My Recent OCI Application Experience

Hello All,

I am posting my "horrendous" recent experience at the VFS Goswell Office in London. I hope people who read this message go well prepared. I went there to complete the rest of the procedure for a minor OCI new application, i.e., a first-time OCI application.

While the online application process is straightforward and so documents uploading, the issues start when you attend the VFS office on your appointment day.

1. It appeared to me that the online time slots are only for namesake. There is no proper timing followed at the VFS centre. We were given a 15-minute time slot, but we entered the office almost 2 hours later. There were people already in the queue since morning. We were lucky it did not rain that day. Please carry an umbrella with you and for accompanying members.

2. Surprisingly, I was shown a "new" list of documents at the centre which is nowhere mentioned on the Indian Government's OCI web page or on the VFS website. It is only after searching on Google that I could find this https://visa.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/in ... klist.pdf document. This document is uploaded somewhere on the VFS website evident from its URL, but I did not find its mention anywhere on the OCI application section within the VFS website. Please correct me if I am wrong or if I may have missed anything.

3. Let's assume that I follow the above list of documents. At the VFS centre, they ask you to produce two passport-size Indian specification photos. These two sets of photos are not mentioned in the list of documents above. This took me by surprise and others too present there. We were asked to immediately go to a shop in the vicinity. The shop was not even a proper photo studio. They took photos in a very unprofessional way and cut them using a scissor. People who are used to taking passport photos in professional labs know that they do not use a scissor to cut photos. The quality of the photos was so poor. My office colour printer could do the same job for free with much better quality. And guess what, when we went to the counter for document submission, I was told that the photos are not needed. The one that we have used on the application form is sufficient. This does not paint a very good picture and shows that there is something wrong going on between VFS and that so-called unprofessional photo studio.

4. We were almost 4 hours late. our appointment was around 12:00 PM but we were out of the VFS centre at around 4:00 PM. I heard people calling their offices and telling their colleagues that they cannot come to the office. Just like me, everyone had assumed that they will be out within 15 minutes from their office.

5. Let us assume that I was careless, then why others were suffering like me with a lack of documents, no photos and photocopies, among others? There were people with babies and children there.

6. My suggestion is to take with you everything that you can think of including photocopies. You never know what they can ask you there. They also asked me whether I have brought two self-addressed envelopes (nowhere mentioned again). I said no. Then they charged me two separate courier charges of about £12, one to return the birth certificate back and one for the OCI card return. Royal Mail can do it for half the price as first-class mail. I do not understand why the birth certificate was taken when the staff there can see the original certificate and verify it. I have travelled across the globe and applied for visas for different countries, these appointments are meant to verify the original documents. Home Office too does it. The birth certificate was returned to me in a couple of days. I was surprised to receive it so early.

7. I wonder if during the rainy days and summer; their small office room will be a mess and I feel sorry for those who get appointments during such days. Our food and water were running short after a while.