OCI - San Francisco Tracker

miyengar, It is great. I am glad things worked out for you. All your posts have been helpful to me and others who are in the same boat. I am glad travisa has decided not to collect the passports along with the oci-applications after 6/15.
 
Received passport and OCI via FedEx today, 06/03/2011.

Thanks to all the folks sharing their experiences - speakamericano, Gundas, forumuser123 in particular and the OCI forum veteran Ginnu for patiently answering everyone's queries.

This is the overall timeline, close to 2 months.


Travisa:
--------
04/06/2011 : Service order form completed online
04/07/2011 : OCI application mailed via USPS
04/08/2011 : OCI application arrived in the mail at Travisa Outsourcing
04/21/2011 : Order form and supporting documents received, payment processed
04/27/2011 : Documents prepared to go to Embassy
04/28/2011 : Documents dispatched from Travisa Outsourcing Office to Consulate
05/31/2011 : Outsourcing office has verified the OCI is processed correctly. Ready for pickup between 4:30pm and 6:00pm. If mail back, waiting for FedEx pick up and is likely to be mailed out tomorrow.
06/01/2011 : Passport mailed out.


MHA:
------
Date Of Acknowledgment : 28-APR-2011
Photo/Signature Scanned On : 29-APR-2011
Registration Status Granted On : 29-APR-2011
Documents Printing Status : PRINTED
Documents Printed On : 13-MAY-2011, 14-MAY-2011
Documents Dispatched to Concerned Mission/Office on : 16-MAY-2011
Documents Received at SAN FRANCISCO On : 31-MAY-2011
 
speakamericano said:
NP@ idk... and congrats! you finally got the OCI
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Ty Ty, feel relieved that I don't have to deal with this again, at least for the foreseeable future.

The renunciation process and the certificate is a fine sham! All the consulate has done is affixed a stamp and written a effing date on a piece of paper that I filled in. No signature, no nothing. They also folded it in 4 and sent it back torn.

speakamericano said:
Ginnu ji ke paas har sawal kaa jawab hai.. He's the wikipedia of OCI forums.
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Let's designate him as Ginnupedia for the OCI planet!
 
I agree with you on the renunciation process. It sucks...they don't even write anything in the box. Just a stamp for which you pay $175.00

Is anyone else experiencing technical difficulties with this forum ever since this website went down. I use firefox and this website was reported as an attack page for 3-4 days and now when I type a message it shows, "Error posting the message" and it deletes the whole thing.
 
speakamericano said:
...
Is anyone else experiencing technical difficulties with this forum ever since this website went down. I use firefox and this website was reported as an attack page for 3-4 days and now when I type a message it shows, "Error posting the message" and it deletes the whole thing.
Click to expand...

The "Error posting message" is probably something else, unrelated to the website going down. The admins fixed the server and brought it back up. I also sometimes see a "Server busy" message, probably when number of users are more.
 
question, my uncle has an OCI card that was issued to him when he was 55 years old and at the time he still had a couple years left before his US passport was to expire. His passport is expiring in January and he wanted to know does he need to transfer the visa into his new US passport or can he use his old one still?

Regards
 
Gundas.. he doesn't have to do anything with his OCI anymore. If he wishes to go to India he needs to carry:
His new US passport, OCI registration Booklet, and the old US passport in which the U-visa is affixed.

If he wishes to transfer the visa to his new passport, then he needs to carry only:
His new US passport with the visa transferred and his OCI Booklet.

I don't see any point in transferring the visa as it requires only 1 less thing to carry. It's not worth the OCI hassle, I think. But his opinion may differ.
 
OCI passport pickup

All, I applied for my OCI on May 1 at Travisa-SFO. My OCI (family app) is in registration granted status as of May 27. I need to travel (with in US) around Jun 27 and i will be on a 10 day vacation. It is unlikely that i will get my passports back by the time i travel.

I have opted to pickup my passports in person from Travisa-SFO, when my OCI is approved. I have also provided a backup pre-paid UPS envelope. I am wondering what will happen to my passports if Travisa gets the docs back from India on Jun 30 ? Will they hold on to it until i come back from my vacation. I dont want them to mail it via UPS either since no one will be home to pick it up.

I tried calling Travisa & these guys never answer the phone. Please help!
 
bumper2 said:
All, I applied for my OCI on May 1 at Travisa-SFO. My OCI (family app) is in registration granted status as of May 27. I need to travel (with in US) around Jun 27 and i will be on a 10 day vacation. It is unlikely that i will get my passports back by the time i travel.

I have opted to pickup my passports in person from Travisa-SFO, when my OCI is approved. I have also provided a backup pre-paid UPS envelope. I am wondering what will happen to my passports if Travisa gets the docs back from India on Jun 30 ? Will they hold on to it until i come back from my vacation. I dont want them to mail it via UPS either since no one will be home to pick it up.

I tried calling Travisa & these guys never answer the phone. Please help!
Click to expand...

If your OCI card is not printed yet, you can take it easy, from the date it is printed, for Travisa to receive it it will take at least 3 weeks between dispatch from India, consulate receiving it, attaching the sticker, aadarniy consul general ji signing it and the consulate handing it off back to Travisa.

To the other question you asked, if you elect to pick up and also attach a prepaid shipping label, this is what happened to me:
http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?213121-OCI-San-Francisco-Tracker&p=2305736#post2305736

Travisa not responding to the phone, that is nothing new. Average wait time is an hour to 3 hours.

If you have provided a UPS shipping label and have the tracking #, you would still be able to track it and have a friend or neighbor pick it up.

If Travisa mails it out via UPS they will email you the tracking #.
 
speakamericano said:
Gundas.. he doesn't have to do anything with his OCI anymore. If he wishes to go to India he needs to carry:
His new US passport, OCI registration Booklet, and the old US passport in which the U-visa is affixed.

If he wishes to transfer the visa to his new passport, then he needs to carry only:
His new US passport with the visa transferred and his OCI Booklet.

I don't see any point in transferring the visa as it requires only 1 less thing to carry. It's not worth the OCI hassle, I think. But his opinion may differ.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I don't think he wants to go through the New OCI process after the horror stories I told him about mine and others here.
 
Hi IDK, when did your case status was updated to PRINTED? My case is 10 days behind yours and want to know when can I expect to see the status changed to PRINTED.
I have an upcoming trip to India in less than two weeks. I am anxious and tensed about whether I will get my OCI and passport in time or not.
I thought of withdrawing my passport and getting the Visa. But it seems even getting visa also takes around one and half week.
Not sure what should I do.

Below is the status as of 6th June.

Travisa:
--------
04/04/2011 : Service order form completed online
04/18/2011 : OCI application mailed via UPS
04/20/2011 : OCI application arrived in the mail at Travisa Outsourcing
04/29/2011 : Order form and supporting documents received, payment processed
05/03/2011 : Documents prepared to go to Embassy
05/10/2011 : Documents dispatched from Travisa Outsourcing Office to Consulate
05/10/2011 : Documents received by Consulate
05/13/2011 : Pending approval of the Government of India


MHA:
------
Date Of Acknowledgment : 10-MAY-2011
Photo/Signature Scanned On : 11-MAY-2011
Registration Status Granted On : 12-MAY-2011
Documents Printing Status : NOT PRINTED
Documents Dispatched to Concerned Mission/Office on : NOT DISPATCHED
Documents Received at SAN FRANCISCO : NOT YET
 
s_ravindranath said:
Hi IDK, when did your case status was updated to PRINTED? My case is 10 days behind yours and want to know when can I expect to see the status changed to PRINTED.
I have an upcoming trip to India in less than two weeks. I am anxious and tensed about whether I will get my OCI and passport in time or not.
I thought of withdrawing my passport and getting the Visa. But it seems even getting visa also takes around one and half week.
Not sure what should I do.

...
Click to expand...

s_ravindranath, my OCI was printed on May-13 and May-14, twice for some reason.

There is no pattern to predict how long it takes for the printing to happen. For some it has been 5 days after granted status and for some it has been 30 days or 40 days.(recent data)

In my opinion 2 weeks is too short a time to hope that the printing happens, and you will get the OCI in hand. There is a slim chance that you will be able to pull this off by writing to Mr Shetty in NIC, calling the consulate etc.., but the chances are very slim.

Your best bet is to do what sfo2blr did and what miyengar planned to do and apply for a visa. You can complete the OCI process once back.

Please read these threads/posts.

http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?213121-OCI-San-Francisco-Tracker&p=2305697#post2305697

http://forums.immigration.com/showt...India-While-OCI-Pending&p=2305731#post2305731

http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?324461-Travel-to-India-While-OCI-Pending

The whole process sucks balls.
 
