SFO - OCI Appl submitted - We need to travel to India, what are my options?

[babuvna]

Hi,

I need help/opinion on my situation.

Here are the details,
I have mailed our SC+OCI application on 09/24/10 to SFO consulate which were delivered on 09/27/10. Since SFO consulate expects us to send our US Passports and PIO card(existing one for my daughter) with OCI application, I have submitted our Original US Passports and PIO card of our daughter.

I have a hard date for travel on Nov 28th(tickets are booked). Since it's unlikely that we will get our OCI cards by that time, I am exploring alternative options.
OCI FAQs at cgisf.org states that I can request the Original Passport and PIO card in case of Travel(they will suspend the processing till we mail them back).

My current plan is to send following request to SFO consulate.
1) To mail back our Original US Passports and PIO card of my daughter
2) Since Surrender Certificate is required for Visa, I need to request them to send the Surrender Certificate for us(myself and spouse)
3) Then apply for Indian Visa(and hope I will get it by Nov 24th).

The two questions I have are,
1) Is above plan is a viable option? is there any shorter way?
2) what kind of visa do I need to visit India?

If any of you have gone thru the same experience, it would be a great help if you can share it.

Thanks in advance,
Raghu

[manishsd]

Did your documents print?

Did your documents already get printed - if you have checked the online status, you should be able to find that out? It looks like after the documents print, it should take a max of 2-3 weeks for them to come to your mailing address.

[babuvna]

Nope, as per online status my application is not yet acknowledged.

[Maddi]

I submitted my application on Sept. 20 and was delivered to their office on Sept. 21, 2010. Till now no acknowledgement on the website.

[babuvna]

BTW, I sent an email explaining my situation to the consulate and I got prompt response from them under a day.

They recommended me to wait till first week of Nov to see whether there will be progress on my application and if not, request for originals to obtain the visa.

For Visa purposes, they said I can use the copy of the Surrender Certificate application and that should be sufficient.

Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for a miracle

[babuvna]

Wednesday Sept 27th I submitted a request(once again) for returning our original US Passports such that I can apply for Indian Entry Visa. So far no reply, hoping some reply on Monday

[babuvna]

Progress has been made.
1) The passports were sent from consulate yesterday and we received them today.
2) We got our cancelled passports and also Surrender Certificate.
3) Applied for our Indian Entry Visa today.

Some progress on the OCI Application also.
1) All our applications were acknowledged yesterday.
2) Currently, photo/signature are scanned and registration status is granted.

I have one question to the forum,
1) we got our cancelled passports and Surrender Certificate. However, the SC is nothing but the same application we have sent.No stamps or any information indicating it has been approved(on application). Is it normal? or it's supposed to have some kind of cancellation stamp? The passports have the cancellation stamp.

Since I was chasing this issue for a week(had sent several emails and left messages), I was little frustrated with the lack of response. Wrote an email to the consulate regarding the lack of response; within 45 minutes I got a call from consulate VC(yep, sounds miracle, but I want to give due credit for that response). They updated me that the passports have been dispatched yesterday itself.

Thanks
Raghu