What is causing Delay in Houston

[jayb12]

Who is the current consul general in houston ?

I saw on online petition for similar issues with SF , CA indian consulate . They filled an online petition outlining the serious issues faced by the people there and submitted it to higher authorities in the indian govt in delhi.

[NRI2]

Looks like people submitted after Oct 20th are facing the delay. Users like NEM, NRIINDIAN, myself and Vellabadu submitted during the last week of October and Travisa forwarded the documents on Nov 8th 2010 to the Consulate.

my application status

Order History
10/23/2010 India visa application completed online
10/28/2010 India visa application arrived in the mail at Travisa Outsoucing
11/05/2010 Passport and supporting documents received by Travisa Outsourcing, payment processed
11/05/2010 Documents prepared to go to Consulate
11/08/2010 Documents dispatched from Travisa Outsourcing to Consulate
11/08/2010 Documents received by Consulate

[nishaptl]

Entry visa approved

Hello:
My husband went to Houston on my behalf (I could not travel due to work conference this week). When he went there it was a mess there. Lots of angry people. The lady at the reception had enough of the yelling people and just closed the counter and went away.

We were going to pull out the passport and try for tourist visa (the people at Travisa recommended not to do that but that was the only other option for us). before doing that we wanted to check the status. Somehow my husband was able to plead to someone else there to at least give him the current status. This person went inside and checked something in 10 mins and came back and told him that the passport was done and it will be available at Travisa in the evening. Having read other people's experiences my husband did not want to just trust this and went to Travisa to confirm but they did not know anything at that time. They said they get the passports back in the late afternoon and check back then. He went back to the consulate to see if he can get confirmation. At 5.30 in the evening, Travisa updated the site saying they had the passport. My husband personally collected the passport and surrender certificate.

Overall go the consulate if you are really running out of time. But being very very polite to them goes a long way. Love my husband for missing his day of work and driving total 10hrs in one day to get this done.

It was a long day for him and all the drive back and forth. But at least we have it done and don't have to worry about it. Will think of OCI early next year.

Good luck to all of you who are waiting and my prayers are with you!

[nriindian]

thank you nishpt..... atleast we could know what to do...
my grandfather is in not a great shape and i wish i could see him and stay with him...this 1st of jan..but i think i need to fly down there to check
pay 600$$$ ticket from atl...

[nishaptl]

nriindian:
It is was easier for us as we are in Dallas and Houston is drivable from here. Flying down from ATL is a pain and expensive with no guarantees of success. if you have relative there, see if they can go. My sister in law had gone on my behalf on Friday just to check as well. I don't think they are sper sensitive about privacy when you ask for status etc.

From what my husband told me it is a total chaos situation there. in his words it felt like a "municpality office in India".
Good luck!

[houston]

Visa Approved Last night

Looks like things moved for some people last night. I went back to the consulate yesterday and the lady again told me that my son's passport would be ready for pickup at Travisa. After being disappointed on friday, I was skeptical but this time they actually had my sons passport! I am so relieved to put this experience behind me.

Good luck to all that are still waiting and I really hope you get your visas before your travel date.

Fyi, the consulate has been taking a list of people with upcoming travel dates and they are trying their best to get those visas approved in time. If your travel date is coming up soon, make sure you get to the consulate early in the morning and submit yur name to the list with proof of your travel date.

[nriindian]

according to what i heard its a total chaos there are people have flights today tomorrow and in couple days trying to get visa and begging at the houston consulate. they dont pick up the phone, they dont reply to email's they dont care if you have a flight and you would lose they dont care.

i dont have anybody in texas.... so i dont know who could go and help me out...
nishaptl.. would you like to go represent me at the consulaate.. plz...if so please email me at [email protected]

[houston]

NriIndian,

Try callling the India House in Houston. I heard some people saying that some Community Leaders were meeting there last night to discuss the hardship faced by many due to the delays by the Consulate. They might be able to assist you.

http://www.indiahouseinc.org/contact-us

[NeM]

Calling CGI Houston

Congratulations to houston and your son.. hopefully the rest of us will find the light getting brighter at the end of this long dark tunnel very soon.

In the mean time, here's a trick I learnt on how to get a human voice at the consulate:

1) Call the consulate: 713-626-2148 or 713-626-2149.
2) Let it ring 3-4 times.
3) If no one answers, hang up.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 again. Please be very very very patient with the above 3 steps - you may need to do this for about 30-40 minutes.
5) When it is answered, you will be put into the automated call routing system.
6) Press 9 for operator.
7) You will go through another loop with the automated system.
8) When it says "No one is available to answer the call", you will be given some numeric options.. Press 0 for operator.
9) Keep repeating step 8 until an actual human lady answers.
10) Ask your question to her nicely and she will transfer you to another extension - she told me this was extension 126 (use this extension so you don't need to repeat steps 1-9 above every time).

[curious9_r]

I'm facing difficult situation at SFO consulate. I'm in San Diego and sent my son's PIO application on 3rd Nov. They even cashed my money on 15th Nov. But NO PIO yet.

Anyone has any pointers what can be done for SFO consulate?? I've urgent travel plans

[NRI2]

NeM,

Did they give you a favourable reply over phone?

[NeM]

no news yet

Hi NRI2,

The few times I have tried to get through there is a short silent wait period of about a minute before I get transferred to that extension, then the person on the other end either hangs up the phone on purpose or by accident or the system will drop the call - I can't tell for sure. So, no, I can't get any feedback from them yet - very frustrating indeed.

[NRI2]

NeM,

Thank you. I wish someone can give us a tentative date based on our submission date. They mentioned minimum of three weeks time. The Decemeber crowd also will not be there next week. Hope Travisa provides more info than the automated email.

[nriindian]

Order History
Date/Time Action
10/29/2010 11:28am CST India visa application completed online
11/02/2010 1:11pm CST India visa application arrived in the mail at Travisa Outsoucing
11/06/2010 11:55am CST Application assigned for processing
11/06/2010 12:31pm CST Passport and supporting documents received by Travisa Outsourcing, payment processed
11/06/2010 1:05pm CST Documents prepared to go to Consulate
11/08/2010 1:23pm CST Documents dispatched from Travisa Outsourcing to Consulate
11/08/2010 2:06pm CST Documents received by Consulate
12/08/2010 6:32pm CST Outsourcing office has verified the visa is processed correctly. Ready for pickup between 4:30pm and 6:00pm. If mail back, waiting for FedEx pick up and is likely to be mailed out tomorrow.
12/08/2010 6:00pm CST Passport mailed out

[NRI2]

nriindian,
Glad to know that you got the VISA. Did anybody visited Houston on your behalf or this happened through the normal process.