March 17, 2022:
Dear all,
I wanted to share my OCI experience through BLS Toronto, Canada.
I hope this helps the new applicants & I encourage everyone to please add your experiences too.
My ordeal started way back in 2018 when I started the OCI process, but simply gave up coz of how unorganised & cumbersome the whole process was & not surprisingly it still is.
Cut to June 15th, 2021(when it looked a little less complicated), I decided, I will apply for OCI again & accordingly, I filled the form & booked an appointment at the BLS office Toronto (with a wait time of over 3 months for OCI at the time).
The center was chaotic & short staffed.
I had been to the center once way back in 2015, to get Visa. It was bad even then, but because it was just a Visa, maybe it wasn't that much of an issue for me.
These are my issues I faced & how the messy the whole system is:
The whole process is so cumbersome & unnecessarily complicated.
1) The center is pathetically short staffed. I have mixed feelings about the staff there though. I know many people complain about the lack of empathy & desire to help amongst the staff. But the one who served me was very understanding. I made a mistake on my first submission & was given the chance to correct it the same day. But, I missed something else the second time(my fault) & was asked to rebook the appointment (which was again after 6 months).
HACK: Book it under any appointment (Visa, Passport etc.) that's available (not necessarily OCI). And if you are confused with the process & unsure, book 2 appointments within a gap of a week or so. So that if you have to come again, you don't have to wait for another 2 months. And if you are all done the first time itself, make sure you cancel the second appointment so that someone else gets the chance.
2) The online process & the website itself (both OCI & BLS) is archaic. Its a mess, right from uploading the photo & signature (where it asks you to crop it so many times & still doesn't accept it) to the inability to correct the form once filled.
If you miss even a letter on the form, you will need to fill the whole form again. Why can I not correct the online form as & when needed till I am at the center & the form can then be finalized at the counter once the rep verifies all the details. Will save so much time & hassel.
3) The details on OCI site or the BLS website don't match the requirement at the BLS center. They can ask for random document like your spouses landing paper or marriage certificate etc., when your application is not even based on the Marital relationship.
HACK: Make sure you carry all originals including the ones you may think doesn't even apply to your case eg: Your spouses passport, their PR, their Landing paper, Your kids documents, Your Employment Letter etc. Just go through the checklist for all applications(OCI, Visa etc.) & carry them all. You can get copies at the center for a charge.
4) Everyone at the BLS center or on their website appears to be pushing you to avail courier service (pick up & drop), which I am sure is because they make money out of it. But you shouldn't be forced to do it, when you don't have to.
I have no issues with courier if someone really needs it. But for me, I was more concerned about requiring to send any originals through courier (When I first started my application in 2018, they required you to send your spouses Original passport). Seriously? Can I trust you with that? Because of how unorganized the whole process is, I am not comfortable handing them any original documents to keep.
5) Anyways, I booked another appointment for Jan 2021(got it after 3 months again). Yet again I was asked to submit original landing paper, Citizenship certificate etc. (Not part of the checklist) But I wasn't comfortable so I asked him if I can submit anything else instead. So we agreed on marriage certificate (do note, that my application was not based on my spouse still they wanted to send my marriage certificate - (But I was ok as I had 2 original copies of it). I don't understand the logic behind requiring originals when the rep at the counter do their due diligence already & verify all your documents anyways + you are sending them the copies of your cancelled passport, surrender certificate etc (which can be verified through government data). With all said n done, I finally submitted the application & was also asked to pay for courier (when I could simply come to the center to pick up - a separate counter could have been set up just to handover documents for everyone who wants to pick up).
What I found amusing was, once you pay for the service you are given an ugly looking passport cover (which doesn't even fit) as a "GIFT".
Do yourself a favor: Don't put it on, coz you very likely will end up tearing your passport & if somehow you mange to ft your passport in, you will be asked at the airport to remove it again anyways.
6) Now its the wait game --- The BLS site again isn't of much help to track the application. I submitted my application on Jan 2022 & as per processing timeline, I should have received the OCI in 6 weeks. Accordingly I was trying to keep a track of the status. But, the only status I could see was when they sent the originals back through courier (which was after a week) & that's it. No status after that. Whereas, technically they should have updated the whole timeline at every step of the way.
