India Visa
May 21, 2006 12:55 PM Subscribe
Has anyone gotten a travel visa to India at the consulate in New York City? Just wondering if it's a long long wait and if I should use a visa service (and pay for the trouble)
Another "SF not NY" but more recent: ditto ShooBoo as of last year. Not a problem: arrived reasonably early, waited fifteen minutes to drop app & passport, returned pm & got visa+passport in ten mins.
Fwiw (as a green card holder) to do US visa stuff: go to San Jose at 6am to wait in line OUTSIDE (dark, rain, etc.) to get a ticket, when the doors open at 8am, to be allowed to wait inside the INS building, to see an officious official at 2pm. This was 2 years ago so Homeland Security might of course have improved things. Getting a US visa at the London US Embassy was even worse -- line up before opening time, allowed inside at ?8am, wait until 5pm, told to come back next day, rinse, repeat.
posted by anadem at 2:51 PM on May 21, 2006
Fwiw (as a green card holder) to do US visa stuff: go to San Jose at 6am to wait in line OUTSIDE (dark, rain, etc.) to get a ticket, when the doors open at 8am, to be allowed to wait inside the INS building, to see an officious official at 2pm. This was 2 years ago so Homeland Security might of course have improved things. Getting a US visa at the London US Embassy was even worse -- line up before opening time, allowed inside at ?8am, wait until 5pm, told to come back next day, rinse, repeat.
posted by anadem at 2:51 PM on May 21, 2006
In 2004, I had no trouble whatever getting my visa at the Indian consulate in New York. Downloaded the paperwork and filled it out at home, dropped it and my passport off with a wait of no more than 5 minutes and the pick-up was only a tad long, maybe 15 minutes. Painless.
Customs and immigration lines in India? Not so painless.
posted by MattD at 4:12 PM on May 21, 2006
Customs and immigration lines in India? Not so painless.
posted by MattD at 4:12 PM on May 21, 2006
I got my visa at the Indian consulate in New York last September. Incredibly painless. Don't bother with a visa service, unless you don't want the hassle of physically showing up at the consulate. Oddly enough, I was right behind a guy from a visa service. He must've had 15 or so passports he was dropping off. From my experience, they don't have any "special lines" for the visa services. They have to wait just like everyone else.
posted by pencroft at 4:42 PM on May 21, 2006
posted by pencroft at 4:42 PM on May 21, 2006
It's really painless -- but make sure you have numbers you're contactable at in India
posted by bonaldi at 5:24 PM on May 21, 2006
posted by bonaldi at 5:24 PM on May 21, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
In the morning I dropped off my application and passport, and in the afternoon I picked it up.
There were minor lines for the dropping off and picking up, but there wasn't any requirement to wait until they were finished.
I'm sure you don't even have to pick it up the same day you drop it off.
posted by ShooBoo at 2:34 PM on May 21, 2006