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Good morning, everyone & Happy Monday. I have a question for people sending their OCI application by post/purolator. Did you receive the original documents back in good shape? How long did it take for you to receive the originals after verification? I am scheduled to mail my documents tomorrow, but I am getting a bit anxious and worried about sending all original documents. Any insight from a fellow OCI applicant would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. Cheers!
 
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@Hot2Cold @vvarma

Are there any other documents which needs to be uploaded apart from the one listed below?
  • Current Passport: Canadian Passport
  • Indian Origin Proof: Indian passport with cancelled and surrendered stamp (Just Indian Canceled PP or Surrender Cert as well?)
  • Indian Visa: CoPR with stamp of landing
  • Marriage Certificate
What about this Employment/Work letter, do we need to upload this one as well?
 
Are you complaining about why the Vancouver jursdiction gets to do it together or are you complaining why the toronto jurisdiction doesn't allow it now after allowing that for years?

Cause if its the former, then I being from Vancouver can tell you that you are being selfish. Just because the east has a different process doesn't mean the western offices need to follow the same.

If later then you for sure can ask them why they changed the process? I don't think they need to give you an answer back as you are no longer an Indian citizen so they aren't really answerable to you anymore. One could argue that they are somewhat answerable to you as you are paying for the service but that's a different discussion.

Not trying to be rude and sorry if it came out that way but reading your original post, it seems to me that you wanted the Vancouver process to be deliberately changed to match the eastern process.

@vvarma @prt22 Thanks for the comments :) . I understand your point of view. I am not going to comment anyhting. here is the copy of the email that was sent. Thanks again.




Very inconsistent information



Alex
to hc.ottawa@mea.gov.in, dhcoffice.ottawa@mea.gov.in, hoc.ottawa@mea.gov.in, +2
4 days ago
Details
Good evening Sir/Madam,

1) The information is very inconsistent and documents checklist doesn't match with the link below from hci Ottawa FAQ.

2) Bls checklist for Ottawa is inconsistent for the surrender certificate.

Under checklist it asks for Canadina Passport Copy with an An asterisk .
* Additional document for Foreign Passport holders required, please see details in Information Booklet

Under Information Booklet , it is mentioned Original Canadian passport + Copy.

(e) Canadian / Foreign Passport (Original and copy) Please enclose photo page of your Canadian / Foreign Passport having photographs and details of your passport. Original Passport is required to be submitted for verification, it will be returned back after verification. Copies must be self-attested (signed) by the applicant. # In case of foreign passport i.e., other than Canadian please provide additional documents about Status in Canada (PR / Work Permit / Study Permit / Visa)

Contact center says copy enough.

3) The FAQ has 119 dollars and the BLS has 345 .

4) No appointments available past 3 months and next 2 months for Ottawa Jurisdiction, we don't even know if something really available in June 2022.

If BLS had hard time to maintain please outsource the contact center or high commission can handle all application through online ( I'm sure indian stake holders need to look for some upgrades in digital revolution).

It is way easy to get indian passport in India than surrender it in Canada and get OCI. It's a nightmare.

Billions of dollars sent by OCI holders and NRI's , we whish the services had met some good standards.

3 Jurisdictions have 3 different policies and conditions, makes no sense to understand. Please extend all services to all BLS centers where appointments not available.

Please update your website with fee details,

Link below.


https://www.hciottawa.gov.in/pages?id=4&subid=37&nextid=93

Thank you

Bedt regards,

Alex

P.S. I was the family doctor for first and second secretery for HCI Maldives (2010-2012) & Ambassador ,Embassy of India ,Kabul, Afghanistan (2014-2015) , reach out to them if you would like to know my accomplishments with HCI Maldives & Embassy of India ,Kabul, Afghanistan. I Put Many afforts in changing the set of Guidlines for Medical visas and Paitnet transportation which lead to significant changes in the process.
 
@vvarma @prt22 Thanks for the comments :) . I understand your point of view. I am not going to comment anyhting. here is the copy of the email that was sent. Thanks again.




