OCI process

[abbas.pasha]

The consulate in Vancouver is useless. They received my OCI application on 24-July and the status still shows 'Under Processing'. Even getting the surrender certificate was slow. Don't know why that is compared to Toronto. I would think there are more applications in Toronto than Vancouver. You think they would stick to the timelines.

What's the status on OCI website ? https://ociservices.gov.in/statusEnqury
Usually OCI processing through Vancouver is 12+ weeks where through Toronto it is about 8 weeks.

 

[Ishar]

Hey Guys,

we are waiting for surrender certificate and after that I will be applying for OCI and i see the process is taking really longer. we are planning to go to India for long term and may be permanently. If I apply for the visa at the same time, and use the visa to go to India. And someone at our home will receive our OCI and bring it back to us in India, will we have to leave the country honouring the visa as we entered on Visa? Please help

 

[torono24]

Hey Guys,

we are waiting for surrender certificate and after that I will be applying for OCI and i see the process is taking really longer. we are planning to go to India for long term and may be permanently. If I apply for the visa at the same time, and use the visa to go to India. And someone at our home will receive our OCI and bring it back to us in India, will we have to leave the country honouring the visa as we entered on Visa? Please help

I know someone in a similar situation. They concluded that if they do go to India on visa, then they would have to leave India first and then return with the OCI. The reasoning was that it would be too complicated to convert their visa entry into an OCI entry later. There's no clear procedure for doing so. And for sake of avoiding complications with border control or MEA, you want your entries and exits properly done. Your best option would be to get the OCI and then move to India as it would remove all complications, but I understand you don't want to wait. Then your next best option is to first apply for OCI, make sure you at least get an acknowledgement that your application was received by the consulate, in parallel apply for India visa, go to India, then leave India when OCI is ready in Canada, and finally return to India on OCI. May be the last step can be shortened by using a closer second country like UAE (Dubai) and return to India from Dubai on OCI.

 

[Prateek710]

Applied today as walk in at surrey office Vancouver jurisdiction for OCI. Will update with the timelines when it arrives

 

[forw.jane]

Hey Guys,

we are waiting for surrender certificate and after that I will be applying for OCI and i see the process is taking really longer. we are planning to go to India for long term and may be permanently. If I apply for the visa at the same time, and use the visa to go to India. And someone at our home will receive our OCI and bring it back to us in India, will we have to leave the country honouring the visa as we entered on Visa? Please help

If you have time in hand better apply for entry visa and then apply for OCI from India after six months. That's better then exiting and entering India again to use OCI.

 

[torono24]

If you have time in hand better apply for entry visa and then apply for OCI from India after six months. That's better then exiting and entering India again to use OCI.

Entry visa processing times are as bad as OCI. If one has time to apply for entry visa, might as well try for OCI instead. If entry visa processing times were better and fast, I agree this would be a reasonable option.

 

[Navs11]

The consulate in Vancouver is useless. They received my OCI application on 24-July and the status still shows 'Under Processing'. Even getting the surrender certificate was slow. Don't know why that is compared to Toronto. I would think there are more applications in Toronto than Vancouver. You think they would stick to the timelines.

I agree with you. BLS Vancouver received my application on June 28th. Acknowledgement date on OCI Site shows July 16th. No updates so far.

When I emailed CGI, the reply i got was a generic one.

"This application came to us from BLS on 16/07/2024.

It will take about 3 months from this date to process and dispatch the OCI card to BLS" Hopefully we can expect some updates end of this month or early next month, if you have ack date close to mine.

 

[ankurbhatia17]

Mine is Aug 2nd… no updates so far

I just checked the status and it says processed on Sept 17th
Its for BLS Ottawa.

 

[jay_i_am]

I agree with you. BLS Vancouver received my application on June 28th. Acknowledgement date on OCI Site shows July 16th. No updates so far.

When I emailed CGI, the reply i got was a generic one.

"This application came to us from BLS on 16/07/2024.

It will take about 3 months from this date to process and dispatch the OCI card to BLS" Hopefully we can expect some updates end of this month or early next month, if you have ack date close to mine.

I got the same reply. that it take 3-4 months to get OCI. I was hoping to go to India first week of October. Now I have to apply for e-visa.

 

[Kman318]

I got the same reply. that it take 3-4 months to get OCI. I was hoping to go to India first week of October. Now I have to apply for e-visa.

Same..flying in second week of Oct

 

[phanikiran.kara]

Hello guys. I am getting ready for the big day. Walkin to BLS this week. My employer gave me a signed pdf which has all details needed but they say they wont issue letter heads anymore. As a pdf, it looks official and all but if I print it on plain paper, it is not that impressive as expected. Can anyone please throw light on if its ok. Have you guys used online pdfs, signed / unsigned and still BLS accepted it? Please help as I am tensed.

 

[forw.jane]

Hello guys. I am getting ready for the big day. Walkin to BLS this week. My employer gave me a signed pdf which has all details needed but they say they wont issue letter heads anymore. As a pdf, it looks official and all but if I print it on plain paper, it is not that impressive as expected. Can anyone please throw light on if its ok. Have you guys used online pdfs, signed / unsigned and still BLS accepted it? Please help as I am tensed.

Yes I did the same. Printed the PDF office gave me and it worked for BLS Ottawa. Mostly they just want to know you don't work for government.

 

[yemanja79]

I submitted mine on Aug 1st and it's also showing 'under process' i.e 'processing at high comission'. When I applied the person at the counter said it takes 2 - 3 months for Ottawa. A comment on this thread a few weeks back said I think 8 - 9 weeks or something. Keeping fingers crossed for us Ottawa folks.

Update today for OTTAWA application

Jurisdiction: Ottawa
Type: Walk In
Acknowledgement: Aug 3rd
Documents Printing: Sep 17th

FYI: I had to check the GOI tracking site for the update, since this does not reflect on the BLS site yet

 

[torono24]

Anyone with updates for OCI application via BLS-TORONTO center?

 

[Fastfurious]

Oci proceeded to day

I just checked the status and it says processed on Sept 17th
Its for BLS Ottawa.

same here processed on sept 17. When can i expect oci