OCI - New York Tracker

NY OCI application.....

Applied - April 11, 07
Acknowledgement online - Not yet....

Has anyone applied after that date? Do you see your submission as acknowledged?
 
My Timeline at NY CGI

Date Application (PART A) filled online 07- APR-07
Date Application Mailed 09-APR-07
Date Of Acknowledgment 17-APR-2007
Registration Status Granted On 27-APR-2007
Photo/Signature Scanned On 20-APR-2007
Documents Printed On 28-APR-2007
Documents Dispatched From Delhi On 28-APR-2007
Documents Received at NEW YORK CGI on 04-MAY-2007
Passports mailed to NEW YORK CGI on 04-MAY-2007
OCI/Passports received on 12-MAY-2007

:cool: DUAL CITIZEN :)
 
Did I do it right?

I dispatched my application on May 19 (for myself, my wife and two minor children), containing these supporting documents to CGI New York:

Notarized copies of:

  • US passports,
  • Indian passports (my wife's and mine)
  • children's (US born) birth certificates

I did not send any ORIGINALS.

Also sent two color pictures (one on each copy of application), size of 40 mm X 40 mm, with light blue background and all the specifications (face versus background ratio etc) taken care of.

My children are 9 and 2 years old, so I used their left thumb impressions in the box for signature (black ink), which did not come out as great as it would when they do it for greencard, but that was the best I could do (by the way, it is so ridiculous a requirement, in my view).

Well, do I have good chances to get my OCI application approved without having to resubmit anything?

I am feeling a little anxiety, as I am dealing with Indian govt. (no offense).

Jaydeep
 
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I think you should be fine....though I would have submitted PIO applications for the children since it costs $155 versus the $275 for OCI and then upgraded the PIO to an OCI for $25 more at my leisure.
 
My timeline

Date application sent -- 5/2/2007

Date application acknowledged 5/15/2007
date status granted 5/18/2007
date photos scanned 5/17/2007
date documents printed 5/19/2007

Documents received at New York ?
 
Discrepancy in number of pictures required

Thanks for giving me courage, burbs1!

I also noticed that Houston CGI has different requirement for number of pictures to be attached: It is 6 pictures, versus New York CGI requirement of only two! Why is that?

When I inquired CGI NY about this, they told me that I needed 6 pictures...
Contradictory to that, at least THREE friends on mine have successfully completed their OCI process and obtained the cards without any hassle, using ONLY TWO pictures (CGI NY).

Does anyone know why?

Thanks.

Jaydeep
 
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Is this normal for Summer?

Date application sent -- 5/2/2007

Date application acknowledged 5/15/2007
date status granted 5/18/2007
date photos scanned 5/17/2007
date documents printed 5/19/2007

Documents received at New York ?

My document were delivered to CGI NY on 5/21/07

No acknowledgment till date!

Is that normal? I see that other posts show a quicker turnaround time for acknowledgment but the one in May. And now I am also seeing a rather slow process for my case.

My question: When should I start worrying about my application?

How would I know what was the reason for not acknowledgment , and how to know what I need to do to satisfy any requirement that was not?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Jaydeep
 
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My document were delivered to CGI NY on 5/21/07

No acknowledgment till date!

Is that normal? I see that other posts show a quicker turnaround time for acknowledgment but the one in May. And now I am also seeing a rather slow process for my case.

My question: When should I start worrying about my application?

How would I know what was the reason for not acknowledgment , and how to know what I need to do to satisfy any requirement that was not?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Jaydeep

You are still within the acceptable timeline for OCI processing at CGI,NY. Give it about 2 weeks for the acknowledgment to show up online. Just keep checking the online status and the status should get updated as your application flows through the system.
 
I think you should be fine....though I would have submitted PIO applications for the children since it costs $155 versus the $275 for OCI and then upgraded the PIO to an OCI for $25 more at my leisure.

Spoken like a true "desi"!!!

BTW, don't we need to include the return mailing charges ($17)..And is it per family or per application??
 
desinowpardesi....I take it as a compliment thought that may not be your intent since you are now a "pardesi" (per your nick!!)

As it is all the travel documents plus expedite fees plus shipping cost a fortune so any opportunity to save some money (specially if a family has 2 children such as mine) would be well taken by the general audience for whom such travel documents are intended in the first place (OCI/PIO).

Plus an important consideration is time - PIO cards are generally processed much faster than OCI - 4 weeks versus 3 months for OCI which might be another consideration for people with new-born infants who might need to travel and who have already obtained their OCI documents previously.
 
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Three Months?

desinowpardesi....I take it as a compliment thought that may not be your intent since you are now a "pardesi" (per your nick!!)

As it is all the travel documents plus expedite fees plus shipping cost a fortune so any opportunity to save some money (specially if a family has 2 children such as mine) would be well taken by the general audience for whom such travel documents are intended in the first place (OCI/PIO).

