I had applied for both SC and OCI together and after one month of no news, I had written a couple of complaint emails and finally got a call back from the OCI cell yesterday. The lady said that they do accept both together but doing this will greatly delay your processing. The logic of this makes absolutely no sense but that is what the lady told me. She said basically your SC will processed first and then the SC and cancelled passport will be sent back to you and a copy of SC sent to the OCI to resume your OCI processing. However for anyone reading this that has not yet applied for either, DO NOT apply for both SC and OCI together. Apply for SC/passport cancellation first and after you get those back, then only apply for OCI. Trust me on this one.
So that phone call was yesterday. Today I received a Priority Mail package with both my SC and OCI applications and everything (including all certified checks) returned. They deemed both deficient in some aspect. For SC, they said I did not apply in duplicate. I followed the instruction PDF exactly as they said. Only duplicate they ask for is the copy of the completed application form. I think they want a complete duplicate submission of everything. Bloody idiots expect us to read their minds because they lack the intelligence to provide clear instructions in English.
For my OCI, they wanted a copy of my wife's passport and status in the US. I think this is for my son's OCI application because my wife is not applying for OCI. I realized after I had sent this in, that I needed to add my wife's passport page copies for my son and so this is not a surprise. However, also for my son's OCI application, they asked that both parents sign on the application form but I do not understand where exactly my wife needs to sign. She is not applying for OCI so therefore she shouldn't be signing next to my name as a secondary. But maybe that is what they want but it makes no sense. For the minor applicant (ie, my son), they ask only for the primary applicant (ie, me) to sign the minor declaration so there is no place over there for my wife to sign. Can someone explain to me what they did if they were the only parent applying for OCI along with a child?
Anyway for me, I just lost one month of time and will start by re-applying only for my SC and passport cancellation first before applying for OCIs later.
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