passport is damaged - NOA2 received - Mumbai Embassy

[nimble 0]

Hello VJ team, really need your advice here (I also posted this on the general forum).

My fiancee's K1 petition was just approved at CSC and sent to NVC for onward processing to Mumbai Embassy, India. In order to have our paperwork ready and in anticipation for Packet 3, my fiancee went to the passport office to get her police clearance. The officer there said her passport was damaged and she would have to apply for a new one before they could do anything. The only damage is a slight smudging on the passport issuing authoritys stamp and sign. Are they just creating a fuss over nothing and need something to get the work done?

What happens now? If she gets a new passport, her K1 petition has another passport number. It will take as many as 3 months to get a new passport, in the meanwhile she cannot even complete Packet 3. And the petition expires in 4 months. And when she does fill in forms DS156 and DS230, the passport numbers will differ.

Should we just go ahead and use the old passport numbers and send in Packet 3 so the process is not held up? Or should we wait until we get the new passport and then continue the process? We would just be holding up the already long timeline that this takes....

[YuAndDan 153]

A few things, go back to the office to get police report and see a different officer, another officer may be less picky about the smudge.

The consulate has the authority to extend the petition's expiration date, so dont lat that 4 month limit scare you.

There is a form letter that you can send to the consulate requesting them to extend the petition.

SEE: http://www.visajourney.com/examples/extend-approval.doc

[doc_cute 0]

Hello VJ team, really need your advice here (I also posted this on the general forum).

My fiancee's K1 petition was just approved at CSC and sent to NVC for onward processing to Mumbai Embassy, India. In order to have our paperwork ready and in anticipation for Packet 3, my fiancee went to the passport office to get her police clearance. The officer there said her passport was damaged and she would have to apply for a new one before they could do anything. The only damage is a slight smudging on the passport issuing authoritys stamp and sign. Are they just creating a fuss over nothing and need something to get the work done?

What happens now? If she gets a new passport, her K1 petition has another passport number. It will take as many as 3 months to get a new passport, in the meanwhile she cannot even complete Packet 3. And the petition expires in 4 months. And when she does fill in forms DS156 and DS230, the passport numbers will differ.

Should we just go ahead and use the old passport numbers and send in Packet 3 so the process is not held up? Or should we wait until we get the new passport and then continue the process? We would just be holding up the already long timeline that this takes....

passport issuing stamp is imporant if the smudging creates problem

you guys can order a new passport

it takes hardly 15 days at max in tatkaal

but try 1st if they give the pcc

but personally i feel if there is smudging and unclear stamp there might be probs while her travel too

so its better u sort out the prob with your fiancee now only .

[JanaknJanet 0]

[

passport issuing stamp is imporant if the smudging creates problem

you guys can order a new passport

it takes hardly 15 days at max in tatkaal

but try 1st if they give the pcc

but personally i feel if there is smudging and unclear stamp there might be probs while her travel too

so its better u sort out the prob with your fiancee now only .

Glad to hear it only takes 15 days where you are from.... My Love applied for a renewal of his passport.. paid the extra fee for fast expidit.. hahah the website states process of 7-10 days if you pay for the extra service... hahaha.. total time.. from applying to new passport.. 48 days.

I would hate to see what it would have been if he didnt pay for rapid processing. Oh and by the way... it was filed in Ahmedabad office...

[love2007 0]

[

passport issuing stamp is imporant if the smudging creates problem

you guys can order a new passport

it takes hardly 15 days at max in tatkaal

but try 1st if they give the pcc

but personally i feel if there is smudging and unclear stamp there might be probs while her travel too

so its better u sort out the prob with your fiancee now only .

Glad to hear it only takes 15 days where you are from.... My Love applied for a renewal of his passport.. paid the extra fee for fast expidit.. hahah the website states process of 7-10 days if you pay for the extra service... hahaha.. total time.. from applying to new passport.. 48 days.

I would hate to see what it would have been if he didnt pay for rapid processing. Oh and by the way... it was filed in Ahmedabad office...

yes mala is right delhi passpoert office is fast.

it doesn't take much time and if u do not want to wait for courier to come to u u can even collect it personally at the counter.

[love2007 0]

nimble

did the passport office tell u it will take 3 months. i think she already has a passport and it would be extended for a new booklet and should not take this much time.i di so my old passport was in maiden name and applied with married name and i got it with in a weeks time.

the procedure is if u want to get ur passport early u have get a letter from an officer level person ,secretary,ias, etc(mentioned in the passport form booklet) that u r known to that person with the address proof. in that case the time for police varification is saved u r issued the passport and police varification is done after that as per their convenience.

this i did in november 2006. from jan the rules have changed and are more flexible so get in touch with the officers and do it this way and u ,ll get the passport early. tatkal passport is issued within a week

all the best

[nimble 0]

Thank you all. We will try the tatkal process but before that we will try one more time and see if we can get the police clearance at the passport office with this passport itself. Maybe the officer was just trying to be difficult in order to get some money, who knows - I would hate to slander him without knowing the truth. I mean, a little smudging because of a water spill or something cannot be that bad can it?

