CKGS lost Indian passport

[aforummember]

I am applying for my mother's Indian visa and renunciation. We mailed her application material, which included her US passport, expired Indian passport, and renunciation form, and CKGS received it on June 27. On July 10 we got an email saying that we needed to send Indian consulate more application material. My mother received a call from the consulate asking to send her Indian passport. We also got an email from CKGS asking for the same. I've repeatedly told CKGS through phone and email for the past two weeks that we've sent the Indian passport, but they keep coming back through email saying we need to send the passport. It's almost as if they're not reading my emails.

I think they've lost the passport. How can we handle this? We need the visa as soon as possible. When we call the customer service reps, they always give canned responses, and the only way to get any information is through sending an email.

[tampaite]

I am applying for my mother's Indian visa and renunciation. We mailed her application material, which included her US passport, expired Indian passport, and renunciation form, and CKGS received it on June 27. On July 10 we got an email saying that we needed to send Indian consulate more application material. My mother received a call from the consulate asking to send her Indian passport. We also got an email from CKGS asking for the same. I've repeatedly told CKGS through phone and email for the past two weeks that we've sent the Indian passport, but they keep coming back through email saying we need to send the passport. It's almost as if they're not reading my emails.

I think they've lost the passport. How can we handle this? We need the visa as soon as possible. When we call the customer service reps, they always give canned responses, and the only way to get any information is through sending an email.

Are you close to CKGS location? If so drive and see them in person.

BLS lost our OCI card and original US passport and it was really really difficult to get any answers from them. After waiting for months and cancelling our travel plans, we reapplied for US passport and now going thro' OCI with CKGS.

If you think your passport is lost - act fast! Also, do you have a scanned copy of your entire application? it'll help to double check your checklist.

[aforummember]

Yes, we live close to a CKGS location.

We completed the applications through a PDF writer, so we have backups.

If they've lost the Indian passport, can we ask them to pay the renunciation fees related to a lost passport? My mother's passport expired before 2006, so we didn't pay the penalty fee.

Is CKGS the only entity that can process visa applications? Two years ago I applied for a business visa and renunciation using Travisa. I got the visa in two business days.

[FinallyDone]

Yes, we live close to a CKGS location.

We completed the applications through a PDF writer, so we have backups.

If they've lost the Indian passport, can we ask them to pay the renunciation fees related to a lost passport? My mother's passport expired before 2006, so we didn't pay the penalty fee.

Is CKGS the only entity that can process visa applications? Two years ago I applied for a business visa and renunciation using Travisa. I got the visa in two business days.

First, question CKGS and the consulate about how they would accept your renunciation application without an Indian passport in the first place? They would not do that, so this is evidence that you submitted the passport. CKGS or the consulate are to blame here and you need to continue to put pressure on them to find your passport.

IF they do not find your passport you MUST get 2 things from the consulate: 1) a renunciation certificate with a copy of your Indian passport attached and sealed and signed by them (hopefully you have a copy of the Indian passport), and 2) a letter from the consulate on official letterhead stating that they lost your passport during the renunciation process and that this should not impact any future dealing that require your old indian passport.

I know this is a tall order but you need to escalate this to the highest levels if need be. The consulates are unresponsive and happy to point the finger elsewhere, however, they know that they would have never accepted the renunciation application without the original passport. Dont let them jerk you around!

[aforummember]

First, question CKGS and the consulate about how they would accept your renunciation application without an Indian passport in the first place? They would not do that, so this is evidence that you submitted the passport. CKGS or the consulate are to blame here and you need to continue to put pressure on them to find your passport.

I have no idea whether they accepted the renunciation application. We had applied for both Indian visa and renunciation together. We sent all the application material together. The consulate said they have not received the Indian passport and therefore cannot process her visa.

My guess is that CKGS only sent the visa related material and not the renunciation related material. The payment confirmation from CKGS that has the bill of items states "Naturalized before 1st June,2010 with Indian Passport." However, the service type only has "TOURIST VISA 10 YEAR MULTIPLE."

