FaisalAnsari
New Member
Greetings,
I am a Pakistani born naturalized US citizen, living in Atlanta. My US based employer has asked me to visit India to conduct some business meetings. So I visited Consulate General of India in Houston on Jan 11, 2007, applied in person with all required documentation. Lady at the counter accepted the application and informed me that it may take 2-3 weeks to process.
However, I have heard from other sources (including IBT, a concierge firm that arranges for visas on behalf of applicants) that Indian Consulate takes an average of 3-6 months to process an application. In one case, a visa application has been pending for over 9 months. This is only applicable to Pakistani born US citizens.
My concern is that the timing of my trip is critical to the business. So I seek answers to the following questions:
1 - Can I do anything to expedite the process?
2 - What prompts a visa processing to take such a long time?
3 - Does working with an offshore provider in India gives the application any preferred status as we are effectively outsourcing our entire helpdesk to India, and that is a good thing for the Indian economy?
Any help is appreciated. If someone has gone through a similar process, can you please share your experiences, and how long it took you to obtain a visa?
Thanks very much,
Faisal
I am a Pakistani born naturalized US citizen, living in Atlanta. My US based employer has asked me to visit India to conduct some business meetings. So I visited Consulate General of India in Houston on Jan 11, 2007, applied in person with all required documentation. Lady at the counter accepted the application and informed me that it may take 2-3 weeks to process.
However, I have heard from other sources (including IBT, a concierge firm that arranges for visas on behalf of applicants) that Indian Consulate takes an average of 3-6 months to process an application. In one case, a visa application has been pending for over 9 months. This is only applicable to Pakistani born US citizens.
My concern is that the timing of my trip is critical to the business. So I seek answers to the following questions:
1 - Can I do anything to expedite the process?
2 - What prompts a visa processing to take such a long time?
3 - Does working with an offshore provider in India gives the application any preferred status as we are effectively outsourcing our entire helpdesk to India, and that is a good thing for the Indian economy?
Any help is appreciated. If someone has gone through a similar process, can you please share your experiences, and how long it took you to obtain a visa?
Thanks very much,
Faisal