British Citizen subject to Visa "reference"

Hi folks

Got a little story to tell and maybe I could get some level of comfort from some of you guys or not as the case may be! Anyway, went down to Aldwych to the High Commission of India for my visa including all 5 for my friends too. Its lucky that I work around the corner so I volunteered for the job. Got my tickets for the queue as normal and waited about an hour (not too bad) and got called up. I handed over all the forms and did this one by one, firstly gave them the form for a British born subject with indian born parents - so no problems and no quesions asked, then my wife also a British born subject with parents born in South Africa - no quesions asked. My Iranian friend born in Tehran but now a British Citizen - shockinlgly had no issues either. Then surprinsgly rejected my Irish subject friend and told me to come back with 1 year's worth of utility bills to prove her residency here in the UK (she's been living in the UK for the past 12 years). I thought ok, I'll come back and I'll be able to get her the visa so not a major issue just a little inconvinience. I left the best for the last - Me! Now I'm a British born subject with my dad born and from India but my Mum was born in Pakistan. So, you can imagine the barrage of quesions I got for that! Anyway, to cut a long story short they said that my application would have to be subject to a reference and that I should call a number to find out the progress but in the meantime to present an employers letter - which I did 20 mins later as I work nearby. So, today I call this number and the answer I get is that my application is still being processed and that I can expect to recieve a reply by mid Dec. I'm travelling on Xmas day so I said that would be cutiing it fine, but the Visa staff member said that it would be ok and that I shouldn't be worried. When I hear that coming from an a fellow Asian I got thinking don't trust them there going to get my application approved too late for me to travel in time for Xmas!! I am wondering whether I should apply Indian timing -here when they say two weeks that really means 4 weeks!!! Will I make it to India for my 2 week tour?? - I've invested a couple of grand for this holiday and the thought of not getting the visa is worrying me, my wife and my friends!

Anyone had this kind of experience before? Its pretty obvious to my mind that they probably think I could be a terrorist threat due to my mother being from Pakistan! I wish I had told them that I used to be a Met Poice Office and a HM Customs & Excise Officer as well as a Tax inspector for the Inland Revenue, or perhaps on hindsight they might of thought of that being arrogant coming from an British Asian and could have made the matter worse. So I just solemly nodded my head and complied, and I then realsied standing there in the High Commission hall way that no matter how proud or patriotic I might be as a British Citizen I'm simply standing on Indian soil and nothing changes that!

Oh dear, no answers yet....

I can't help, I don't know... but best of luck: I really hope you get your visa and get on that plane!

Zeb,

Sorry to hear that.
Wish you good luck.
Since you have already told that you intend to visit India during x-mas, hope the visa authorities would consider that.
Whenever you check with Visa office, they may say that your appilication is still under "process" or some thing like that. But never lose your temper.
INcase it is getting delayed, try to meet the higer authorities and explain with documents like airtickets etc..as proof.
Best of luck.

With consulates all bets are off, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the improvements in services that Indian consulates offer in the last 5-6 years.

I wouldn't hesitate to keep politely checking with them every few days (given that you only have a few weeks) and stressing that it will be very expensive for you if you don't get a timely answer. The problem is likely to be that it is out of the local staff's hands and awaiting a stamp from some babu back in the homeland. Perhaps the consulate has a rule where they can proceed without a response after a certain time has passed. (This is what happened to my new passport application in Geneva, I was told. They were supposed to wait for a clearance from the New York consulate, but after 3 weeks without a response from New York they went ahead and issued my passport anyway.)

http://hcilondon.net/hciserv/PostQuery?source=form

As a last resort, I'd say the best strategy if you're worried about an impending deadline is to try to pull strings and make exceptional requests to people with some influence(reasonable under the circumstances, and not unique to India).

Rohan

Thanks folks! I've sent another fax, hopefully this might prompt them to chase my application up. I can't helping feeling that they can easily ignore my application with no possible recourse.

Keep ya'll posted!

Hiya,


Same thing happened to me, both my parents were born in Pakistan. I had to keep phoning every week and in the end it took 4 weeks or so to get my visa. I told them I was going at the beginning on September and applied for my visa at the start of July. As it was dragging on for so long after a couple of weeks I told them that I had some extra holiday so would now be leaving mid August instead. I'm sad to say, they did not make the deadline I gave them, but then again I was vague about the date.

But, personally I think they were waiting for a date closer to my departure date as the visa starts from the day they stamp it rather then the date you want to go, so they put it in a queue and people that have a leave date before you get bumped up the list.

All I can say is keep calling every week and be polite... (it is very hard when all you want to do it rip thier head off ).

Now picking up the visa was a different story altogther!

Hmm petty officials can't live with them and can't go without them. Sorry to hear about your troubles. The staff over here in Holland are terrible EVERYTHING seems to be too much trouble but you just have to bite your tongue otherwise no visa.

I remember a guy making the mistake of writing photographer on his application. He was then asked if he would take photos whilst in India he made the second mistake of saying YES.............but not professionally . He never even got to finish that sentence, his application was thrown back at him and he was told he would need a journalist visa (which takes a lot longer to apply for)

They won't even lend you their pen if there's a mistake on the application form applicants have to wander around the waiting room begging the other applicants (and losing their place) it's all a bit ridiculous but you have to dance to their tune or they'll just refuse the application!!

