As an Indian, I left India with my family for Canada in 2000 with the major reasons for leaving India being deeply rooted bureaucracy, corruption, casteism and communalism.
Well, life in Canada turns a full circle for me whenever I deal with BSL-India (or CGI-Toronto for any related matter) for family's OCI application specifically with respect to bureaucracy. It is unreasonable, obdurate and insensitive bureaucracy, to say the least, giving you a heavy dose of nightmarish nostalgia.
I applied for my kids' OCI renewal after going through the harrowing ordeal for the initial OCI application a few years ago on their previous Canadian passports. As soon as the Canadian Passport expires and you have a new one, if the kids are below 20 yrs old you are required to renew the OCI sticker forcing you to repeat the ordeal again. And that is not the end of it – you have to do it again and again till your kids are over 20 for every new Canadian passport.
1) I went with the application forms (with attachments) all filled in to the Brampton office of BSL on a Saturday morning and was told that since I do not have an appointment, I either wait for a cancellation or go back and apply through post or book an appointment
2) I went back and checked the appointment schedules- could find no opening for at least two more weeks and with an impending India visit, I grew desperate.
3) Called BSL on phone and asked them if I could apply for visitor visa instead. They said, I could but would imply that my kids’ OCI gets cancelled. What a joke! If you have not applied for OCI for your kids, DO NOT! Trust me; you will be better off with regular visitor visas for them till they are over 20. Cumulatively, moneywise it may be the same but from a perspective of pain and torture; visitor visa will be the much lesser evil. I am not sure about PIO card, but that may be worth exploring for kids. But wait, I heard that the GOI is planning to scrap OCI and PIO and replace with a new single card. So ordeals galore still await the hapless NRI which will again lend credence to the fact that the NRI is probably one of the most ill-treated and exploited non-resident by any parent country.
4) As a final resort, I chose to apply through postal i.e. Fedex at a steep rate of $35 per application (Fedex indicated I could submit my kids’ application in one package and save money whereas BSL India wants separate applications submitted for each kid!).
5) The application gets delivered pretty fast and right away I started getting calls about the ‘incompleteness’ of my kids’ applications. And this is where I felt like I am dealing with a petty Indian government office rife with incompetence and inconsistent procedures.
6) Although the checklist does not ask for the following, I was asked to submit the following:
a. Parents’ latest Canadian Passport originals and copy
b. Parents’ last Indian Passport originals and copy
c. Parents’ and kids’ citizenship surrender certificate originals and copy
7) I went to the Brampton BSL office with the above and over and above the above, the following were demanded
a. Copies of 11x17 originals should be A4 size and not 11x17 (?!)
b. Although originals and copies are submitted, you are still supposed to sign each photocopy (for what, God alone knows).
After the initial meeting with the person at the counter, I took my time rearranging the application with photocopies and taking out redundant photocopies (how do I know these are redundant?). The checklist is not specific about which passport pages are not important other than the first! When I went back to the counter after an hour, I heard a tinge of sarcasm laced statement ‘you took a long time’.9) The attitude at the best is demeaning with some employees still sitting idle (and swatting imaginary flies!). You get a lot of verbal information from the person at the counter and none of it makes its way to the checklist on the website that is there for the convenience of the applicant.
10) I waited and kept track of the BSL emails that were sent periodically two weeks and then silent for 3 weeks and then back on for 2 weeks. Checking the online status finally showed that documents are ready for dispatch.
11) One day I got a call from Fedex that a package from BSL is awaiting pickup at the Fedex centre. Lo and Behold, BSL had shipped the originals back to me without even telling me by email nor giving me the tracking number. The online status at BSL website still shows ‘Documents ready for dispatch’. Why couldn’t they update the status saying ‘Documents dispatched and this is the tracking number?’ The BSL personnel are the utmost retards of the unparalleled variety.
12) The documents for all my kids were sent back all in one package rather than separate packages (BSL knows how to make money at the expense of you the poor Indian hapless NRI that has the OCI twinkle in the eye).
13) After the acknowledgement date, it takes a month for the document printing status to show as processed. And then the OCI documents get shipped to Toronto from MOIA, India. It takes two weeks after that to show ‘received at Toronto’
14) And in the meanwhile, I inquired again about visiting visa and am being told that if you apply for a visiting visa, your OCI does not get cancelled. If only I had been given the right information before! What a shame BLS and CGIToronto and the MOIA!
Sincere recommendation:
The entire staff of Consulate General of India (include the Indian Foreign Minister in there, if you please) and BSL International should undergo at least a month’s training at the adjacent Canadian Passport office or the Service Canada office and learn from them as to how to write clear and consistent procedures, customer service with a smile and what the meaning of being efficient is. And even if they do not improve, they should be deported back to India. And still if there is no improvement, then all hapless NRI’s should get together and file a harassment lawsuit against these guys.