OCI - New York Tracker

You need to submit the original PIO card with the OCI application

smdk said:
Is it OK to send notarized copies of PIO cards of my kids rather than sending the original with applying for OCI?
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The instructions say to submit both the original PIO card as well as a copy of it with the OCI application.

"• Holders must submit the original PIO card and a copy of the PIO Card with the OCI application."
 
mgkrishna said:
I agree with the list with those three included. FYI, I sent the following list of documents (in each set) for myself, my wife and my son (who is a PIO holder). I've sent two copies with each set, as I didn't want to take any chance. All are self-attested, except the copy of PIO (FYI, a friend of mine got OCI recently and he also sent a notarized copy of PIO, not the original - so the application at this stage will not contain any originals):


1. Application with reference number (Part A + B)
2. Copies of US Passports (2 for self + 2 for wife + 2 for son)
3. Copies of Birth Certificates ( 1 for self + 1 for wife + 1 for son)
4. Notarized PIO card copy of son
5. Two copies of first three pages and last two pages of cancelled Indian passports (for self and wife)
6. Two copies of surrender certificates (2 for self + 2 for wife)
7. Copies of naturalization certificates (1 for self + 1 for wife)
8. Copy of Marriage certificate
9. Proof of residence in USA for self (electricity bill + gas bill + property tax statement)
10. Proof of residence in USA for wife (Drivers’ license + bank statement)
11. Copies of M.Tech and SSC certificates of self
12. Copies of M.Com and SSC certificates of wife
13. Two additional photographs (2 for self + 2 for wife + 2 for son)
14. Money order in the amount of $695 ( $275 for self + $275 for wife + $145 for son)

I've also attached an additional page for item (22) on the application, as we have many family members in India and the space provided on the application is not enough to fit them all.
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Thanks JPBoston.
I was referring to the above post. Looks like they just send notarized copy of PIO cards and got their OCI.
 
smdk said:
Thanks JPBoston.
I was referring to the above post. Looks like they just send notarized copy of PIO cards and got their OCI.
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Yeah I would go by the instructions published on the website. It is possible that mgkrishna forgot to mention it or he just got lucky that the CGI did not notice this. In the end, the OCI is going to replace the PIO card so submitting it in original makes sense.
 
Send Notarized copy for PIO

SMDK,

FYI, I applied for my OCI on Jul 9th and my Application is approved/OCI cards dispatched and will be collected by me this week.

Regarding my kids, I had submitted colored notarized Copy their PIO card (2 sets) and it was accepted w/o any issues.. Unless the rule has changed again, I would not recommend submitting your original during the application process that can take anywhere bet. 2-3 months to complete.

For e.g - if you did submit the original PIO and then say had an emergency situation that requires you to travel with your Kids, then what happens? will you be applying for a temp. visa for your kids? No way.... you already have a PIO!

If you look at the section for "OCI-Arrival details of card" , their they clearly mention the following ->

" If the applicant is a PIO card holder, he/she is also required to surrender the PIO card to Consulate" . i.e. you need to submit the original US passports and PIO card once your application is approved and OCI card dispatched.

Hope this clarifies your Q

Good luck


UOTE=smdk;2221202]Getting ready to apply for OCI (CGI -NY)
I remember reading in this thread few days ago.
Is it OK to send notarized copies of PIO cards of my kids rather than sending the original with applying for OCI?

Thanks[/QUOTE]
 
soKrazzy4 said:
If you look at the section for "OCI-Arrival details of card" , their they clearly mention the following ->

" If the applicant is a PIO card holder, he/she is also required to surrender the PIO card to Consulate" . i.e. you need to submit the original US passports and PIO card once your application is approved and OCI card dispatched
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This just goes to show how inconsistent the CGI-NY are because in the OCI information page, they also say this:

Indian Passport/PIO Card: If your Indian passport is already cancelled, you need to send only copy of the relevant pages and cancellation certificate. If holding PIO card, it should be enclosed in original with the OCI application.

This sort of conflicting information is what is a real pain dealing with these people.
 
JPBoston said:
This just goes to show how inconsistent the CGI-NY are because in the OCI information page, they also say this:

Indian Passport/PIO Card: If your Indian passport is already cancelled, you need to send only copy of the relevant pages and cancellation certificate. If holding PIO card, it should be enclosed in original with the OCI application.

This sort of conflicting information is what is a real pain dealing with these people.
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JP, I can understand your pain and how misleading the info can be on the OCI application/arrival section. My recommendation was more from my own experience and the practical approach I adopted for the application process. I don't see any reason why any consulate would want to lock down your original travel documents for 2-3 months.

Good Luck
 
soKrazzy4 said:
JP, I can understand your pain and how misleading the info can be on the OCI application/arrival section. My recommendation was more from my own experience and the practical approach I adopted for the application process. I don't see any reason why any consulate would want to lock down your original travel documents for 2-3 months.