Cut to March (after 5 1/2 weeks of submission) .. I am thinking, that my application is delayed & therefore to be safe I also applied for a Tourist Visa after waiting for the status for 5.5 weeks, as I had plans of visiting my family in April. Tried called the BLS customer service line before that, but again no response.
HACK: Choose the options for SALE eg. Courier booking etc. You may get connected
.
7) Now ..2 days after I applied for Visa, I get a message from the courier company that something's being delivered back to me. I had a feeling that it could be my Visa application that's being sent back with some or the other excuse.
Unsure & confused I pulled the courier tracking number up & found that the package was connected to my OCI application.
Now I am concerned again, because there is no update online & I am thinking are they sending my OCI application back again with some excuse.
So I go check the OCI status online again & there it shows updated to "DISPATCHED" (exactly on the same day I got the courier alert).
Where was it dispatched from ?
What happened to the receipt date of MEA, India?
Status of Decision? Printing Status ?
or When it left MEA, India?
Nothing?
Thankfully, I was relived when I found out that it was the OCI card & I received it exactly in 6 weeks (the stated processing time)
But, because of how unorganized the whole process was with no update & no communication, I ended up spending an additional $200 for Visa & the courier that I don't even need now.
FINAL THOUGHTS: If you can afford to use courier service, go for it. But make sure you don't send important originals. They can lose it & your packet is not even insured. Courier service is less cumbersome & you don't have to keep looking for appointments.
If you are near the center & can take time off, do visit the center. They will take one way courier from you anyways under whatever pretext.
Ideally, the online process or the process at center should have been much easier & you need not pay additional money. But such is the process currently.
All thanks to the super intelligent, the super smart, the super knowledgeable "IAS" officers of India, who are responsible for making these illogical process decisions, I don't see things changing anytime soon.
Hope this was helpful !!
All the best to everyone.
I hope the process is smoother for you
Dear all,
I wanted to share my OCI experience through BLS Toronto, Canada.
I hope this helps the new applicants & I encourage everyone to please add your experiences too.
My ordeal started way back in 2018 when I started the OCI process, but simply gave up coz of how unorganised & cumbersome the whole process was & not surprisingly it still is.
Cut to June 15th, 2021(when it looked a little less complicated), I decided, I will apply for OCI again & accordingly, I filled the form & booked an appointment at the BLS office Toronto (with a wait time of over 3 months for OCI at the time).
The center was chaotic & short staffed.
I had been to the center once way back in 2015, to get Visa. It was bad even then, but because it was just a Visa, maybe it wasn't that much of an issue for me.
These are my issues I faced & how the messy the whole system is:
The whole process is so cumbersome & unnecessarily complicated.
1) The center is pathetically short staffed. I have mixed feelings about the staff there though. I know many people complain about the lack of empathy & desire to help amongst the staff. But the one who served me was very understanding. I made a mistake on my first submission & was given the chance to correct it the same day. But, I missed something else the second time(my fault) & was asked to rebook the appointment (which was again after 6 months).
HACK: Book it under any appointment (Visa, Passport etc.) that's available (not necessarily OCI). And if you are confused with the process & unsure, book 2 appointments within a gap of a week or so. So that if you have to come again, you don't have to wait for another 2 months. And if you are all done the first time itself, make sure you cancel the second appointment so that someone else gets the chance.
2) The online process & the website itself (both OCI & BLS) is archaic. Its a mess, right from uploading the photo & signature (where it asks you to crop it so many times & still doesn't accept it) to the inability to correct the form once filled.
If you miss even a letter on the form, you will need to fill the whole form again. Why can I not correct the online form as & when needed till I am at the center & the form can then be finalized at the counter once the rep verifies all the details. Will save so much time & hassel.
3) The details on OCI site or the BLS website don't match the requirement at the BLS center. They can ask for random document like your spouses landing paper or marriage certificate etc., when your application is not even based on the Marital relationship.