But if we were to apply for a new passport, do you think we can send in packet 3 for now with the old passport details (assuming the new one has not been applied for yet?) That way we will get in line to be scheduled for an interview....how long does it take for them to schedule an interview at Mumbai once you send in packet 3?

[Nikita2Charles 32]

I would suggest to replace it while you can now to prevent any chance that your fiancee might have some problems later, maybe the guy was trying to get a little kick back, remember this is INDIA. Start to shake those contacts, anything can happen ( you know what I mean) if you cooperate with the right folks.

[doc_cute 0]

nimble

did the passport office tell u it will take 3 months. i think she already has a passport and it would be extended for a new booklet and should not take this much time.i di so my old passport was in maiden name and applied with married name and i got it with in a weeks time.

the procedure is if u want to get ur passport early u have get a letter from an officer level person ,secretary,ias, etc(mentioned in the passport form booklet) that u r known to that person with the address proof. in that case the time for police varification is saved u r issued the passport and police varification is done after that as per their convenience.

this i did in november 2006. from jan the rules have changed and are more flexible so get in touch with the officers and do it this way and u ,ll get the passport early. tatkal passport is issued within a week

all the best

how much time does new tatkaal verification takes ?

[

passport issuing stamp is imporant if the smudging creates problem

you guys can order a new passport

it takes hardly 15 days at max in tatkaal

but try 1st if they give the pcc

but personally i feel if there is smudging and unclear stamp there might be probs while her travel too

so its better u sort out the prob with your fiancee now only .

Glad to hear it only takes 15 days where you are from.... My Love applied for a renewal of his passport.. paid the extra fee for fast expidit.. hahah the website states process of 7-10 days if you pay for the extra service... hahaha.. total time.. from applying to new passport.. 48 days.

I would hate to see what it would have been if he didnt pay for rapid processing. Oh and by the way... it was filed in Ahmedabad office...

yes mala is right delhi passpoert office is fast.

it doesn't take much time and if u do not want to wait for courier to come to u u can even collect it personally at the counter.

and how much time the police clearance certificate for new issued passport will take ? any ideas

[nimble 0]

...okay so my fiancee goes to the Mumbai passport office to make a new pasport and after standing in a line in the sun for about 3 hours and then inside in another line for another hour or so, she reaches the officer who tells her that basically she cannot apply for a new passport under tatkal because her passport is damaged. And then she says she cannot accept her application because it is missing an affidavit signed by the court certifying why her passport is damaged. Really, why does the court need to testify that the passport was damaged because of a water spill? And if they are so picky about water damage, why can they just not laminate the whole passport?

Anyways, I'm going to cut the drama and stick to the story. So now she has an affidavit and has to go and stand in the line again and then she will be issued a passport who knows how many months later (2-3 she was told).

This is so frustrating, we waited for a long time and finally got the NAO2 and now this 2-3 month delay is going to push our plans back by months. And who knows what will happen if our petition expires before then. Not to mention the discrepancy in the passport numbers. I feel so terrible my fiancee has to go through all this by herself, but she is being so strong about it...I know ultimately we will all come out stronger and we will be fine, it just seems very frustrating right now.

[doc_cute 0]

I REALLY HATE INDIAN PASSPORT SYSTEM

-M.

...okay so my fiancee goes to the Mumbai passport office to make a new pasport and after standing in a line in the sun for about 3 hours and then inside in another line for another hour or so, she reaches the officer who tells her that basically she cannot apply for a new passport under tatkal because her passport is damaged. And then she says she cannot accept her application because it is missing an affidavit signed by the court certifying why her passport is damaged. Really, why does the court need to testify that the passport was damaged because of a water spill? And if they are so picky about water damage, why can they just not laminate the whole passport?

Anyways, I'm going to cut the drama and stick to the story. So now she has an affidavit and has to go and stand in the line again and then she will be issued a passport who knows how many months later (2-3 she was told).

This is so frustrating, we waited for a long time and finally got the NAO2 and now this 2-3 month delay is going to push our plans back by months. And who knows what will happen if our petition expires before then. Not to mention the discrepancy in the passport numbers. I feel so terrible my fiancee has to go through all this by herself, but she is being so strong about it...I know ultimately we will all come out stronger and we will be fine, it just seems very frustrating right now.