PIO Card

anyone in any district - any updates on your PIO application? does the lazy asses did some work after 3 days off or still on ghuthaka and tea?

Applied for Minor's PIO and application is received by SF embassy on 12/31/2014. After looking at all the mess with PIO/OCI merge, decided to submit passport withdrawal form. Sent it on Jan 21st. Still waiting for documents to come back. I dont care about loosing money, just get me the passport back damnit.

Anyone have idea *if* at all there is any option for us to go to Embassy in person and talk to someone directly? I see they are open for public 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Has anyone tried this?

Folks, while I have a forwarded email from CKGS center manager stating that they were sending the PIOs that were issued after Jan 9th to the consulate for cancellation (whoever made that dumb decision). I finally decided to read the Gazette itself (link to it is there in CKGS website) and it only states that any PIO issued until Jan 9th will be deemed OCIs. There's absolutely no mention that PIOs should not be issued after Jan 9th nor those issued after this date will be invalid.
Please help me in case if I'm interpreting the gazette incorrectly.

Hi All,

I have applied for my infant son's PIO application to SF center. It reached on 20th Jan 2015.

I came to know about the PIO program discontinuation after posting the application to the SF CKGS center.

I do not have a clue as to what is happening with the application as I have not received any email or phone call or any tracking number from CKGS.

Is anyone else in the same situation? Please provide details.

I emailed and called. I got a standard response:

They do not have my applicaiton details in their system. They are unable to track my application.

They mentioned PIO is discontinued and the application package will be sent back. No idea when that is going to happen.

Standard answer... it would take some time, please wait. No futher details.

Such a pathetic situation.

Can all of you my virtual friends who have received PIO in the current scenario (and lucky), go back to any written correspondence you have from CKGS telling us "PIO scheme is cancelled and your documents will be returned" and yell back to them - why the **** they said so when they have no clue on whats happening. This way it s the only opportunity to slap back their face (trust me nothing will go wrong as u wont have to deal with them again). Tell them why the **** they were barking **** when they had no clue and giving false info and causing stress to people (I guess at least few % of us may have already changed tickets etc).

it is important to do that so that these assholes should know "not to bark" when they know nothing and needless scare people and cause stress in their life. I hope I am making sense....

Folks out there,
I'm writing to let you know about my positive experience. Here is the time line -

I posted my application via FedEx on Mon Jan 12th to CKGS NY. Based on others' experiences, I tried contacting CKGS and their customer service mentioned that application would be coming back (they had no idea what's going on at the Indian Consulate). Other fellow members mentioned that if weight of the return package (if = 0.5 lbs) equates to the PIO card but my return FedEx envelope showed as 1 lb so I was convinced that my application is coming back; luckily I got the PIO card which was issued on 01/19/2015.

My guess is - there is no one holding the Indian Embassy folks accountable for processing or non-processing the PIO applications. If they process them after the Jan 9th deadline, folks like me would turn out lucky. If not, they can always say that "You bypassed the Jan 9th deadline".
I think they would have expected a huge volume of PIO card applications if they had mentioned that the PIO card scheme would end by, say Jan 31st, and they along with CKGS would have been bombarded with queries.

This act of theirs is more like the "Chhupa Rustam". Anyways, I wish all the folks the very best and hope these surprises of our Embassy end soon.

Application Status Remarks Date of Status
Passport sent by post/courier number YYYY YYYY 01/23/2015
Your application has been collected from the Embassy/Consulate and is being sorted. Your application will be ready for collection from our Application Centre within one business day. 01/21/2015
Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy/Consulate for further processing. 01/13/2015
Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USAN YYYY ZZZ 01/13/2015
Your application has been received and will be submitted subject to verification. 01/13/2015

I would like to share experience for applying new PIO cards after January 09, 2015.
 
I sent PIO application to New York embassy on - 01/12/2015
CKGS site updated application received status - 01/15/2015
I saw new rule (PIO card withdraw) on CKGS site on - 01/16/2015
CKGS site updated application processed status - 01/21/2015
I thought they my return my application forms but surprise thing is my son got PIO card life time on -01/22/2015
 PIO card issue date is - 01/19/2015

I have question about newly issued PIO card date is showing - 01/19/2015. But As per the official Gazette Notification, existing PIO holders do not have to do anything. All PIO cards issued till 09 January 2015 are deemed to be OCI cards.
 

shall I use this PIO card to travel to INDIA or do I want to apply OCI card?

Hi,

Anyone aware of how many days does SFO office takes to process/send back the passport. I have the ticket booked for Feb 15, 2015 and the status for the tracking of my kid's PIO has been the same from Jan 5th, 2015. Want the passport back at the earliest to apply for visa. Appreciate any information regarding this.

Thanks.

Please share update about pio submitted at houston embassy after jan 9 deadline.

I have submitted the documents on jan 13 , reached ckgs on 15th jan. submitted to houston embassy on jan 15th.

CKGS called me on 20th and said they will return the documents . I have not recieved the documents yet :( .

From other embassies i see few getting pio cards- luckily post jan 9th deadline. I am not able to see any such updates from houston center.

Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy/Consulate for further processing. 01/15/2015
Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USAxxxxxx5 01/15/2015
Your application has been received and will be submitted subject to verification. 01/15/2015

Hi all,

I received the PIO for my minor today from New York CKGS. Following are details

1). Application sent to Embassy - 01/08/2015
2). CKGS received the Application from Embassy - 01/21/2015
3). CKGS dispatched it to Fedex - 01/22/2015
4). Received it from fedex - 01/23/2015 3PM

Thanks!!!