BLS tracking through CKGS

[haulr]

Has anyone who applied for OCI with BLS have success tracking their application on the CKGS site? It requires a file number, but I'm not sure what this is. I used to track with order form number on the BLS site. I tried entering all the different numbers but all come up with 'No records Found.' Any help tracking the application would be appreciated.

I was in the same boat. Applied for new passport endorsement in existing PIO card for my daughter on April 20th 2014. Received an email from BLS confirming receipt, then received another stating it was sent to consulate and then received yet another email on May 21st 2014 stating it the documents are back from the consulate and will be dispatched soon and then radio silence. Called BLS, CKGS repeatedly to check status to no avail. The calls are routed to help centers that do NOT have access to documents or consulate in the states. They just have a computer and a database to lookup.

After 2 months of back and forth on the phone and emails, I decided to pay a visit to CKGS @ NYC on 28th July 2014. Went there at around 1:45pm (walk-ins allowed between 3 and 4pm) expecting a huge line ahead of me. I was surprised to find no such line and quite an empty office. Took a token from the electronic kiosk under OCI/PIO/Citizenship Renunciation category and waited (in a seated area). Got my turn at around 2:45pm (there were only 4 people ahead of me but the line moves super slow). When my turn came, I explained my story and showed my ID and the lady at the desk (Ms. Amanda) said she would check in the back of the office and came back a minute later with my daughters old passport, new passport and her PIO card! The application had a note that read "No record found' on a piece of paper. I am guessing BLS handed over the packet to CKGS and CKGS could not tie it to a pending application @ BLS or some such administrative error. So finally after 3 months of applying for a simple endorsement which is OPTIONAL to begin with, I got it.

Paying a visit to the nearest CKGS with as much documentation as possible (in the form of printouts) would be helpful. Personally I made no copies before applying and did not even know the passport number for my daughter until I checked the receipt from BLS. MAKE COPIES of all originals being sent for such applications to INDIAN consulate.

Your mileage may vary.

[priya_12345]

Finally got my PIO card

I was mailing CKGS repeatedly, they kept asking for RETURN FEDEX scanned copy..

Then I mailed at this address- 'cs.usa@ckgs.com', I called them they did help me in terms of locating my application in their system and forwarding the case to concerned department..

Then one evening I got a call from ATLANTA CKGS that we want to confirm and dispatch to FEDEX you newly mailed to us...

And guess what following monday I got my both PIO cards..

I am very satisfied with CKGS and their customer service..

- - - Updated - - -

i applied for my aunts OCI in Dec 2013... i saw that Oci was approved by Indian government and recieved no notification from BLS to send her US pasport for match up.

When i inquired , then only BLS told me to send my aunts US passpot for match up...i sent my passport in April 2014....
Now when i tracked my application on BLS website, it showed that they sent it to Atlanta consulate and it takes 2-3 weekd in that process...

Meanwhile BLS contract expired , their website stopped working..hence i couldnt locate my passport...

like others , i also got -' no records found' on CKGS website when tracking my OCi status....

also , they never answer the call and i sent 3-4 emails to BLS , INdian embassy , CKgs to enquire about the whereabouts of my US passport...no reply from any...

when i called Indian embassy...they say thay have not recieved my passport at all...where as it was showing that BLS sent it to them...

So , its been 2.5 months and Still i dont know where my aunts US passport is ? and i doubt whether i will recieve it or not....
Did anyone faced the same consequences and how did you managed it...

Any help in this regard is appreciated...

Hi Kushal mail here for atlanta CKGS
'info.atlanta@ckgs.com'

They will help you...

[Kushal Patel]

Pathetic service from BLS , CKGS and Indian embassy Atlanta...

i applied for my aunts OCI in Dec 2013... i saw that Oci was approved by Indian government and recieved no notification from BLS to send her US pasport for match up.

When i inquired , then only BLS told me to send my aunts US passpot for match up...i sent my passport in April 2014....
Now when i tracked my application on BLS website, it showed that they sent it to Atlanta consulate and it takes 2-3 weekd in that process...