HACK: Make sure you carry all originals including the ones you may think doesn't even apply to your case eg: Your spouses passport, their PR, their Landing paper, Your kids documents, Your Employment Letter etc. Just go through the checklist for all applications(OCI, Visa etc.) & carry them all. You can get copies at the center for a charge.
4) Everyone at the BLS center or on their website appears to be pushing you to avail courier service (pick up & drop), which I am sure is because they make money out of it. But you shouldn't be forced to do it, when you don't have to.
I have no issues with courier if someone really needs it. But for me, I was more concerned about requiring to send any originals through courier (When I first started my application in 2018, they required you to send your spouses Original passport). Seriously? Can I trust you with that? Because of how unorganized the whole process is, I am not comfortable handing them any original documents to keep.
5) Anyways, I booked another appointment for Jan 2021(got it after 3 months again). Yet again I was asked to submit original landing paper, Citizenship certificate etc. (Not part of the checklist) But I wasn't comfortable so I asked him if I can submit anything else instead. So we agreed on marriage certificate (do note, that my application was not based on my spouse still they wanted to send my marriage certificate - (But I was ok as I had 2 original copies of it). I don't understand the logic behind requiring originals when the rep at the counter do their due diligence already & verify all your documents anyways + you are sending them the copies of your cancelled passport, surrender certificate etc (which can be verified through government data). With all said n done, I finally submitted the application & was also asked to pay for courier (when I could simply come to the center to pick up - a separate counter could have been set up just to handover documents for everyone who wants to pick up).
What I found amusing was, once you pay for the service you are given an ugly looking passport cover (which doesn't even fit) as a "GIFT".
Do yourself a favor: Don't put it on, coz you very likely will end up tearing your passport & if somehow you mange to ft your passport in, you will be asked at the airport to remove it again anyways.
6) Now its the wait game --- The BLS site again isn't of much help to track the application. I submitted my application on Jan 2022 & as per processing timeline, I should have received the OCI in 6 weeks. Accordingly I was trying to keep a track of the status. But, the only status I could see was when they sent the originals back through courier (which was after a week) & that's it. No status after that. Whereas, technically they should have updated the whole timeline at every step of the way.
Cut to March (after 5 1/2 weeks of submission) .. I am thinking, that my application is delayed & therefore to be safe I also applied for a Tourist Visa after waiting for the status for 5.5 weeks, as I had plans of visiting my family in April. Tried called the BLS customer service line before that, but again no response.
HACK: Choose the options for SALE eg. Courier booking etc. You may get connected
.
7) Now ..2 days after I applied for Visa, I get a message from the courier company that something's being delivered back to me. I had a feeling that it could be my Visa application that's being sent back with some or the other excuse.
Unsure & confused I pulled the courier tracking number up & found that the package was connected to my OCI application.
Now I am concerned again, because there is no update online & I am thinking are they sending my OCI application back again with some excuse.
So I go check the OCI status online again & there it shows updated to "DISPATCHED" (exactly on the same day I got the courier alert).
Where was it dispatched from ?
What happened to the receipt date of MEA, India?
Status of Decision? Printing Status ?
or When it left MEA, India?
Nothing?
Thankfully, I was relived when I found out that it was the OCI card & I received it exactly in 6 weeks (the stated processing time)
But, because of how unorganized the whole process was with no update & no communication, I ended up spending an additional $200 for Visa & the courier that I don't even need now.
FINAL THOUGHTS: If you can afford to use courier service, go for it. But make sure you don't send important originals. They can lose it & your packet is not even insured. Courier service is less cumbersome & you don't have to keep looking for appointments.
If you are near the center & can take time off, do visit the center. They will take one way courier from you anyways under whatever pretext.
Ideally, the online process or the process at center should have been much easier & you need not pay additional money. But such is the process currently.
All thanks to the super intelligent, the super smart, the super knowledgeable "IAS" officers of India, who are responsible for making these illogical process decisions, I don't see things changing anytime soon.
Hope this was helpful !!
All the best to everyone.
I hope the process is smoother for you