Very inconsistent information



Alex
to hc.ottawa@mea.gov.in, dhcoffice.ottawa@mea.gov.in, hoc.ottawa@mea.gov.in, +2
4 days ago
Details
Good evening Sir/Madam,

1) The information is very inconsistent and documents checklist doesn't match with the link below from hci Ottawa FAQ.

2) Bls checklist for Ottawa is inconsistent for the surrender certificate.

Under checklist it asks for Canadina Passport Copy with an An asterisk .
* Additional document for Foreign Passport holders required, please see details in Information Booklet

Under Information Booklet , it is mentioned Original Canadian passport + Copy.

(e) Canadian / Foreign Passport (Original and copy) Please enclose photo page of your Canadian / Foreign Passport having photographs and details of your passport. Original Passport is required to be submitted for verification, it will be returned back after verification. Copies must be self-attested (signed) by the applicant. # In case of foreign passport i.e., other than Canadian please provide additional documents about Status in Canada (PR / Work Permit / Study Permit / Visa)

Contact center says copy enough.

3) The FAQ has 119 dollars and the BLS has 345 .

4) No appointments available past 3 months and next 2 months for Ottawa Jurisdiction, we don't even know if something really available in June 2022.

If BLS had hard time to maintain please outsource the contact center or high commission can handle all application through online ( I'm sure indian stake holders need to look for some upgrades in digital revolution).

It is way easy to get indian passport in India than surrender it in Canada and get OCI. It's a nightmare.

Billions of dollars sent by OCI holders and NRI's , we whish the services had met some good standards.

3 Jurisdictions have 3 different policies and conditions, makes no sense to understand. Please extend all services to all BLS centers where appointments not available.

Please update your website with fee details,

Link below.


https://www.hciottawa.gov.in/pages?id=4&subid=37&nextid=93

Thank you

Bedt regards,

Alex

P.S. I was the family doctor for first and second secretery for HCI Maldives (2010-2012) & Ambassador ,Embassy of India ,Kabul, Afghanistan (2014-2015) , reach out to them if you would like to know my accomplishments with HCI Maldives & Embassy of India ,Kabul, Afghanistan. I Put Many afforts in changing the set of Guidlines for Medical visas and Paitnet transportation which lead to significant changes in the process.
Alex, I can attest to the inconsistencies in information provide between different branches of BLS and between BLS and HCI. Very frustrating, but I guess this is what we need to work with. Sad reality of things. HCI seems to wash their hands off all the paperwork and we end up with abysmal service from BLS at a cost :(
 
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It seems the change.org petition which was started against BLS had some impact. They again opened up more appointments at Brampton office for April & May. Earlier they were showing that there are no appointments available & were trying to sell them. Hope they stopped other malpractices as well
Brampton appointments are all closed now. :( Ditto in Ottawa.
 
entry visa question - do we need one photo or two?
anyone know. some places it is mentioned one but cgi website says two.
can anyone clarify?
 
Does any one know the Surrey BLS is open on Sat? Are there any time for pick ups? I remember seeing between 3to 4:30 but cant find it now.
I went to BLS Surrey to see if I can pick up, but they checked and they have received my OCI. They had no idea on when can I expect. So I thought meaning of the "Counter Delivery to BLS" would be that
Hey - any update on your online status? And did you manage to collect it?
No. I went to the Surrey BLS on Sat. But they did't have the OCI yet. Then I thought the meaning of "Counter Deliver to BLS" mean that the consulate has shipped or in process of shipping back to the BLS center. And they said you can not expect the OCI within 1 month of applying. :oops:
Even if they get it they make sure it has to be more then a month.
 
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i thought visa and oci are in different buildings now. so essentially not sure if we can use a visa appointment for oci
Different centres are operating differently but people in past have been able to submit Surrender/OCI using for eg. visa type appointment. When security guard ask what type of appointment you have just say Surrender/OCI as per your case. You should be able to sneak-in.
 
Even if they get it they make sure it has to be more then a month.

This just seems so unnecessary. I guess they want to take their own sweet time mailing out applications so they will keep it in a different queue until it has been more than 1 month