Meanwhile BLS contract expired , their website stopped working..hence i couldnt locate my passport...

like others , i also got -' no records found' on CKGS website when tracking my OCi status....

also , they never answer the call and i sent 3-4 emails to BLS , INdian embassy , CKgs to enquire about the whereabouts of my US passport...no reply from any...

when i called Indian embassy...they say thay have not recieved my passport at all...where as it was showing that BLS sent it to them...

So , its been 2.5 months and Still i dont know where my aunts US passport is ? and i doubt whether i will recieve it or not....
Did anyone faced the same consequences and how did you managed it...

Any help in this regard is appreciated...

[relativist106]

Unable to track OCI via CKGS? Email shettybnATnic.in

Hi

I'm in a similar situation with an additional twist: My son's photo got rejected.

We had applied for my son's OCI through BLS in NY in Feb. His status remained at "UNDER PROCESS" for several months. I tried calling BLS, opening an escalation ticket etc. We even went to the BLS office to enquire about my son's application status. They had no clue.

We then emailed shettybnATnic.in. This email address is listed on the Indian govt's OCI website. The people responding from this email address are SUPER HELPFUL. We got a response within 24 hrs saying that the photo got rejected, and that we need to submit another photo. At this point, the BLS->OCI transition was already in progress.

Our experience with CKGS was terrible. We couldn't track the application on their website. We went to their office, and were told to wait for a week and retry. We still couldn't track it. I emailed them several times. Most responses were useless canned statements that were not even applicable to my case. We finally got a response asking us to send the new photo along with a cover letter and additional details. We went to the CKGS office (NY) and personally handed thee over. Guess what? THE GUY WHO TOOK IT AT CKGS WAS THE SAME PERSON AT BLS WHO HAD NO CLUE A MONTH AGO. He assured us that the new photo would be sent to the consulate. We emailed shettybnATnic.in a few days later asking if the new photo had been uploaded. It hadn't. I was done with CKGS at this point.

We then went to the CGI NY with a new photo and copy of application for part A. We were told to wait at window 4. After about 25 mins, a lady from the consulate took the new photo and guaranteed that it would be uploaded the same day. We emailed bnshettyATnic.in again. We got a response saying that the new photo had been uploaded and that they would follow up on our application. We got another email the next day saying that the OCI had been granted. It included the OCI/UVisa numbers. I'm now waiting for it to be shipped to CGI NY. I intend to submit my passport to the consulate directly for match up.

Thanks you Mr./Ms. B N Shetty. This would have been impossible without your help!

[bvsamrat]

Chicago - Status

Has anyone who applied for OCI with BLS have success tracking their application on the CKGS site? It requires a file number, but I'm not sure what this is. I used to track with order form number on the BLS site. I tried entering all the different numbers but all come up with 'No records Found.' Any help tracking the application would be appreciated.

My OCI Extension (or Renewal) is stuck up for more than 3 months now and finally OCI card had been dispatched from New Delhi on 11th June to Chicago consulate.
I have booked tickets to India on June end 2014

Reading the horror stories of CKGS at Chicago, Is it worthwhile to courier the passport to Indian Consulate at Chicago directly??

I can not travel to Chicago as I live far from Chicago

Has any one done this?

Please advise the details, I will be grateful

[mrangar]

Hi everyone - I sent my kids' passports with a prepaid envelope to the SFO CGI after they sent an email asking me to do so. They processed it promptly and sent it back with the OCI cards and stamped passports.

[Billu321]

Hi

I am in the same boat..
I submitted two PIO applications that were processed and were ready for dispatch when this transition happened..

Now I am not able to track my application anywhere..

Please keep updating..If anyone can track application by passport number only..

Thanks

If some have applied PIO through BLS to DC center , and they have not received it yet by mail . Then they should possibly get it back by personally visiting CKGS center. That's how I went collected my PIO from onsite .

[vibzr]

I can track my OCI status at

http://passport.gov.in/oci/statusEnqury

If you don’t know your Online Registration No * or File (Acknowledgment) No * go to

http://passport.gov.in/oci/forgotRegis

and give your dob and passport number.