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sorry for long post

here is info from travisa website
" An OCI holder should apply for re-issue of their OCI card if they are issued a new passport:

For re-issue of an OCI card on a new passport, the following guidelines apply:
•For an applicant who is 20 years of age or younger, OCI documents must be re-issued each time a new passport is issued.
•For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport.
•For an applicant who is 21 to 49 years of age, there is no need to re-issue OCI documents each time a new passport is issued. However, if the applicant desires, he/she can request that the OCI documents be re-issued so that the OCI documents reflect the correct passport number."

speakamericano said:
Gundas.. he doesn't have to do anything with his OCI anymore. If he wishes to go to India he needs to carry:
His new US passport, OCI registration Booklet, and the old US passport in which the U-visa is affixed.

If he wishes to transfer the visa to his new passport, then he needs to carry only:
His new US passport with the visa transferred and his OCI Booklet.

I don't see any point in transferring the visa as it requires only 1 less thing to carry. It's not worth the OCI hassle, I think. But his opinion may differ.
Click to expand...

Even though this works great in almost all cases ... rules says that below 20 and above 50 ... get OCI transferred to new passport everytime it is re-issued.
I know no one ever reported problem with travelling with U visa on old passport (regardless of age).

gundas said:
Thanks for the info, I don't think he wants to go through the New OCI process after the horror stories I told him about mine and others here.
Click to expand...

It is better to go through this painful process while sitting in your home instead of landing in India and getting robbed (bribe and what not) because babu who is on immigration counter knows this rule.

Only thing is you should have time on your side ... apply and forget about it for about three months.

They are changing the rule where you don't have to send your new passport with application, which will reduce some pain.

I am doing this for my 10 yr old ... I have to travel soon but I am guessing his OCI will not come back in time ... its been already one and half months.... it is frustrating and I may withdraw his application if OCI is not printed in another week or so.

But again I have not heard anybody complaining about travelling with U visa on old passport (>20 & <50).

Pain is my destiny ... and I can't avoid it
 
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It looks like SF printing has been stopped since they are printing other consulate OCI cards right now. I have a granted date before some of the Houston and Chicago consulates and theirs were printed and my moms OCI card hasn't been printed yet.
 
adawra said:
sorry for long post

here is info from travisa website
" An OCI holder should apply for re-issue of their OCI card if they are issued a new passport:

For re-issue of an OCI card on a new passport, the following guidelines apply:
•For an applicant who is 20 years of age or younger, OCI documents must be re-issued each time a new passport is issued.
•For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport.
•For an applicant who is 21 to 49 years of age, there is no need to re-issue OCI documents each time a new passport is issued. However, if the applicant desires, he/she can request that the OCI documents be re-issued so that the OCI documents reflect the correct passport number."



Even though this works great in almost all cases ... rules says that below 20 and above 50 ... get OCI transferred to new passport everytime it is re-issued.
I know no one ever reported problem with travelling with U visa on old passport (regardless of age).



It is better to go through this painful process while sitting in your home instead of landing in India and getting robbed (bribe and what not) because babu who is on immigration counter knows this rule.

Only thing is you should have time on your side ... apply and forget about it for about three months.

They are changing the rule where you don't have to send your new passport with application, which will reduce some pain.

I am doing this for my 10 yr old ... I have to travel soon but I am guessing his OCI will not come back in time ... its been already one and half months.... it is frustrating and I may withdraw his application if OCI is not printed in another week or so.

But again I have not heard anybody complaining about travelling with U visa on old passport (>20 & <50).

Pain is my destiny ... and I can't avoid it
Click to expand...

For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport.


An applicant only needs to re-apply for OCI once they turn 50. But from gundas' post, the OCI was issued to his uncle at the age of 55. OCI must be re-issued if the OCI was granted previously at the age of 49 let's say... then yes he would need to have the OCI documents re-issed once he turns 50, but since his uncle got his very first OCI card at the age of 55, there's no need to have the process redone.
 
speakamericano said:
For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport.


An applicant only needs to re-apply for OCI once they turn 50. But from gundas' post, the OCI was issued to his uncle at the age of 55. OCI must be re-issued if the OCI was granted previously at the age of 49 let's say... then yes he would need to have the OCI documents re-issed once he turns 50, but since his uncle got his very first OCI card at the age of 55, there's no need to have the process redone.
Click to expand...


That is how I interpreted the wording to be, that he would have had to get a new OCI if he had the original one when he was <50. Thanks everyone for the feedback...
 
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