GOT MY VISA

udiken · April 6, 2006

:yes: :dance: Yepee.....this is one of the happiest moments in my life...I got my VISA yesterday from cosulate...when the courier guy came to deliver my passport I was so happy...I would love to share my experience with all of you.You all have been of great help, when I was lost & got support from all of you....THANKS (F)

My fiance filed the petition from Texas in September of 2005, we got aproved by NVC in Dec'05 before X'Mas. The petition was sent to India & the New Delhi Consulate received the petition & issued the intervew date for 13th Feb'06. All was going very smooth besides the long wait for the NVC to approve the petition, untill my case was received by the New Delhi Consulate. When I spoke to them to get the status they gave me the interview date. Here I was a bit confused as I stay in Hyderabad (South Zone in India), so ideally my case was supposed to be handled by Chennai Consulate. The reason why the confusion happened was because I have been born & brought up in New Delhi & moved to Hyderabad for past 11 months for work, geographically I had to appear for my interview in Chennai. Knowing that the New Delhi Consulate canceled my interview date & informed me that they would forward the case to Chennai, this excercise would take them atleast 2 weeks. I was so disheartened after so many days wait atlast we got the interview date, that too I lost it. Well waited for 2 weeks, when checked with Chennai they did not receive my case. I started following up with Delhi & Chennai but all my efforts went in vein. During that period I was visiting Delhi so I decided to visit them personally & know the status. It was past 3 weeks when I visited them, ,y case was still lying at New Delhi & nobody knew what to do with my case..I again repeated my case & the representative made a note of it & assured me that this would be sent soon. After 4 weeks of long wait in India 2 months after the petition arrived in India from NVC the case was received by Chennai & finally after so much wait I got the letter from them on my interview date for the 3rd of April'06. :yes: Happy moment for us. The reason for the confusion was on the petition that my Fiance filed, where he had filled in my information the permanent address was for Delhi & present address was for Hyderabad..NVC when sending the case saw the permanent address & forwarded the case to New Delhi :whistle:

The moment I got my packages I started working towards collecting all my documents..beginning of another nightmare :crying: .

Since I am from Delhi, my parents are in Delhi I asked them to get the Police Clearence Certificate from the Delhi Passport office (PCC), my father started working on that. after 1 week of following up with them they told that they cant issue a PCC untill they see me in person & have a look at the passport. Luckily I was travelling to Delhi during that time so I went to them reapplied for the PCC they refused to issue me one as my present address was Hyderabad. I again got lost in the whole gammoth of bearacracy, started to talk to people I know who could possibly help me. Then somebody adviced me to meet the Cheif Passport Officer to get clarity & the next day was a public holiday :huh: . And I was supposed to leave Delhi in 2 days, the last day I went to meet the passport officer & finally they adviced me & issued me the PCC :dance: :whistle: . That evening I got the PCC from the Local Police Station, that was a cake walk.

After 2 days I returned to Hyderabad & got in touch with my local police station for the PCC whom I had contacted 2 weeks back & was informed that I would be issued a PCC from the same station, and had to submit the following documents & I would get the PCC in 1-2 days. When I returned back from Delhi I went with all the documents to them, where I was shuttled from 1 person to another & then was informed that the PCC would not be issued from the local police station, but from the Commisioner's office :crying: another nightmare. I got in touch with some local known people here to help me, we went to the police station to get the real picture. After the locals spoke to them I finally got the real picture that the PCC would be issued from the Commissioner's Office. I went to the office next day, I was handed a list of checklist they needed to issue me a PCC. Collecting all those documents was another nightmare finally, got all the documents & went to submit the documents the next day. Only week and a half left for the innterview and in Hyderabad it take 15-21 days to get the PCC. I met the respective person who would be issueing the PCC & discussed with him with my current situation & he agreed to give me the PCC in a week's time. The week came & I finally got my PCC. After I got the PCC, everything was easy. I cleared my Medical & went for my interview on the 3rd April'06. :unsure:

THE DAY...my appointment was at 10 AM IST, I was allowed to eneter the premises at 09:30 hours...waited form my turn. Around 11AM somebody came & collected the appointment letter sent by the consulate, I was still waiting..it was 12 PM IST & I had not been called..this made me a bit nervous as I had a flight at 14:40 hrs. I took the courage to go to one of the officer told her my situatuion & asked her suggestion. She rolled her eyes & went to another officer & got back to after speaking to him, she asked me to meet the other officer the moment he was done with the candidate standing in the queue. It was very sweet of them. My turn came after the candidate left, while I was waiting I was observing that the officer who I went to is an old man & was very rude to people...I knew what I was getting into. Any how he asked me to keep all my documents ready, which I was ready with. He asked me all my documents 1 by 1 & was extremely sweet to me. The questions he asked me was how I met my fiance, did my parents meet him, how long he was in India & when did I visit the US (also if I visited any other country). My observation, me having a valid VISA helped me too. . He checked all my papers, gave me a ticket # and asked me to wait fot 15-20 mns. I was called by the 2nd interviewer in 20 mns, he looked at me & told me that he was informed that I had a flight to take..he ensure that I would be done soon so I could get my flight. He too was very sweet to me, looked at all my papers..asked me to SWEAR if all the information was correct & if I would marry my Fiance in 90 days. He looked at our pictures & was very amused to see my dogs pictures (gifted by my fiance). He too asked how we met & for how long did my fiance stay in India. He then started to talk about the historical momuments which were in the pictures of ours. :dance: :dance: . That's it...I was approved for my VISA & I got the VISA 2 days after my Interview.

My experience in Chennai Consulate was wonderful, they were so considerate of my situation...again everything is very situational.

Now I am flying on the 28th to my SWEETHEART!!!!!!! (L) (L) :dance: