Renunciation Procedure using VFS

[ocitrack]

I just received a email from VFS requesting additional documents.
03/10/2021 - Application Mailed
03/11/2021 - Received my VFS
03/30/2021. - Email Requesting Additional Information.

[Naglos]

Hello, I have Submitted My Renunciation Application Through VFS On 20th Jan 2021. It Was Forwarded To The Embassy For Processing On 5th Feb 2021. After That, I Have Not Heard Any Updates for a long time. Then 3rd March, I got a response from PRAMIT that my application has been referred to RPO Chennai for clearance. I don't understand why it needs RPO clearance for the renunciation. Every time dealing with the Indian consulate is painful even though we pay a lot of fees.

I don't know what to do now and need your advice.

Thanks

[ocitrack]

Update: Called VFS today. They are currently processing renunciation applications received on March 8th.

They asked me if I applied Tatkal or Regular. So I asked them to upgrade mine to Tatkal. Their answer: Tatkal is not available for Renunciation!! (what idiots, why ask?).

I wanted my OCI to go Tatkal, they are like: OCI also does not have Tatkal. Then what is tatkal for??? (issuing passports, which is already pretty quick in most places).

What an agency!

Thanks for calling them to find the date. i will post here if i there is any progress in my application.

[bloxer]

Funny, the same consulate (SFO) were on a "Webinar on Indian Visa" on Feb 20 and said Renunciation would take 3 weeks

* Renunciation processing inside embassy is taking 3 weeks (See response from CC80, 03/03 - 03/19).
* When these guys talk, they only talk about their own processing time, they do not include VFS time, or other organization time, forget about shipping, dispatching time etc.
* I asked VFS (today) about how long embassy is taking right now, they said 1 week. So clearly that is not true because we know embassy is taking much longer.
* VFS also said applications at VFS is taking 1 week, that is also a lie (from my own experience 2wks+ and counting). <== this is a killer in whole system, which is already a sloth

I am forming a serious complaint against VFS to MEA, will post early next week to their website. This slowness is acceptable when they do it for free, but not otherwise if they charge $200+ for each step. I am paying for a service & getting garbage. Things need to change. We all need to file a complaint with MEA directly. In fact, if you look at MEA website, there are specific links for VFS related issues/complaints.

In this era, how are we all even putting up with such organizations! If there was even a single person handling all cases "actively", I cannot see how things will move so slow.

[sln]

Funny, the same consulate (SFO) were on a "Webinar on Indian Visa" on Feb 20 and said Renunciation would take 3 weeks

[arkaa]

Here is my timeline with SFO,

02/05/21 : Application mailed via FedEx
02/09/21 : "your package has been received at the VFS application Centre. Our current processing times are longer than usual. Your application will be reviewed with 48-72 business hours."
03/01/21‘ " Received’ your Application and your application is now ‘Under Process’ at San Francisco."
03/03/21 :"Your Application has been ‘Processed’ at the VFS India Consular application Centre and currently is ‘In-Transit‘ to the Embassy of India/Consulate General of India for decision making."
03/19/21 : "Your Application has been reviewed by the Embassy of India/ Consulate General of India & will be dispatched using the courier service you had opted."
03/19/21 : "Your document (s) is dispatched using the return label purchased or sent by you.If using VFS courier, please check for email from "[email protected]" for details."
03/22/21 : Received documents back in hand.

That is probably the quickest turnaround I have seen reported since VFS took over. Maybe they are getting better? I am planning to apply as soon as I get my US passport - hope Houston is also doing better with the time lines.

[bloxer]

Here is my timeline with SFO,

02/05/21 : Application mailed via FedEx
02/09/21 : "your package has been received at the VFS application Centre. Our current processing times are longer than usual. Your application will be reviewed with 48-72 business hours."
03/01/21‘ " Received’ your Application and your application is now ‘Under Process’ at San Francisco."
03/03/21 :"Your Application has been ‘Processed’ at the VFS India Consular application Centre and currently is ‘In-Transit‘ to the Embassy of India/Consulate General of India for decision making."
03/19/21 : "Your Application has been reviewed by the Embassy of India/ Consulate General of India & will be dispatched using the courier service you had opted."
03/19/21 : "Your document (s) is dispatched using the return label purchased or sent by you.If using VFS courier, please check for email from "[email protected]" for details."
03/22/21 : Received documents back in hand.