Plus an important consideration is time - PIO cards are generally processed much faster than OCI - 4 weeks versus 3 months for OCI which might be another consideration for people with new-born infants who might need to travel and who have already obtained their OCI documents previously.

Does it really take three months to get OCI? I thought it was only four weeks or so!

Jaydeep
 
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Does it really take three months to get OCI? I thought it was only four weeks or so!

Jaydeep

I don't think so. CGI, NY is pretty quick at processing OCI. So far I have applied for 3 OCI's for me and my family and they have all be processed within 4-5 weeks.
 
Thanks!

Thanks, MasterUSA!

I am still curious about what each step means, and at which step can one firmly say that their OCI application had no issues or objections.

Also, how does CGI NY communicate with the applicants about what needs to be corrected and how?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Jaydeep
 
Thanks, MasterUSA!

I am still curious about what each step means, and at which step can one firmly say that their OCI application had no issues or objections.

Also, how does CGI NY communicate with the applicants about what needs to be corrected and how?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Jaydeep

You can safely say that your OCI application has no issues once the status shows up as "Granted" on the OCI Status web page.

Although I am not sure of this, I think the OCI Status page is used by CGI,NY to communicate with the applicants. Otherwise they may use the e-mail ID that you have entered during OCI registration. I never had any issues with my OCI application so not sure.
 
So far so good, but...

You can safely say that your OCI application has no issues once the status shows up as "Granted" on the OCI Status web page.

Although I am not sure of this, I think the OCI Status page is used by CGI,NY to communicate with the applicants. Otherwise they may use the e-mail ID that you have entered during OCI registration. I never had any issues with my OCI application so not sure.

Thanks, MasterUSA!

Couple of last questions (for anyone who may know the answer):

  • If there is any issues with my application, would I know about it within first few days or not until later?
  • Has anyone ever seen any issues with their application? Can you share your experience, if so?

Since May 31 (acknowledgment date), it has been showing "under process" for the registration status. I hope this means that I did not have any issues.

Thanks, and apologies for sounding so anxious - but when there is no communication offered from the agency that you are heavily depending on for your entire life's plans, one would normally feel that way!

Jaydeep
 
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Thanks, MasterUSA!

Couple of last questions (for anyone who may know the answer):

  • If there is any issues with my application, would I know about it within first few days or not until later?
  • Has anyone ever seen any issues with their application? Can you share your experience, if so?

Since May 31 (acknowledgment date), it has been showing "under process" for the registration status. I hope this means that I did not have any issues.

Thanks, and apologies for sounding so anxious - but when there is no communication offered from the agency that you are heavily depending on for your entire life's plans, one would normally feel that way!

Jaydeep

Now that your application has been acknowledged, just chill. There is no need to worry. Wait for 2 weeks or so then your status will change to "Granted" if there are no issues.

Relax and let your application work its way through the system. That's all I can say. :)
 
Now that your application has been acknowledged, just chill. There is no need to worry. Wait for 2 weeks or so then your status will change to "Granted" if there are no issues.

Relax and let your application work its way through the system. That's all I can say. :)

Thanks again, MasterUSA!

You made me feel a lot better. The only possible issues that I fear are:

  • background color in the pictures (was not as light as I wanted)
  • Thumb impression of my daughters did not come out as crisp as I wanted
  • My signatures on US passports (and therefore on OCI application as well) are longer showing full first name, MI and last name than how I had it for my Indian passport (as back then I did not know any better, so I signed as "jvnanavaty"). This change was initiated when I had applied for US passport where application office had told me to sign in FULL rather than just "jvnanavaty"). However, on my notarized copies of US and Indian passports I have signed BOTH ways to show connection.

May god be with me!

Thanks!

Jaydeep
 
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Received OCI card and stamped passport- excellent service from NewYork CGI

I received my OCI booklet and PP stamped today
mailed Application on May 2,2007
received OCI card and PP on June 5,2007
very impressed with the whole process

mailed PP on May 29 and recd PP back June 5. Sent MO for $15.00 , no issues and recd the PP back by express mail ($16.25)
 
Moving along!

My story has started moving:

Mailed: May 19
Received at CGI NY: May 21
Acknowledged: May 31
Photo/Signature Scanned: June 5


How am I doing so far in terms of qualifying for OCI? I guess I am doing good time wise!

Jaydeep:)
 
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Bingo!

Mailed: May 19
Received at CGI NY: May 21
Acknowledged: May 31
Photo/Signature Scanned: June 5
Registration Status: GRANTED June 7 (Indian time) = June 6 (EST, USA)


Documents printed: June 7


Only thing to wait for is the dispatching and receiving of documents.

Hats off to the OCI office personnel. By the way, I wonder why we are praising CGI NY, when majority of the process happens in New Delhi. And that is why another intriguing fact is that different CGI have different turn around time, even though the central processing spot is New Delhi! Any thougnts?

Jaydeep
 
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