AmchiMumbai
Registered Users (C)
We have successfully completed our immigrant visa interview at Mumbai. As usual, this forum and information at cptracker.com was invaluable! Thanks to all who make this experience stressless and predictable.
Here is the brief summary of events of our trip to Amchi Mumbai:
September 14th, 2002
Depart JFK on AF. Arrive Mumbai on September 16th. AF misplaces one of our bags. Was probably sitting at Charles de Gaulle, Paris. Haggle and fight with the Delta people in Mumbai. Finally get some documentation from Delta and leave the airport. Already spent 3 hours at the airport after arrival.
September 17th, 2002
Go to the information window at US consulate to confirm whether any new requirements have been added since they sent out the letter. Confirm if the duplicate letter is sufficient and local PCC is not required. Get favorable replies to all questions.
September 18th, 2002
Medical at Breach Candy. Get there at 7:30 am and register. The guy issues a number. Wait until 8:30 am to get called for payment and report all the shots we had taken or immunity we had (from US). The guy issues another number. Go to Snowman's to have snacks. Now had to wait until 10:30 am to give blood. Gave blood, wait another 1/2 hour and have x-ray taken. Wait another hour, get called for physical. Complete physical and asked to wait in the OPD reception of the main hospital for examination. Wait for 45 minutes at OPD reception, get called by doctor. Most basic examination I have ever undergone in my life. Done in less than 2 minutes. He was more interested in what I did for a living and where I lived in US and how beautiful NJ was! Walk out, another doc takes my BP, says my BP is a little high (I wanted to tell him it was because of the stress of all the waiting, but I stopped...) and gives me a tetanus shot. I start to tell him I have sufficient immunity, and he goes on to say that CDC does not recognize immunity or some mumbo-jumbo! BS, since I have had two tetanus shots in US. Anyway, I get done with my examination by 12:45 pm. Asked to pick up report by 2:30.
Go back to the US Visa Medical building and wife still waiting to be examined. Wait another 1 1/4 hours. Finally she comes out saying the doc did a most thorough examination, asking all sorts of questions. Also, her doc wanted to review all her shots and immunity records before she finalized her medical report. Her doc agreed to call us on our cell and review her decision. She called us two days later stating that her report was fine and that we could collect it that evening. Picked up my and her report two days later. The staff was really surprised that I did not pick up my report that same day!
September 20th, 2002
Tried to find a notary public who would notarize my authority letter so that some one could collect my bag on my behalf. Not having much luck, I went to the airport first thing in the morning and collected my bag. AF / Delta do not deliver bags to passengers who live in Mumbai.
September 24th, 2002
Reached the Consulate at 7:45. The guard checked my letter and said that since my interview time was not until 9:30, I should come back around 9:15. Since we lived about 5 minutes from the Consulate, we went back home, had some more tea and got back to the Consulate around 9:20. Went inside and the guard asked me to stand in the non-immigrant visa line to pick up a token. Told him I had to go to window 10 and he said fine. Gave my appointment letter and the guy (who was pretty friendly but overworked) asked me to take a seat. Met Gaurav Kothari and his wife and chatted with other people there.
Two and half hours later, our name was called on window 12. Really nice guy. Asked me for all the standard documents, asked whether I still worked for the company that filed for my petition, confirm our parents names, made me sign the letter stating I will inform INS if change jobs, made us sign our pictures and then finally asked me for my Mumbai address. He personally changed the address on DS-230-II. Seemed pretty pleased that we were prepared and had all the documents he asked for. Little did he know that we have access to cptracker.com and immigration.com. A few people were asked to go back and take pictures. We had taken ours at My Own Studio. We gave him the pictures in studio's little envelop. He accepted them without blinking. Asked us to wait for our names to be called. Had a sandwich and coffee while waiting. It was lunch time.
Two hours pass by and we get called to window 9. There is an Indian lady and an American lady. As soon as we walk in, we are asked to raise our hand to verify that all the information in the documents is accurate. Yep, we say, and the American lady goes - all our paper work is in order, your visas are approved. We are cancelling your old visas. Please pay at window 1 and come back at 3:30 pm to collect your passports & documents. Thank you! (No, no - thank you!!!)
We promptly pay and walk out. Go home, have a proper lunch and take care of some errands. Reach the consulate at 4:15pm. Are the last ones in the queue. Had to wait less than 2 minutes in the queue and we receive the passports. Check all the information and continue with our shopping!
