Wanted to share my experience at BLS. My wife and I got appointments to surrender our India passports and apply for visa to travel.
Arrived on time at BLS, with our minor daughter. I didn't know that she would need a separate appointment as well. Security did not let her inside and told us that if we wanted to apply for her as we would have to wait in the queue despite having appointments. Anyway, we left her outside in the car with our friends till wife and I finished our paperwork.
Once inside, the lady reviewing our application, said "you haven't filled out your Canadian passport number". I said it wasn't mandatory on the form. She insisted it was, even though that does not have an asterisk when filling out the form online. I asked her what if I hadn't got a Canadian passport made till then. She said then I have give a declaration that I do not have a Canadian passport. Not sure if any of this is mentioned on the documents checklist or this is some new diktat from BLS. I told her, I am carrying my laptop, I can make a fresh application in a few minutes, get a printout and be back. She says, "no your application has a mistake, so your appointment is cancelled. If you want to apply today, you will have to come through the walk in queue".
Anyway, we decided to come back and get another appointment. This time we decided to book appointments for five of us - two adults and three children. I got email confirmations for all the kids, but not for the adults. So I called their number to reconfirm. The guy on the phone was hellbent on selling me Purolator drop off and pick up service. He said, pick up time is limited so since you are a large group, they may not let all of you in at the same time and your will have to come individually one day each to pick up your cancelled passports". He even offered a discounted rate for pick up and drop off service through some complicated calculations.
Anyone here, who has surrendered their Indian passport, could you please confirm if this is true or if this is another scam by BLS.