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Long Lines and Lost Passports in the U.S. for an Indian Visa - India Real Time - WSJ
People traveling to India from the U.S. are wading through a bureaucratic nightmare when applying for documents.
In May, the Indian government changed the company in the U.S. it outsources the work of processing documents necessary for trips to India for people of Indian origin and visitors.
This is the second transition in a year and it has unraveled a flurry of problems – from lost passports and indefinitely delayed documents to trips that have to be canceled entirely.
Inadequate software, a backlog from the last company and overall mismanagement has cost thousands of applicants their time and money, they said.
The newest company, Cox and Kings Global Services took over on May 21 for BLS International Services which started in June last year.
“When the CKGS started their services, there was a crisis situation due to software issues, call center problems and their inability to handle huge volumes of work,” Deputy Consul General Dr. K J Srinivasa said in an email. Dr. Srinivasa is the based in the Indian consulate in San Francisco.
James Banks, a lawyer in California, trying to vacation in the southern Indian state of Kerala said he had to report his passport stolen after Cox and Kings told him they had never received it.
“(Cox and Kings) are without a doubt the most frustrating organization I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with in a long time,” Mr. Banks said.
Since mid-May hundreds of aspiring travelers desperate for their documents have packed the visa-processing offices of CKGS especially in San Francisco and New York. The angry crowds have drawn the attention of fire marshals and police – where the company was allegedly trying to accommodate as many as 700 applicants a day, according to consulate officials.
What should have taken five to seven working days took more than a month of angst for Mr. Banks as his trip in July approached. He finally retrieved his passport, after workers at CKGS claimed they never received it in the first place, and obtained his visa straight from the consulate on Monday, a procedure only recommended in emergencies.
People traveling to India from the U.S. are wading through a bureaucratic nightmare when applying for documents.
In May, the Indian government changed the company in the U.S. it outsources the work of processing documents necessary for trips to India for people of Indian origin and visitors.
This is the second transition in a year and it has unraveled a flurry of problems – from lost passports and indefinitely delayed documents to trips that have to be canceled entirely.
Inadequate software, a backlog from the last company and overall mismanagement has cost thousands of applicants their time and money, they said.
The newest company, Cox and Kings Global Services took over on May 21 for BLS International Services which started in June last year.
“When the CKGS started their services, there was a crisis situation due to software issues, call center problems and their inability to handle huge volumes of work,” Deputy Consul General Dr. K J Srinivasa said in an email. Dr. Srinivasa is the based in the Indian consulate in San Francisco.
James Banks, a lawyer in California, trying to vacation in the southern Indian state of Kerala said he had to report his passport stolen after Cox and Kings told him they had never received it.
“(Cox and Kings) are without a doubt the most frustrating organization I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with in a long time,” Mr. Banks said.
Since mid-May hundreds of aspiring travelers desperate for their documents have packed the visa-processing offices of CKGS especially in San Francisco and New York. The angry crowds have drawn the attention of fire marshals and police – where the company was allegedly trying to accommodate as many as 700 applicants a day, according to consulate officials.
What should have taken five to seven working days took more than a month of angst for Mr. Banks as his trip in July approached. He finally retrieved his passport, after workers at CKGS claimed they never received it in the first place, and obtained his visa straight from the consulate on Monday, a procedure only recommended in emergencies.