September 26th, 2002
All-India Bandh declared by opposition to protest the event at Ahmedabad. Spent the whole day home. Got to the Mumbai airport about 3 hours before departure. Stood in the immigration line for about 45 minutes and when he looked at our passports, he searched for the US visas. Found the cancelled visas, and asked us if we had Green cards. We said yep, and showed him the document / packet handed by the US consulate. Verified a few pieces of information and handed us the documents. That it! No more questions. Stamped our passports and we proceeded to customs.
After ten other checks and stamps, we proceed to the Air France gate. Had to argue with some inspector at the last check, since he thought he saw a knife in our luggage and wanted to open every item in our carryon bag.
During our transfer at Paris, the lady again looked at our passport and asked for our US visa. Showed her the document and she knew exactly what it was, verified a few pieces of info and she let us on board.
When we landed in EWR, we walked to the US Permanent Resident / Citizen queue, were the first ones there, and walked straight to the INS agent. Cheerfully welcomed us to US as we handed our passports and the document handed by the US consulate. He wrote our flight number on the document and asked us to go to the INS office. There was an agent waiting at the gate, who escorted us inside and took our passports and documents and asked us to wait. After about 15-20 minutes, another agent walked out and called my name and said that our application was valid and asked me sign in two places and place my inked index finger on two locations. She then asked me to send my wife in, and made her go through the same procedure. She handed her the two passports with I-551 stamped on it. The temporary permanent visa expires in 1 year!?! (Go figure!)
That's it! We merrily walked out of immigration, just to find out that AF had forgotten to carry one of our bags in Paris and that it would be delivered on the next flight. Thankfully, they would deliver it home when they got it. We picked up document for the missing bags, headed for customs, where they circled our answer on our customs form for the question - Did you bring in any food / plants to US as "NO". We had put our remaining bags through the x-ray machine and they decided to open all our bags. We had some spices, some silver items and utensils and some items wrapped in Al foil. Since they could not verify the contents, they opened every wrapper and visually checked every item. That was unnerving. I have heard of quite a few cases where they check bags from India for food, etc. Be very careful when you pack. If in doubt, don't!
Customs did not confiscate any thing, and let us walk out. Headed to the Delta counter to deal with the delayed baggage. They asked me for the keys for the delayed bags, in case the customs decided to open that one too. Sure enough, they did and luckily did not find anything. The bags were delivered home later that night.
Hope that helps. Good luck to you guys and if you have any questions, let me know.
Here is the brief summary of events of our trip to Amchi Mumbai:
September 14th, 2002
Depart JFK on AF. Arrive Mumbai on September 16th. AF misplaces one of our bags. Was probably sitting at Charles de Gaulle, Paris. Haggle and fight with the Delta people in Mumbai. Finally get some documentation from Delta and leave the airport. Already spent 3 hours at the airport after arrival.
September 17th, 2002
Go to the information window at US consulate to confirm whether any new requirements have been added since they sent out the letter. Confirm if the duplicate letter is sufficient and local PCC is not required. Get favorable replies to all questions.
September 18th, 2002
Medical at Breach Candy. Get there at 7:30 am and register. The guy issues a number. Wait until 8:30 am to get called for payment and report all the shots we had taken or immunity we had (from US). The guy issues another number. Go to Snowman's to have snacks. Now had to wait until 10:30 am to give blood. Gave blood, wait another 1/2 hour and have x-ray taken. Wait another hour, get called for physical. Complete physical and asked to wait in the OPD reception of the main hospital for examination. Wait for 45 minutes at OPD reception, get called by doctor. Most basic examination I have ever undergone in my life. Done in less than 2 minutes. He was more interested in what I did for a living and where I lived in US and how beautiful NJ was! Walk out, another doc takes my BP, says my BP is a little high (I wanted to tell him it was because of the stress of all the waiting, but I stopped...) and gives me a tetanus shot. I start to tell him I have sufficient immunity, and he goes on to say that CDC does not recognize immunity or some mumbo-jumbo! BS, since I have had two tetanus shots in US. Anyway, I get done with my examination by 12:45 pm. Asked to pick up report by 2:30.
Go back to the US Visa Medical building and wife still waiting to be examined. Wait another 1 1/4 hours. Finally she comes out saying the doc did a most thorough examination, asking all sorts of questions. Also, her doc wanted to review all her shots and immunity records before she finalized her medical report. Her doc agreed to call us on our cell and review her decision. She called us two days later stating that her report was fine and that we could collect it that evening. Picked up my and her report two days later. The staff was really surprised that I did not pick up my report that same day!
September 20th, 2002
Tried to find a notary public who would notarize my authority letter so that some one could collect my bag on my behalf. Not having much luck, I went to the airport first thing in the morning and collected my bag. AF / Delta do not deliver bags to passengers who live in Mumbai.
September 24th, 2002
Reached the Consulate at 7:45. The guard checked my letter and said that since my interview time was not until 9:30, I should come back around 9:15. Since we lived about 5 minutes from the Consulate, we went back home, had some more tea and got back to the Consulate around 9:20. Went inside and the guard asked me to stand in the non-immigrant visa line to pick up a token. Told him I had to go to window 10 and he said fine. Gave my appointment letter and the guy (who was pretty friendly but overworked) asked me to take a seat. Met Gaurav Kothari and his wife and chatted with other people there.
Two and half hours later, our name was called on window 12. Really nice guy. Asked me for all the standard documents, asked whether I still worked for the company that filed for my petition, confirm our parents names, made me sign the letter stating I will inform INS if change jobs, made us sign our pictures and then finally asked me for my Mumbai address. He personally changed the address on DS-230-II. Seemed pretty pleased that we were prepared and had all the documents he asked for. Little did he know that we have access to cptracker.com and immigration.com. A few people were asked to go back and take pictures. We had taken ours at My Own Studio. We gave him the pictures in studio's little envelop. He accepted them without blinking. Asked us to wait for our names to be called. Had a sandwich and coffee while waiting. It was lunch time.
Two hours pass by and we get called to window 9. There is an Indian lady and an American lady. As soon as we walk in, we are asked to raise our hand to verify that all the information in the documents is accurate. Yep, we say, and the American lady goes - all our paper work is in order, your visas are approved. We are cancelling your old visas. Please pay at window 1 and come back at 3:30 pm to collect your passports & documents. Thank you! (No, no - thank you!!!)
We promptly pay and walk out. Go home, have a proper lunch and take care of some errands. Reach the consulate at 4:15pm. Are the last ones in the queue. Had to wait less than 2 minutes in the queue and we receive the passports. Check all the information and continue with our shopping!
September 26th, 2002
All-India Bandh declared by opposition to protest the event at Ahmedabad. Spent the whole day home. Got to the Mumbai airport about 3 hours before departure. Stood in the immigration line for about 45 minutes and when he looked at our passports, he searched for the US visas. Found the cancelled visas, and asked us if we had Green cards. We said yep, and showed him the document / packet handed by the US consulate. Verified a few pieces of information and handed us the documents. That it! No more questions. Stamped our passports and we proceeded to customs.
After ten other checks and stamps, we proceed to the Air France gate. Had to argue with some inspector at the last check, since he thought he saw a knife in our luggage and wanted to open every item in our carryon bag.
During our transfer at Paris, the lady again looked at our passport and asked for our US visa. Showed her the document and she knew exactly what it was, verified a few pieces of info and she let us on board.
When we landed in EWR, we walked to the US Permanent Resident / Citizen queue, were the first ones there, and walked straight to the INS agent. Cheerfully welcomed us to US as we handed our passports and the document handed by the US consulate. He wrote our flight number on the document and asked us to go to the INS office. There was an agent waiting at the gate, who escorted us inside and took our passports and documents and asked us to wait. After about 15-20 minutes, another agent walked out and called my name and said that our application was valid and asked me sign in two places and place my inked index finger on two locations. She then asked me to send my wife in, and made her go through the same procedure. She handed her the two passports with I-551 stamped on it. The temporary permanent visa expires in 1 year!?! (Go figure!)
That's it! We merrily walked out of immigration, just to find out that AF had forgotten to carry one of our bags in Paris and that it would be delivered on the next flight. Thankfully, they would deliver it home when they got it. We picked up document for the missing bags, headed for customs, where they circled our answer on our customs form for the question - Did you bring in any food / plants to US as "NO". We had put our remaining bags through the x-ray machine and they decided to open all our bags. We had some spices, some silver items and utensils and some items wrapped in Al foil. Since they could not verify the contents, they opened every wrapper and visually checked every item. That was unnerving. I have heard of quite a few cases where they check bags from India for food, etc. Be very careful when you pack. If in doubt, don't!
Customs did not confiscate any thing, and let us walk out. Headed to the Delta counter to deal with the delayed baggage. They asked me for the keys for the delayed bags, in case the customs decided to open that one too. Sure enough, they did and luckily did not find anything. The bags were delivered home later that night.
Hope that helps. Good luck to you guys and if you have any questions, let me know.
Last edited by a moderator:
