Confusion at Indian consulate over receipt of OCI applications

By Suresh C. Shah
Bartlett, IL:
I went to the Indian consulate in Chicago on September 23 for filing an application for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and I came to known from the notice that they had placed in the window that the consulate office will no longer accept OCI application in person as well as by mail until further notice due to technical problems in processing Web site. They have also published this information as under on the Chicago consulate office Web site too:            

“Important Announcement: Due to technical problems in the OCI processing Web site, the Consulate General of India will not accept fresh OCI applications till the further instructions.”

The above announcement had been made only on the Web site of the Chicago Indian consulate. I have checked other Indian consulates’ Web sites  in the USA, but I could not see any thing like this announcement. The Web site for Chicago office may be in trouble. But no one has a definite answer in this matter as to how many days it will take to function it properly.

The Chicago Indian consulate or its Web site had  not announced or mentioned clearly that the problem was temporary and the consulate would resume receiving OCI applications as soon as the glitch is rectified. In the absence of such   an indication or clarification,  I and many others like me felt that it would be a long time before the Chicago Indian consulate resumes receiving OCI applications.

This has caused a lot of anxiety and inconvenience for the OCI card seekers, who  had to remain in great suspense.

If the information is clearly publicized on the Web site and on the consulate notice board, one would not have to wait hopelessly.

The notice  “the Consulate General of India will not accept fresh OCI applications till the further instructions” without giving a clear reason has confused me and many others like me.

I request the consulate and consulate staff to be a bit clearer in disseminating information about its  services.

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