Entry Visa to go to India

[Sindhu1601]

Mine and my husband's have been at the Vancouver consulate for over a week. We have a wedding November 23-25. Needless to say, it looks like we are going to miss it. Everyone other person attending the wedding from Canada had theirs within 3 weeks. Today I called to see if I can fly to Surrey tomorrow to pick it up (we live in Saskatchewan and waiting on Purolator will add extra days). The woman at BLS continued to give me canned answers that did not answer my question. This is by far the most frustrating process ever.

Does anyone know how long from "granted and printed" to arriving at BLS (in terms of days?) I keep hope that I can at least attend 1 day of the wedding, but after a few stressful weeks, it looks like all my efforts are in vein. I don't think I'll ever want to visit India again after this experience, which is sad. I am completely soured by the utter waste of time from my work.

My granted was 17th Nov
21 st Nov in transit to BLS today
So I believe another 3-5 days.
Once you get your visa ,you can travel anytime..get OCI later..

 

[Simba82]

Mine and my husband's have been at the Vancouver consulate for over a week. We have a wedding November 23-25. Needless to say, it looks like we are going to miss it. Everyone other person attending the wedding from Canada had theirs within 3 weeks. Today I called to see if I can fly to Surrey tomorrow to pick it up (we live in Saskatchewan and waiting on Purolator will add extra days). The woman at BLS continued to give me canned answers that did not answer my question. This is by far the most frustrating process ever
Does anyone know how long from "granted and printed" to arriving at BLS (in terms of days?) I keep hope that I can at least attend 1 day of the wedding, but after a few stressful weeks, it looks like all my efforts are in vein. I don't think I'll ever want to visit India again after this experience, which is sad. I am completely soured by the utter waste of time from my work.

Sorry to hear about your situation,i cannot imagine the stress you and many other people are going through ,my application shows transit to bls center since friday and no updates till now went today in the afternoon to bls surrey too enquire about the status, the time is 3 pm to 430 pm and so waiting in line the corrupt guard with glasses at the door(apprently alot of people have mentioned he takes money and gets you in once you pay 200$ and up to him) ,so basically outside its written enquires from 3 pm to 430 pm but no point of going as you have to go early in the morning ,stand in line till maybe 2 pm to get a stupid token given by the idiotic guard which lets you in the afternoon which is enquire time (3 to 430 pm) so why have people come at that time to come and stand and then be sent home while token ones go in....stupidity is beyond words at BLS honestly I just want the passport back now and done with this crap too...

 

[LuannaDR]

Sorry to hear about your situation,i cannot imagine the stress you and many other people are going through ,my application shows transit to bls center since friday and no updates till now went today in the afternoon to bls surrey too enquire about the status, the time is 3 pm to 430 pm and so waiting in line the corrupt guard with glasses at the door(apprently alot of people have mentioned he takes money and gets you in once you pay 200$ and up to him) ,so basically outside its written enquires from 3 pm to 430 pm but no point of going as you have to go early in the morning ,stand in line till maybe 2 pm to get a stupid token given by the idiotic guard which lets you in the afternoon which is enquire time (3 to 430 pm) so why have people come at that time to come and stand and then be sent home while token ones go in....stupidity is beyond words at BLS honestly I just want the passport back now and done with this crap too...

It's been very stressful. We've lost so much on flights and pre-booked travel already, but the most frustrating process seems to be the lack of predictability, and now what appears to be shady business practices. At this point, I would pay the creepy guard $200 if that meant making it to one day of the wedding, but in principal, that just reinforces the bad behaviour. Glad I didn't waste my time flying to Surrey today. I also want my passport back. Before we were invited to the wedding, we had a trip booked elsewhere, but we are stuck here with no updates or answers. Perhaps the most infuriating is that the telephone numbers rarely work and no one can give any proper answers. Still no news on our visas as of this morning.

 

[LuannaDR]

Any idea, where and who i can contact, it's been a month since i have submitted my Visa application and is showing under process since then
Thank you

Any progress for you? Any updates? I talked to BLS today and asked for my passport back. I will miss the wedding. They said it will be at least another week until I receive my passport! This is commercially unreasonable for people who may travel for work. If I can't make it to the wedding, I should just get back to work.