Good Luck
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Yes, I understand your explanations and I myself don't have a PIO card to deal with when applying for OCI. I was only calling out there is contradictory info on the CGI website. This makes the whole application process seem like you really are flipping a coin and hoping that the CGI agrees with whichever instructions path you choose to follow.
 
dr_rks said:
other possibility is that they are overworked
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I see them acknowledging around 200 applications on certain days and around 20+ on certain other days. My observation over the past few weeks makes me think that 500 is a decent figure for the average number of application they process every week. Even after that if they still have a backlog of around 4 to 6 weeks, that really means they are lazy bureaucrats. May be some or even all of those working in the OCI section are overworked like you said, but overall they are too lazy to address this issue of huge delays. Like JP said, there are numerous ways to address this issue and find a solution; the sad thing is that they are not doing anything about it. It appears that the Consul General is more interested in getting photographed with celebrities and publishing those on the CG-NY web page; also he likes to be addressed Ambassador Consul General - yes, he was an ambassador some time back in some place, but he is not one now. May be it is correct to address him so, but I thought it would be misleading as a country has only one ambassador in another country. Also true that he takes some action on each individual complaint he gets, but is clearly is not interested in addressing and fixing the problem for good! The way they address the SC delay is by increasing the projected processing time from time to time. In a couple of months span it went up from 3 days to 7 days to 3 weeks! Imagine the money they are making from the SC/OCI business; around $140,000 per week from the OCI alone! And they still can't afford to hire more people if needed.
 
koblu said:
mgkrishna - what does it say under Registration Status for you ? I had an update today - mine says 'UnderProcess'.
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Another update today ..
Does anyone know if the photos/signatures are scanned at CGNY or Delhi ?
 
koblu,
I belong to the DC section, but can comment from experience that the photo/scan is done here in the US. The "Image Processing, Accepting/Rejecting" is done at the beloved "Pixar Lab:):) in DELHI"

My photos were rejected the first time and had to submit new sets in person at DC. While submitting I inquired about the workflow and was told that the DC office would simply scan and submit to DELHI. It is up to DELHI to accept/reject the photo.

If I am not mistaken, Houston or Chicago has another workflow where the applicant can scan and email their picture if it was rejected the first time:):)... That is cool!!!

Good luck
 
gc4us said:
koblu,
I belong to the DC section, but can comment from experience that the photo/scan is done here in the US. The "Image Processing, Accepting/Rejecting" is done at the beloved "Pixar Lab:):) in DELHI"

My photos were rejected the first time and had to submit new sets in person at DC. While submitting I inquired about the workflow and was told that the DC office would simply scan and submit to DELHI. It is up to DELHI to accept/reject the photo.

If I am not mistaken, Houston or Chicago has another workflow where the applicant can scan and email their picture if it was rejected the first time:):)... That is cool!!!

Good luck
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Good to know - thanks !
 
OCI Status

Finally my status show "documents printed". I have to deal with guys in the language they understand and finally they are expediting my application for OCI. I would go personally to get the OCI instead of sending my US passport as I do not trust these guys.
 
usindus said:
I see them acknowledging around 200 applications on certain days and around 20+ on certain other days. My observation over the past few weeks makes me think that 500 is a decent figure for the average number of application they process every week. Even after that if they still have a backlog of around 4 to 6 weeks, that really means they are lazy bureaucrats. May be some or even all of those working in the OCI section are overworked like you said, but overall they are too lazy to address this issue of huge delays. Like JP said, there are numerous ways to address this issue and find a solution; the sad thing is that they are not doing anything about it. It appears that the Consul General is more interested in getting photographed with celebrities and publishing those on the CG-NY web page; also he likes to be addressed Ambassador Consul General - yes, he was an ambassador some time back in some place, but he is not one now. May be it is correct to address him so, but I thought it would be misleading as a country has only one ambassador in another country. Also true that he takes some action on each individual complaint he gets, but is clearly is not interested in addressing and fixing the problem for good! The way they address the SC delay is by increasing the projected processing time from time to time. In a couple of months span it went up from 3 days to 7 days to 3 weeks! Imagine the money they are making from the SC/OCI business; around $140,000 per week from the OCI alone! And they still can't afford to hire more people if needed.
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They actually publish that it takes 4 weeks to acknowledge the application. may be we are spoiled by how fast the things work here in the US, but 4 weeks is unacceptable.

http://indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=174&partid=100&sub=sub6

Processing Time: It takes about four weeks to acknowledge OCI application online and it takes about six-eight weeks to process the OCI application. If you do not see progress after two months, please send an e-mail quoting web application reference number (starting with USANI-------).
 
smdk said:
They actually publish that it takes 4 weeks to acknowledge the application. may be we are spoiled by how fast the things work here in the US, but 4 weeks is unacceptable.

Processing Time: It takes about four weeks to acknowledge OCI application online and it takes about six-eight weeks to process the OCI application. If you do not see progress after two months, please send an e-mail quoting web application reference number (starting with USANI-------).
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I applied for both SC and OCI together and it is 5 weeks plus after they received my application at the CG-NY. I haven't seen the acknowledgment yet, which means they are clearly not holding on to the promised time line of 4 weeks.

Also, they say it take 'about' 6 to 8 weeks for the complete process and contact them ONLY after 2 months if we don't see ANY progress. That means I am supposed to contact them only after the time promised for the entire process is over even if my application is not acknowledged in 7 weeks, for example! That is clearly not service!

Are we spoiled by how fast things work here? May be yes, but then we working with the consulate here and probably pay more than the actual fee in rupees set by GOI. Somehow I am not very comfortable when my old Indian Passport get stuck with them for ages. What if I need to travel to India on an emergency? It would be a nightmare even to try and get an emergency Visa without the old Indian Passport being canceled first.
 
I applied for both SC and OCI together
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aren't we supposed to apply separately? i can't recall but one of the consulate's site said apply separately. i could be wrong though or this process has changed since then
 
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