Re: Visa help.
 

FACT: An Average of 600 Indian Girls go 'missing' from Goa every year through trafficking (millions yes millions across india)......maybe if the Indian authorities would spend more time and resources into finding them instead of preventing a mother and her well guarded kids from travelling to their 'family orientated' no 1 holiday destination then i might begin to understand their 'concern' for children!!!!

'Incredible' innit.

Re: Visa help.
 

HI Remy

Have been following your problems with visas. Hope all is resolved very quickly.

VFS are sometimes helpful, sometimes not.

I have the contact name, tel no & e-mail address of the Operations Manager at VFS in Victoria if you (or anyone else) would like that info. Saves dialling the call centre number at 0.96 a minute, and they can't tell you anymore than you can see for yourself on their tracking screen.

Cheers
Iain

Re: Visa help.
 

Iain i would appreciate that number, if you could PM it to me i would be obliged. If the passports are returned again without visas then i will need to get talking to someone at VFS as a matter of urgency.

Kind Regards,
Remy

Re: Visa help.
 

Still no visas for me Remy and I go a week Sunday. It's been 2 weeks now. :(

Re: Visa help.
 

and they obviously know that your travelling a week from Sunday!!!
Im sorry, i don't know what else to say except :fingerscrossed:

Re: Visa help.
 

Well as you say Remy, they ask for email address and never use it so I'm wondering if they read ANY info on the visa form. Fingers crossed

Re: Visa help.
 

On the letter VFS sent me there are a number of paragraphs and i have already highlighted the two that affect me regarding the kids.

On calming down and reading the entire letter low and behold it says the following:

"Letter of undertaking on company letterhead is required for Police Officer/ Armed Forces/ Photographers/ Actors/ Airline Staff/ Journalist/ Media Related Professionals entering India for Tourism (If Freelancer: A letter of undertaking is required stating the visit is purely for tourism)"

If i had a scanner i would scan and provide the letter in its entirety but i haven't got that facility here.

This paragraph further confirms what Dreadsoc was saying earlier.

Regards,
Remy

PS. At the bottom of the letter in small print it says;

Please note this list is not exhaustive and does not guarantee a visa. The High Commission of India or its Consulates reserve the right to ask for additional documents if required.

Re: Visa help.
 

Visas are here - phew !

Re: Visa help.
 

Congratulations Heidigirl pressure off.....ours are away back again to VFS so :fingerscrossed:

Re: Visa help.
 

Good luck Remy :fingerscrossed: & Congrats Heidi:thumbup:

Re: Visa help.
 

Just realised I have made myself a problem with getting our visas I had it in mind to take them up to the Victoria office this week but I have just realised that if I do that I will probably not get our passports back in time for our trip to Switzerland on Dec 3rd so I am just going to have to take them up when I come back and hope they are ready before Christmas. Does anyone know how long visas are taking if you deliver and collect from Victoria?

Re: Visa help.
 

If you fill in your visa applications on-line and book an appointment to take them to Victoria. They should normally be ready for collection 2-3 working days from receipt at Victoria, and you can track them on-line. Check on the website in case there are any holidays in between submitting and hoping to collect.

Have you been out of India for for the FULL minimum 2 months? I made that mistake when putting ours in at Victoria - they were accepted and payment taken, but I was a couple of days early, even tho' we were not planning to travel till after the 2 months out. Processing did not start until the day after our full 2 months out, but they were ready for collection on the 3rd afternoon.

Also, on the third day, the tracking status did not change from "being processed" to "available for collection" until nearly 11.45, and that was for one passport - second was about 10 minutes later. Got to Victoria at about 12.45 and was No 70 in the queue to collect.

Good luck............

Re: Visa help.
 

P.S. That was the situation at the beginning of November - we finally got visas on 11th November & arrived back on 13th. Cheers Iain

Re: Visa help.
 

Hi,
We applied for visas on line on Sunday 14th November but were unable to make appointment to take in the paperwork because VFS computer system was undergoing changes. Paperwork delivered by hand to VFS office on
Monday 15th am - office was very busy but I did not experience a long wait.
Visas ready for collection on Thursday 18th. Excellent turnround considering that the office was shut for an Indian Bank Holiday on one day in between.

Hope this helps
Veri

Re: Visa help.
 

Copied from a different forum (with thanks to Goangoangone!)

New Visa Application Process

"A new version of the Online Visa Application Form, aimed at upgrading the visa services and improve the application process, will be in effect on and from 23rd November 2010. The existing Online Application Form and downloadable versions will no longer be available on the website after this date. It is mandatory to complete all applications through the new system before submission at the India Visa Application Centers. Applications made before 23rd November will still be accepted at the Centers for an interim period only. More information can be obtained by visiting our website (http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/index.html) and then clicking on the Important News and Notices link ‘New Visa Application Procedure."

This was a reply to a query with VFS. Did anyone elso know about this? How many times are they going to make changes with absolutely zero notice?

In case it didnt jump out at you, that means no more handwritten forms taken in person to VFS........Everything will be online!

One very disturbing addition to the new form is a question as to your religion.
Yes, your religion..........
What on earth do they want to know that for?
Perhaps the next planned discrimination will be by religion, like Visas for Hindus £20, visas for Christians £60?

What the hell do these imbeciles think they are doing? Do they think the standards of common decency observed by most of the rest of the world dont apply to them?


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