[QUOTE=dreadsoc;8974977] Absolutely agree with you Dread. As I seem to have posted several times about stereotypical comments!!! (Couldn't resist this reply not meant to be in any way personal )

Well we have took the kids all over the world (including 6 times to India) and never needed this before....and if its a statuary requirement then why isn't it on the VFS website???

Also if we get our visas directly through HCI Dublin we DON'T have to provide this. Sorry but Hague Convention my ass!!!

Typical India stupid beaurocracy (spelt wrong but don't give a sh*t)

Also to require a letter from the employer of HM Forces, Police etc to prove that your not there on official business as pointed out by Dreadsoc....how daft is that?
If you where going on official business you wouldn't do so on a tourist visa and wouldn't be applying yourself as this would be obtained through your employer, HM Government etc, and if you are going covert your not going to tell them your real occupation to start with and again wouldn't be travelling on your own documents!!!.

Bipat im not having a go at you...just these silly, stupid, daft, meaningless, pathetic rules that India is now so well renowned for!!!

Regards,
Ranting Remy

Ps. just noticed & re-read my signature footnote......Douglas was soooo spot on!

[QUOTE=dreadsoc;8974977] Spot On!

Sure we are all just work-shirking, dole-dodging, drug-dealing, coke-snorting, cheap skates who have destroyed their country!!! Apparently!!

Regards,
Really Ranting Remy.

Remy

The documentation you have been asked to provide is NOT a statutory requirement and far exceeds the recommendations under the Hague Convention. It is one thing asking for ID to show parentage, quite another to add on such onerous requests as letters from solicitors and councils.

The fact that there is nothing stated on the VFS website about this is very dubious, and the VFS are not applying these reqests for further documentation accross the board - I know 3 families with kids who have recently acquired their visas via the Hayes office with ease, one of those being a single mum !

This has nothing to do with the Hague Convention, it is just another example of irregular and obnoxious conduct by employees of VFS, who seem to have an agenda for dissuading people to visit India either frequently or for longer than 2 weeks !

Dread - x

Hi Dreadsoc,

Thanks for confirming what i already suspected.

Kind Regards,
Remy

I refuse to believe that the Hague convention requires written permission from both parents even if both are travelling with the child! - they're having a bloody laugh!

AndyD 8-(#

What about NOC'S and both father's father's names, Plus everybodies thumb-print, and an envelope full of used fivers, innit?


.

You said it Andy!

What gets me too is that in most relation ship breakdowns both partners end up loathing each other even spitting fire toward one another, which is often the way it goes.....so one or the other isn't going to give written permission in these circumstances hence the children caught in the middle are deprived of a holiday to south asia.
Thankfully in our case not only did the biological father give written permission and a passport photocopy but did so at his solicitors who stamped and verified same.........so now for 'round two' visa applications to Hayes.

yeah that might just work......don't think the fivers would do though, it would probably take a bit more.

Hi Rem,
sorry to read all your problems, hope they are resolved soon - will have to get a bottle of 'noffi in just for you. Good luck.

Of course you must be right, as always, Dread, and there was I thinking that some Indian authorities might be becoming more sensitive to the international child abduction issue.
I was reminded of an occasion many years ago when children travelled on a parent's passport, we had not had our passports marked on entry into India with the number of children we were taking in. On return to Heathrow we were questioned in quite a frightening manner as to the children's origin. It taught me a lesson that you can never have too much documentation/letters etc. etc. when going to or coming from India.

Have just got our visas which included one for grandson who has travelled 3 times before to Goa had to pay for solicitors letter, also father is no longer in contact and whereabouts not known this is the final nail in the coffin after this year we are going elsewhere.Sod them they make obtaining visas a major worry i can spend my money elsewhere.

The facts speak for themselves here Bipat! This is a sporadic request which is not being applied systematically - if it were a standard request to protect against child abduction, then one would expect it to be systematically applied ! If the VFS did apply a policy for preventing children form being taken to India illegally I would be the first to commend them, but unfortunately Remy's recent experience is supiciously non standard.

Similarly the VFS would see from the documentation already submitted by Remy that the children have entered and returned from India on several occasions - that in itself would negate any suspicion of child abduction in their case !
I do find it a little difficult to believe that Indian authorities are 'becoming sensitive to the issue of child abduction' when they allow their own young into sweat shops to work virtually as soon as they can walk !

There is a need for VFS to regulate and standardise their practices instead of acting upon what appear to be individual whimsical notions. Then they need to include proper notification of the practices on the website so that customers are informed. That way, customers will satisfied and they wouldn't have demonstrations like they do in Ireland at the moment.

Dread - x

"I do find it a little difficult to believe that Indian authorities are 'becoming sensitive to the issue of child abduction' when they allow their own young into sweat shops to work virtually as soon as they can walk !"


Exactly what I (and I suspect many others) was thinking.

As I said Dread is probably right, but I am not sure you can connect child labour with this. What the Indian Congress government do in the name of international relationships and what they don't do for their own people is often not related.