Thanks Beena! Oh dear this whole thing sounds like a bit of hit and miss! As far as I'm concerned if my application has a date of travel down as 25 Dec 2005, shouldn't my visa be done before that?? Does it mean that unless I call every few days they just forget about it and think its not that important! I applied in person on 24 Nov 2005 so are we saying that the High Commission may or may not meet my deadline??!! This whole thing is just too uncertain for me, should I now be considering cancelling my flights and hotel bookings and try and salvage what refunds I can?! If I ever get to India, I'm certainly never going through all this again for a trip to Indai ever again! Its flipping organised chaos at the High Commission and if this is anything to go by I can probably expect much of the same in India itself!! The last time I went to a developing country was Sri Lanka and it seemed ok considering...

This reminds me of the bad old days some years ago when we applied for our visas by post and we were sweating with flights booked and days to go. At one stage my wife was phoning up the HCI London almost every day and was getting the same reply "Visa will come". It did in the end.

I have a feeling that things will work out fine for you. I imagine that they are running checks on you, after all India has had serious problems with British born Asians in recent years - remember Omar Sheik! Like others, I would say stay calm and polite with the HCI staff. Pray to your God if you are a believer, if not, hope for the best. Good luck!

Zeb,

All said and done, I think you will get them. Don't go cancelling anything, I think they like playing chicken, . But, believe me india is worth it in the end. You will just have to keep ringing and asking, enough to get your job done but not too many so that you irritate them.

I personally think that the process just takes 3 - 5 days and they submit it the week before you travel, well thats the impression I got from them.

I'm not a patient person at the best of times, but lets just say if you can't survive the visa "experience", then you have no chance in hell of surviving india...

Please do let me know when you do get your visa...

Things

Oh boy, I have got to relax.... thanks for all your kind reassurances.

After attempting numerous phone calls every day all I ever got was an answerphone. So I decided that I should pay a personal visit today again as I am travelling next week (25 Dec) and still hadn't heard back from the visa people! So I spent another greulling 3 hour wait to find out what was going on with my application. The Public Relations Office told me that I should call back on the 22 Dec to find out if my application has been approved and if it has that I should come back (again!!) on the 23 Dec to get my visa stamped in my passport. Talk about cutting it fine, I'm flying on the 25 Dec!! I managed to talk to several poor sods in the same predicament as me and none had recived any calls and most are being turned away to only come back with only a day or so to spare before travel. Is this the way the High Commission works!!! I can't take any more, so much so, I have almost given up on this first time trip to India - had I known it was going to be this much trouble I might have not bothered booking my flights and hotels. This has been my 3rd visit to the High Commission (as I had to get other visa's for my friends) and I feel like I'm already becoming part of the furniture. Also, with my increased knowledge of how things get done around this stupid place I was able to part some of my newly found knowledge to some others in the queue and save them the time and hassle. For instance, an American lady had a passport below the six months extant limit, another wanted to confirm what support docs he needed.... At this rate I ought to offer up my services to deal with these enquiries without the poor sods haven't to wait 3 hours for the same answer from the horses mouth!

As a last resort, I have contacted a friend who's my local councillor and who knows the High Commissioner himself. He said that he'll try and pull some strings for me...Now, I may get lucky with this but how many are out there who don't have the same contacts. Although, I have to see if it works for me first!

I could be left stranded in the UK in the wet and cold for Xmas whilst my friends and wife are all confirmed to go next week....

I am on a knife edge.....

Welcome to India... this is how Indian bureaucracy works!

If you have an afternoon to spare, whilst in India, take some Pound Sterling or US currency to a fully computerised branch of the SBI (State Bank of India) and see how the system works... allow an hour or two, sit back and enjoy the typical Indian experience!

When you have been in India for a while, you'll get used to the system.

I recently had a plumber come and fix my toilet. He popped out for a new washer and came back only three later weeks to fit it!

What takes minutes in the UK will take hours in India... go with the flow!

All the best,

John.

Suffice to say, I never got a call back from the visa dept. and following my last visit last Thursday I gave up trying on my own. So, I called on an MP friend who used his infleunce and clout and spoke to the High Commissioner's Political Assistant. Low behold an hour later I got a call back from the HC's office to say that my visa had been approved and is now ready for collection. So, I'll be going in tomorrow for the 4th time now to finally get my visa! Apparently, the visa dept had been sitting on my application and hadn't bothered to do their checks, and if it wasn't for the fact that I had to get an MP involved they would not have sorted it out in time. Apparently, any visa's that are being referenced for checks are taking 6 weeks on average, and this is my 4th week and I travel on xmas day. I have never been to India and am only going becasue my wife has been bugging me all year to go - this better be worth it...becasue I have been threw hell trying to get this damn visa!

Anyway, I think its all in the bag and thank you all for your comments and reassurances and now I can look forward to it all again when I get to the other side!

Good to hear it has been sorted.

Every time I used to go for a visa they used to put an R on the application, I was told this meant it would be checked against blacklists (Referral). I always found it strange that they did this even though I had 4 or 5 previous visas in my passport. But they used to give the passport back with visa on the same day.

They have their own weird rules. The Delhi Lahore bus service cannot stop in Punjab as it is deemed a security risk, but it can stop in Delhi. I have always wondered if the people stop being a security risk once they reach Delhi.