OCI process

[farooq.ind]

Hello,

I am expecting my OCI to be delivered at BLS Toronto on 26/27 Oct 2023 and my flight to India is on Nov 1st 2023. Is it possible to go and pickup the OCI in person from BLS or I am bound to wait for the courier? I will miss my flight if I wait for courier but I can make it if there is an option to go an pickup from BLS.

Anyone have any idea? I tried to call BLS but it goes to IVR always which is not of any help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eas2lv]

Hello,

I am expecting my OCI to be delivered at BLS Toronto on 26/27 Oct 2023 and my flight to India is on Nov 1st 2023. Is it possible to go and pickup the OCI in person from BLS or I am bound to wait for the courier? I will miss my flight if I wait for courier but I can make it if there is an option to go an pickup from BLS.

Anyone have any idea? I tried to call BLS but it goes to IVR always which is not of any help.

Thanks in advance.

This should be possible. BLS has a FAQ item on this -- they say you have to do this the day the document arrives in their office as they may courier it soon after. Please share your experience here if you do this.

 

[oci applicant]

I think your should wait to hear back from the consulate as this kind of situations may be handed in a case by case basis. Otherwise you have a high chance of getting application returned by BLS and waste time and money on courier. When you finaly apply, include the comunication with consulate so that BLS will know how to process it.
You maybe able to call purolator and reschedule the pickup to a later date.

Ok thanks for that will Hold on to it then..

 

[farooq.ind]

In that case I would just go and pickup all three. I have heard of cases where BLS status not changing to "dispatched by courier" or "ready for pickup" when it should have.

Are you allowed to go to BLS and pick up OCI from there in person?

 

[forw.jane]

Timeline for SC
Walkin application at BLS Ottawa - Aug 26
Received SC - Oct 18

Is BLS ottawa accepting walkins for OCI application? we have an appointment for Nov 22 as we didn’t expect SC anytime soon looking at others timelines.

It would be amazing if we could drop our application sooner than Nov 22

They do accept walkin. 8-9 am appointments are not given, so they quickly process walkin. I did the same.

 

[eas2lv]

Are you allowed to go to BLS and pick up OCI from there in person?

That was a case in Brampton where collection is an option and he had opted for it. For your case where you paid for courier see my remark to your earlier post.

 

[forw.jane]

Timeline for SC
Walkin application at BLS Ottawa - Aug 26
Received SC - Oct 18

Is BLS ottawa accepting walkins for OCI application? we have an appointment for Nov 22 as we didn’t expect SC anytime soon looking at others timelines.

It would be amazing if we could drop our application sooner than Nov 22

They do accept walkin. 8-9 am appointments are not given, so they quickly process walkin. I did the same.

 

[Sapru]

Hello
Still no update from BLS
submitted postal application on 6th oct
received at BLS oct 10th

Called BLS today and they said that they have a very heavy backlog of applications and hence it is taking them more than 7-8 working days to process those and send to CGI.. processing times are getting worse, exponentially!

 

[Sapru]

https://www.change.org/p/restart-visa-processing-for-canadians-of-indian-origin

Please sign the petition to restart visa processing for Canadian Indians

Done!

 

[farooq.ind]

Oh no really.. I thought aftr ack it should b 21 days or so.. Oh gosh.. my flight is on oct 27th.. I dnt evn whn should I change it too.. My ack date is Oct 5th..

Plz keep posted on ur timelines this way I can atleast make some guess..

Oh gosh this is so stressful

@RuchiWalia My ack date is also Oct 5 and my flight date is Nov 1. Most probably OCI will be delivered on Oct 26 at BLS. Do you know if it is allowed to collect OCI directly from BLS instead of waiting for courier? If that is possible then we may be able to make it.

 

[Sapru]

That's correct. Right now its taking 16-17 days for Ack, no surprise Oct folks are still waiting. It was about 13 days for most people in the whole of September. Also note that sept 30 -Oct 2 was a long weekend for the consulate but not for BLS. That also could have contributed to some backlog. In addition to the increased influx in recent weeks.

100%.. called BLS today and it has been 6 working days since they acknowledged receipt of applications for my kids & wife.. they said it will take atleast 3-4 more days for them to process and send to CGI (and of course that they have a heavy backlog)!

 

[farooq.ind]

This should be possible. BLS has a FAQ item on this -- they say you have to do this the day the document arrives in their office as they may courier it soon after. Please share your experience here if you do this.

Thank you. I will try this.

 

[jay_99]

Toronto consulate and postal application implies submitted to BLS Brampton.

sorry i was confused with jurisdictions to which the application goes to as i can see my kid's application status on both of the bls trackers (toronto & ottawa jurisdiction)

bls brampton: sent postal application on sep 29 and updated to application date as oct 6 on bls website and application status as Processing at Consulate General as of now
oci tracker: no such records found as of now

 

[RuchiWalia]

@RuchiWalia My ack date is also Oct 5 and my flight date is Nov 1. Most probably OCI will be delivered on Oct 26 at BLS. Do you know if it is allowed to collect OCI directly from BLS instead of waiting for courier? If that is possible then we may be able to make it.

My hopes are high that we can make it.. My consulate is Vancouver and there timelines are 30-35 days after ACK date but I am still keeping my hopes high and sending them mails everyday

 

[ravtaqdeer]

My hopes are high that we can make it.. My consulate is Vancouver and there timelines are 30-35 days after ACK date but I am still keeping my hopes high and sending them mails everyday

Email of consulate to process the file plz or any contact number