Visa outsourcing question

proxyindian

Two weeks ago I applied for a Visa through the new outsourcing service with the online application. The last two years, getting the Visa required going downtown here in Chicago and filling out the application, paying the fee and handing over my passport, then returning in late afternoon to get back the passport with visa stuck in it.

So now my dumb question is this: what do I do now? Will I have to go downtown, hand over my passport, then return in the late afternoon to pick it up? Or will I just go downtown with the passport and printed application and they'll put the visa in it immediately and I can go home happily? The latter is just what my friend Kindy said she did. However, there is someone in my presence who doesn't believe it.

So is Kindy correct in her memory of what she did, or is she wrong?

chAos

From their website:
They're pretty specific about the times for in-person applications.
When you said you've already applied online, did you mail your documents to them? It's supposed to take 5 days to process once they receive everything.

Maybe, since you still have your passport, you haven't mailed in the rest? Since you're lucky enough to be near one of their locations, if I were you, I'd just bring everything (incl. completed & printed application) in person between 9 - 11.

Granted, my answer is from what I gather from the website and not based on personal experience, but even if your friend did happen to get it returned immediately, it seems a fluke, and there's no reason to count on it being repeated for you.

FYI: their phone #: (312) 346-2367
Maybe they're more likely to answer than the Consulate...

proxyindian

Thanks, chAos,
I suspected she got lucky or was just in a hurry to answer my question and wasn't really listening (I'm rather annoying, I think). There are really only two things I don't like about the process of going to India. This first is the Visa, and the second is the nail-biting suspense of air travel... Anyway, I guess two trips downtown tomorrow is just what we'll have to do.... better than having to take two trips out to the airport due to bad weather. (Ouch, I just bit that nail too short!) So I guess all is okay.

Thanks

proxyindian

I must keep in mind the line I heard tonight on Masterpiece Theater's presentation of Elizabeth Gaskell's 1855 novel, Cranford. "Speculation is the enemy of calm." Today we took the elevated railway downtown. The whole way it was start and stop... There is no way Chicago will ever get the Olympics for 2016. Our "El" is so dated. I hate it. But we got to the outsourcing place before their long lunch break and now our Visas are about to mailed to us. What a relief that the clerk offered the FedEx shipment to us. One trip downtown is bad, but two is worse. Now it's coming to us.

I really like the new system of getting a Visa.

Anyway, for any of you who are as easily pained as I am, here's the tracking info from the Visa outsourcing co.:

Date/Time Action
05/31/2008 9:47am CST India visa application completed online
06/16/2008 10:40am CST Passport and supporting documents received, payment processed.
06/16/2008 11:32am CST Documents prepared to go to Embassy.
06/16/2008 11:50am CST Documents dispatched from Travisa Outsourcing Office to Consulate
06/16/2008 1:19pm CST Documents received by Consulate
06/16/2008 5:34pm CST Outsourcing office has verified the visa is processed correctly. Ready for pickup between 4:30pm and 6:00pm. If mail back, waiting for FedEx pick up and is likely to be mailed out tomorrow.

chAos

Sure, glad it's all set.

Mickey S

Is that the BBC production, from late last year, with the star-studded cast? It was magnificent: five weeks of sheer bliss.

Anyway, I digress... glad you got the visa sorted. Now there's just that long, miserable flight to look forward to...

proxyindian

Yes, that is the very show. The attitudes certainly do not seem to be very typical of the British for the time. Those women are both progressive and so wanting to hold on to fabulous 18th Century ideals into the mid-19th century. I don't like Victorian England at all and am very sorry that India had to feel the brute force of it.

But anyway, I'm very glad to have my visa. Now I need to get my passport back but I'm refusing to worry about "what if FedEx loses it?" I am such a worry pants!

Mickey S

I'd be very interested in hearing your first-hand experiences of Victorian England.

proxyindian

OMG, it was so horrible! The industrial revolution turned the city black with smog. Life expectency was very, very short for the working class (I forget the exact facts from a book this woman at was reading to me, but guys were usually dead by 45 or something... if they'd manage to live past 15.) Anyway, give me the good ol' days of 1700 anytime!

Nick-H

Most of the people who worked for me back then lived to be at least twelve, and were properly grateful for it. Of course, I worked them hard in my early international visa outsourcing company, and during the years when there were no visas to process I was good enough to prevent them being bored by providing them with an asbestos manufacturing unit to work in. I was so touched by the gratitude of the wee things, and the prayers they offered up for me at the weekly prayer meetings I gave them the opportunity to attend.

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proxyindian

Thanks, Nick-H, for the fitting conclusion my worry-pants thread about the Visa. I just got an email from FedEx so am quite happy.

Next time you people hear from me will either be about an impractical itinerary idea or worrying about the collapse of the airlines or something.

HelenR

I'm also using the outsourcing online application with mail option (since I'm in CA and they're in DC).

The "reference" field was required for me I don't understand why. Also, do they actually contact the reference? That's not a problem if they call but since they don't ask for the reference phone number, do they just send mail to them

The only reason I'm worried about this is time. If they contact references, it will take much longer for them to process my application. Even if I flew all the way to DC for this visa, from my understanding, I couldn't get it the same day since a reference is required for me.

So, does anybody know why a reference is required and how long the process takes (whether they contact the reference by mail and wait for the answer)?

proxyindian

I put the name of one of the hotels we stayed at. I don't think that they actually contact them though becuase they were very quick in processing. They got my application and approved it the same day, so I'm sure they hadn't called anyone. Especially since it took us a number of requests to actually make hotel reservations... There's just no way they got in touch with that hotel.... and in the middle of night in India too.

But, sorry no, I don't know what the reason for reference is.

What I hate about applying for things is that it seems like my plans are in the hands of someone else. That, for whatever reason, I'm waiting for someone's approval to go to India....

Nick-H

References are not required for tourist visas. They may be for certain other visa categories.

HelenR

I agree... I understand that they have to keep track of who's coming in and out, but I wish they offered visa-on-arrival as an option.

Also, I wasn't referring to the hotel information section, they ask for a reference in the US. The field was asking for a person in the US and it was a required field...

Well, I guess I'll just have to hope that mine will go just as smoothly...