 

[Sindhu1601]

Yep same boat as you still waiting will go and stand in line today to see if i can grab it before they ship it out

Did u by any chance got yours before they shipped...my status is ready for dispatch,when asked in BLS,they said they don't have it..but I saw a status in transit from consulate to BLS 4 dispatch status...

 

[Simba82]

Did u by any chance got yours before they shipped...my status is ready for dispatch,when asked in BLS,they said they don't have it..but I saw a status in transit from consulate to BLS 4 dispatch status...

I went today and stood in line at 7 am waited to get in,luckily got in and they told me that it was arriving at 11 am by courier so waited till 12 and finally got it ,if i had left for courier would have got it by Thursday by purolator

 

[LuannaDR]

I went today and stood in line at 7 am waited to get in,luckily got in and they told me that it was arriving at 11 am by courier so waited till 12 and finally got it ,if i had left for courier would have got it by Thursday by purolator

Thank you - this is helpful. We still have no further updates. When does the BLS website typically get updated? Is there a usual time, or is it just random?

 

[Simba82]

Thank you - this is helpful. We still have no further updates. When does the BLS website typically get updated? Is there a usual time, or is it just random?

When they got my passport they updated my status too ready to dispatch,so after transit that should be the last step

 

[Sindhu1601]

When they got my passport they updated my status too ready to dispatch,so after transit that should be the last step

Thank you so much,if my postal works like the same..I too will try to wait in line...my status has been updated,but they are saying different...since I got time for this 1,I wil wait it out .and for postal wil try to stand...to which BLS did u go BLS Brampton?..

 

[cheire]

Any progress for you? Any updates? I talked to BLS today and asked for my passport back. I will miss the wedding. They said it will be at least another week until I receive my passport! This is commercially unreasonable for people who may travel for work. If I can't make it to the wedding, I should just get back to work.

no progress, same under processing on online status and BLS - processing at visa consulate.
I called BLS, guy said it take 30-45 days, wait for one more week and submit inquiry

 

[Leo0806]

Thank you.

Here is the timeline

28th October - Applied for Visa walking at Brampton
1st November - BLS status: Processing at consulate.
7th November - India website status: Your visa is processed is Granted but Not-Printed BLS Status: Processing at consulate.
11th November - BLS Status: Application courired back to BLS office
14th November - BLS Status: Ready for dispatch
15th November - BLS Status: Dispatched via Courier. 15th evening plurolator tracker activated with application number as reference number
16th November - Passport received

The irony of all : India website status today : Your visa is processed is Granted but Not-Printed

Raju garu,
Who cares what the status is, when you have your visa stamped and got the passport back
The process took lesser time for you compared to the others.
I applied for Tourist Visa by Post yesterday i.e. Nov 21st.
OCI is in Progress.
I have my travel on Dec 20th.
I hope I get the Passport with Visa by then. OCI - No hops of getting it before Dec 20th.

 

[cheire]

Raju garu,
Who cares what the status is, when you have your visa stamped and you go the passport back
The process took lesser time for you than more others. I applied for Tourist Visa by Post yesterday i..e Nov 21st.
OCI is in Progress.
I have my travel on Dec 20th. I hope I get the Passport with Visa by then.

do we need original passport for OCI?

 

[Leo0806]

do we need original passport for OCI?

If you are referring to your Canadian passport,No.
You only need to submit the photocopy of your Canadian Passport, Citizenship certificate, Indian passport surrender certificate, the invalid Indian passport, your employment credentials and your ID.
Please follow the checklist AS IS.

But if your applying in person at the BLSCenter, then would be good to take the originals as they may verify them.

 

[cheire]

If you are referring to your Canadian passport,No.
You only need to submit the photocopy of your Canadian Passport, Citizenship certificate, Indian passport surrender certificate, the invalid Indian passport, your employment credentials and your ID.
Please follow the checklist AS IS.

But if your applying in person at the BLSCenter, then would be good to take the originals as they may verify them.

i have applied for visa, now i think i should apply for OCI as will. My visa application is taking now almost double processing time than my family, who already got their passports back

 

[Leo0806]

i have applied for visa, now i think i should apply for OCI as will. My visa application is taking now almost double processing time than my family, who already got their passports back

I have applied for both. First OCI and now Tourist Visa.
Only problem is, our Passport is stuck with the Consulate and BLS while the Tourist Visa is being processed.