45 days only? Fantastic.

[bloxer]

Update: Called VFS today. They are currently processing renunciation applications received on March 8th.

They asked me if I applied Tatkal or Regular. So I asked them to upgrade mine to Tatkal. Their answer: Tatkal is not available for Renunciation!! (what idiots, why ask?).

I wanted my OCI to go Tatkal, they are like: OCI also does not have Tatkal. Then what is tatkal for??? (issuing passports, which is already pretty quick in most places).

What an agency!

[CC80]

Here is my timeline with SFO,

02/05/21 : Application mailed via FedEx
02/09/21 : "your package has been received at the VFS application Centre. Our current processing times are longer than usual. Your application will be reviewed with 48-72 business hours."
03/01/21‘ " Received’ your Application and your application is now ‘Under Process’ at San Francisco."
03/03/21 :"Your Application has been ‘Processed’ at the VFS India Consular application Centre and currently is ‘In-Transit‘ to the Embassy of India/Consulate General of India for decision making."
03/19/21 : "Your Application has been reviewed by the Embassy of India/ Consulate General of India & will be dispatched using the courier service you had opted."
03/19/21 : "Your document (s) is dispatched using the return label purchased or sent by you.If using VFS courier, please check for email from "[email protected]" for details."
03/22/21 : Received documents back in hand.

[bloxer]

Few reasons. 1 was Covid closures and then they changed outsourcing vendors from CKGS to VFS which kind of stopped the processing of applications for few weeks in November last year. All this combined messed up a lot of things and caused additional delays. Hope to see better processing times in the future. I did renunciation and OCI via VFS earlier in December-Jan '20-21 and everything went smooth. Renunciation took about 3 weeks and OCI took about 5 weeks. This was in Houston BTW.

Covid shall no longer be an excuse for slow processing of applications (by 10 times, instead of 2 days it takes 20+ days) which deal with serious matters like immigration/passports/visa etc. I got my US-Passport processed in 100 hours (incl. overnight send/recv) last month, which requires far more scrutiny of application than renunciation. Anyways, cannot compare the two systems, but it is very frustrating that (a) they split renunciation & oci into 2 separate applications [& huge fees for both] (b) take weeks to process simple things like renunciation.

I am glad your applications went smoothly, though I think 3 weeks for renunciation is still a nightmare. OCI - 5 weeks is understandable sort of.

[Donald_Trump]

Few reasons. 1 was Covid closures and then they changed outsourcing vendors from CKGS to VFS which kind of stopped the processing of applications for few weeks in November last year. All this combined messed up a lot of things and caused additional delays. Hope to see better processing times in the future. I did renunciation and OCI via VFS earlier in December-Jan '20-21 and everything went smooth. Renunciation took about 3 weeks and OCI took about 5 weeks. This was in Houston BTW.

Mar 12. It is unbelievable that it takes them weeks just to put a stamp on a sheet of paper & passport. And they charge $200 for the same with such pathetic service (Mar 12-25: Progress=0%). Worth filing a complaint to MEA.

If mine makes any progress, i'll update here.

[sln]

SFO Renunciation
sent: 3/2
3/24: Message saying "processed" at VFS and in transit to embassy

I see the same status on VFS tracking. Prior to 3/24, I was seeing "invalid inputs" only

[bloxer]

when did you submit yours? I mailed my application on March 10th. when i check the VFS tracking it still says "invalid inputs"

Mar 12. It is unbelievable that it takes them weeks just to put a stamp on a sheet of paper & passport. And they charge $200 for the same with such pathetic service (Mar 12-25: Progress=0%). Worth filing a complaint to MEA.

If mine makes any progress, i'll update here.

[ocitrack]

Folks,
How long is it taking to acquire Renunciation cert at SFO in 2021? Any experience?

I have submitted mine, since I have sent my physical docs, it is 10 days and counting...

when did you submit yours? I mailed my application on March 10th. when i check the VFS tracking it still says "invalid inputs"

[bloxer]

Folks,
How long is it taking to acquire Renunciation cert at SFO in 2021? Any experience?

I have submitted mine, since I have sent my physical docs, it is 10 days and counting...