My OCI is dispatched to SFO on 03-June-2014 which is the first step. Hopefully they will not misplace my Indian passport?

The next step is sending my US passport where COX must notify me this step and up to now no email from them. I am petrified to send my US passport to COX if they will notify me to send my US passport looking this mess…… Not sure if I can fly SFO and get my OCI stamped?

I fly to SFO from PDX and got my OCI on 06/13/2014. Morning I dropped my US passport and evening I got by OCI booklet and renounced indian passport.... I have seen 5 OCI cases and one guy came from Montana.

[Vadhadia]

seeing light at the end of the tunnel

Looks like there have been many applicants with good experience at CG of SF, but haven't seen any comments about any one going directly at CGINY and getting Visa or OCI stamped. If there is anyone, please post comments here. Thank you.

[rx100]

Got My OCI - sharing my experience with BLS - CKGS transition

Hi,

I started my OCI process in March with BLS and finally got it today. I lost BLS tracking just like everyone. My OCI was received by SFO consulate in last week of May. I was waiting for an email from CKGS to submit my passport, but it never happened. I went to CKGS office and submitted the passports. I was informed by CKGS that they didn't receive any document/return envelope from BLS, so I need to come back to pick my passports. I didn't get any response for next 10 days. I called, emailed, but there was no update. Yesterday, I went to their office and found that my passport was not there. CKGS asked us to check with consulate. I went to consulate and found that it was not there too. Consulate staffs were very friendly. The counter was closed, but they looked into my application. They also suggested that, if OCI is already received by consulate, I could come directly to consulate with passports instead of going to CKGS. I went back to CKGS office, and after a long search they finally found my passport. I took it back to consulate and rest of the process completed in 30 min.
Looks like BLS - CKGS handshake never happened. I met several families, who were in same boat. Tracking of application is very poor, but CKGS staffs are working very late and helping the customers who came to their office. You may not get similar kind of support over phone or email.

Thx.

[rabadi]

BLS tracking through CKGS

Not sure of getting OCI (applied through BLS), we (my family) applied for Tourist Visa yesterday and today OCI Documents Printing Status changed to : PROCESSED On 11-JUN-2014
Hopefully it should not cause any confusion... Our passports were submitted for Visa process through CKGS from Consulate

[mrangar]

Good news is I got an email directly from CGI SFO with instructions to send passports directly to the consulate with a self-addressed envelope for OCI stamping.

I already paid BLS for return shipment - Not sure if I can get that back.. But since I paid for that with a Credit card, maybe I can ask my CC company to revoke that charge.

[bholla]

You could go to the consulate and check at the pick-up window. If you let them know that the status of your OCI says that the documents are at the consulate, they usually just stamp the visa and give you the OCI right away. Lot of people have done it till now since the CGKS transition confusion. Btw, if you are going to the consulate, dont forget to take a printout of your application and the current passports for which OCI was applied for. If your papers are there, you can be out in 30mins. Try your luck!

If you are not close to the consulate, then i dont know about when you will get the email about sending your current passports for match-up process. My experience was with the San Francisco Consulate.

-NPT

anybody please share similar experience at NY Consulate, please.

Thank you

[mrangar]

Really terrible planning by the Indian authorities to transition this just before the summer rush. This should have been done in August after the summer rush is over.

[NPT]

You could go pick up at the consulate

You could go to the consulate and check at the pick-up window. If you let them know that the status of your OCI says that the documents are at the consulate, they usually just stamp the visa and give you the OCI right away. Lot of people have done it till now since the CGKS transition confusion. Btw, if you are going to the consulate, dont forget to take a printout of your application and the current passports for which OCI was applied for. If your papers are there, you can be out in 30mins. Try your luck!

If you are not close to the consulate, then i dont know about when you will get the email about sending your current passports for match-up process. My experience was with the San Francisco Consulate.

-NPT

Same here. My two OCI applications are now sitting with the consulate since May 28. I have sent multiple emails to CKGS but nothing new in their responses. I even emailed the consulate but no responses yet. Any suggestions on what can be our next step?

- mrm