 3:30PM EDT
Persons of Indian Origin, his/her spouse and dependent children will be granted only an Entry visa and should not apply for a Tourist visa. View Entry visa requirements.

New York Jurisdiction: Cancelation of Indian passports must be done with the New York Consulate directly before you can apply for an Entry visa. Please contact the New York Consulate directly to cancel your Indian Passport "
 
rupnet485 said:
I sent this email today after having checked with my bank that the certified check was en-cashed yesterday(06/03/2010) after the FEE CHANGE happened.... it just does not make sense how would they still take the money of the OLD FEE on 06/03/2010...
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Is it possible that Consulate sent the MO for encashing before Jun 1, and it got encashed on 3rd.

I just checked with my bank (DCU) if my MO (sent on 5/24) is encashed, and found it's not encashed yet. There is no way to put hold on it. I can request refund by sending $15 fees, and a form to Minnesota office to MoneyGram (who issued the MO).

The way these money transfers work is beyond me, and there can be some timing issues.
 
pb74 said:
Is it possible that Consulate sent the MO for encashing before Jun 1, and it got encashed on 3rd.

I just checked with my bank (DCU) if my MO (sent on 5/24) is encashed, and found it's not encashed yet. There is no way to put hold on it. I can request refund by sending $15 fees, and a form to Minnesota office to MoneyGram (who issued the MO).

The way these money transfers work is beyond me, and there can be some timing issues.
Click to expand...

I guess thats possible but still waiting to hear from the consulate for an explanation which may never happen at all. I still have not received anything(OCI stamp/Surrender certficate!!) on the mail from consulate either which makes me really angry that they may have processed it after the FEE change.

However, there are quite a few folks(lucky ones, I guess!!) on this forum who either got email/phone call that thiers not yet processed and will be processed with the new fee structure.

Either way, GOI is still sitting on what to do with many who had been robbed off $175 per application instead of $20 for the interim period.

As with others, I will wait and see as well. What else one can do at this point?
 
No renunciation forms on web site now

NY consulate has now removed all info and forms on the renunciation/surrender.

The OCI checklist web page does not list surrender at all - it does mention "Indian passport cancelled copies required" - but that is too vague - since in the past they said it had to be cancelled in a specific way and using a specific form - is that no longer true?

And all other consulate web sites still ask for and have the renunciation forms - not sure if NY is going to update their web pages with even newer info in this ongoing fiasco.

Also - I would not complain much about the consulates - this mess is the making of the IFS officers in the GOI in Delhi - some dimwit there came up this plan and forced the consulates to jump.
Certainly there is the issue of fraud and of people keeping Indian Passport even after getting US citizenship - but simple logic suggests that OCI appliers are not using Indian Passports! So how will forcing OCI applications to "renounce" reduce fraud? Seems very stupid to ask people who are getting visas on non-Indian passports for another fee for renunciation. To stop fraud, they should instead ask all Indian Passport holders, when submitted for any consular service or when arriving in India from US, to sign an affidavit saying they have not taken up foreign citizenship , and that lying will mean jail time, and no visa to India ever. That would eliminate fraud in a jiffy!
 
I too have gotten this generic answer from the CGINY(Dr. Anju Kumar) though they have encashed the money yesterday...

****
As of now, the fee already charged as applicable on the day of service rendered/application registered is not being refunded. If there is any further development on this issue, we'll keep you informed through our website.
 
and another evidence of cheating.... in earlier posts of Arjun's in this forum the CGINY only included the date of services rendered.... whereas the email they sent to me today added one more date....

....service rendered/application registered is not being refunded....


TERRIBLE!!!!!
 
rupnet485 said:
and another evidence of cheating.... in earlier posts of Arjun's in this forum the CGINY only included the date of services rendered.... whereas the email they sent to me today added one more date....

....service rendered/application registered is not being refunded....


TERRIBLE!!!!!
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I just got my SC. As Dr. Dutta metnioned, don't know what do with it! Unfortunately I feel terrible because my check got cashed 05/25. Not only had I paid the $175 but $250 in penalty. For my wife and I, $810 in the hole. I am writing emails as suggested by some to the consulate. Let's hope for the best. As far as OCI is concerend it is acknowledged and scanned, hopefully gets approved soon as they don't need the SC anymore.
 
too_complicated said:
I just got my SC. As Dr. Dutta metnioned, don't know what do with it! Unfortunately I feel terrible because my check got cashed 05/25. Not only had I paid the $175 but $250 in penalty. For my wife and I, $810 in the hole. I am writing emails as suggested by some to the consulate. Let's hope for the best. As far as OCI is concerend it is acknowledged and scanned, hopefully gets approved soon as they don't need the SC anymore.
Click to expand...

Today I have noticed that any news item related to Surrender Certificate has been removed from the CGNY website. I believe this drama is still unfolding. Probably they will take the fee out totally for cancelling the passports, which is the right thing to do anyway. I really feel bad for guys who have paid up, lets pray they open their eyes and be fair and return the money.
 
Waiting for SC or canceled passport

I sent $175 fees with application to get SC for me and my wife on May 17th no responce any kind, keep calling Consulate diff. number but nobody picking up. not sure what to do, my OCI application returned last month asking for SC.

any advise?

Thanks
 
kmunna said:
I sent $175 fees with application to get SC for me and my wife on May 17th no responce any kind, keep calling Consulate diff. number but nobody picking up. not sure what to do, my OCI application returned last month asking for SC.

any advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat. They are not responding to any emails as well. Looking at your dates, similar to mine, it seems they have lost or misplaced a bunch of applications. Since the rule to swap the new fees have been applied early last week, there is no way they can hold our applications without informing us. And if they do not have it and processed and mailed, it should have been with us a week ago. At this point I am treating my old passports as lost. They have removed all references to the surrender certificate on the website and there is no info what to do if the passports are lost. I am planning to go there in person and get the OCI.
 
kmunna said:
I sent $175 fees with application to get SC for me and my wife on May 17th no responce any kind, keep calling Consulate diff. number but nobody picking up. not sure what to do, my OCI application returned last month asking for SC.

any advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Resend the OCI application. The SC will proably be returned to you

Arjun
 
Today I got SC and canceled passport.

Also, Resubmitted my OCI aplication along with copy of canceled passport and SC.

SC application was sent on 15th May and received by CHI-NY on 17th May.
 
I know about a Child OCI Card. Child had PIO Card and on her PIO card was her Thumb impression. Child OCI was applied with Parents OCI and child is 7 year old and on OCI application Child signed her name. Later for OCI collection her PIO card and US passport was sent for OCI collection to Indian consulate new York and her OCI booklet is signed by Vice Consul Pushpa Kumar and on her OCI card it does not have Child Signature and Signature part is Blank and all the other information is correct. I don’t know if child will have problems for Entry to India or not. NYC consulate sent her OCI and U visa in US passport but they did not sent cancelled PIO Card.
 
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