OCI or PIO travelling in June

[sunny8088]

I am planing to travel to India in second week of June. I am in Florida so will be applying in Houston for OCI (if I would).

Which one would be faster / advisable

OCI or PIO ?>?>

Also if applying for PIO card, do I need to send my Indian passport for cancellation ??

Thanks,

[Maverick01]

OCI vs PIo

PIO for sure. OCI at Houston takes anywhere from 4-6 months. Houston CGI is horrendous in processing OCI's.

[curtdfw]

And PIO timing is very tight. I got mine from Houston last November in the stated four weeks, but a search on the site will turn up people that waited longer. You don't have much slack time, and CGI-Houston doesn't seem to answer emails or the telephone. Consider a regular visa for this trip and do the PIO when you don't have a time crunch.

You don't need to send your passport in for cancellation -- the PIO card is a separate booklet the same size as your passport that you carry in ADDITION to your passport.

Fyi, here's what I sent to Houston last year:

http://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51948&highlight=houston+consulate

[avmeena]

applied for pio card by mail. Can we collect it sooner in person?

We've applied for our son's PIO Card to the Indian Embassy in DC by mail. We're going back to India in June and are in a hurry to get his PIO card. Can we collect the card from the embassy sooner than the 21 days processing time by going in person?

Would really appreciate if anyone can help us in this regard.

[curtdfw]

Doesn't look good for getting it in less than 21 days:


· It takes 21 business days to process application for PIO card.
· Any enquiry regarding PIO card will be entertained only after 21 business days of receipt of completed application form in the embassy.

I got mine from the Houston consulate in the stated four weeks, but there's no guarantee -- others have waited longer. There's a phone number for enquiries at the DC website, but if workable a personal visit would probably produce better results.

Good luck.