IF they do not find your passport you MUST get 2 things from the consulate: 1) a renunciation certificate with a copy of your Indian passport attached and sealed and signed by them (hopefully you have a copy of the Indian passport), and 2) a letter from the consulate on official letterhead stating that they lost your passport during the renunciation process and that this should not impact any future dealing that require your old indian passport.

From what I understand, you are saying we should send a copy of our Indian passport to consulate. We do not have a copy of her passports. I had no idea something like this would happen, especially considering how fast my business visa and renunciation came in two years ago.

[aforummember]

I've sent numerous emails to CKGS about this. I pointed out that they are responsible for verifying the application material. In fact I had spoken to someone on the phone and he said CKGS would tell us if there are any issues with our application. Since you cannot an Indian visa without renunciation which requires an Indian passport, they should have at least told us that we did not send the Indian passport before they gave the application to the consulate. The people on the phone don't help at all; they just say to email them. We are going to CKGS to sort this out.

[N_Patel24]

I've sent numerous emails to CKGS about this. I pointed out that they are responsible for verifying the application material. In fact I had spoken to someone on the phone and he said CKGS would tell us if there are any issues with our application. Since you cannot an Indian visa without renunciation which requires an Indian passport, they should have at least told us that we did not send the Indian passport before they gave the application to the consulate. The people on the phone don't help at all; they just say to email them. We are going to CKGS to sort this out.

I hope your problem is resolved by personally visiting CKGS. I am sorry to say, though I am Indian origin but I don't have any respect for Indian consulate in NY and any third party working on their behalf. Their services, their guidelines to obtain any documents are not strightforward. Always confusing. They are awful. Especially they don't respect their customers. They are looking for lots of dollar for simple certificates but no good customer service. Person like you did not get good response on the phone even. So you are not only the one. Its bizarre. We are now worried, since we also have to apply for renuncitation certificate, the passport is lost in our case so we are going to make affidavit of lost. Waiting to get this worthless document without any headaches. They are rip off !!!!

Good Luck.

[aforummember]

This was resolved by visiting CKGS. CKGS did not communicate the issue properly to us over email. The passport was not lost. The problem was because of, to put it politely, incompetence by the Indian consulate.

[tampaite]

This was resolved by visiting CKGS. CKGS did not communicate the issue properly to us over email. The passport was not lost. The problem was because of, to put it politely, incompetence by the Indian consulate.

Can you explain what happened?

We lost our passport when OCI was being processed by BLS and we never got a straight answer and so had to reapply for passport and then again for OCI with CKGS.

[finddebz]

CKGS, Chicago Lost my Passport

CKGS has lost my passport. I sent my passport for renewal to CKGS, Chicago and they told me that they had shipped via USPS in the pre-paid envelope that I had provided to them. But when I track my package with the AWB number, nothing comes up. I called USPS and they told me that CKGS did not give them a valid tracking number. On the other hand, that tracking number is updated in my passport application by CKGS.

In short, CKGS lost my passport and I really don't know what to do now. They created a case # and they are taking 48 hours to track my passport now. I will update this when I receive any help from them.

[navidad]

Remember that most of the time the passport is misplaced or filed wrong. They are not very organised. Keep contacting them until they track it down. Try calling them again and again until you reach someone who knows what they are doing.

I am applying for my mother's Indian visa and renunciation. We mailed her application material, which included her US passport, expired Indian passport, and renunciation form, and CKGS received it on June 27. On July 10 we got an email saying that we needed to send Indian consulate more application material. My mother received a call from the consulate asking to send her Indian passport. We also got an email from CKGS asking for the same. I've repeatedly told CKGS through phone and email for the past two weeks that we've sent the Indian passport, but they keep coming back through email saying we need to send the passport. It's almost as if they're not reading my emails.

I think they've lost the passport. How can we handle this? We need the visa as soon as possible. When we call the customer service reps, they always give canned responses, and the only way to get any information is through sending an email.