Exactly. What's with the 3 weeks processing times? All my visas have been 3-5 business days.

At the Vancouver India Consulate, I have had same day service, as I was there upon door unlocking at 08:00, and I asked for it. Another time the visa was next day service, and while in Frankfurt, I received another Indian visa in 4 working days.

Whatever you do, don't try to extend your Visa (in India) unless you want to thrill your grandkids with a 2 hour story. They have taken bureaucracy to an all time high level. :)

Tony

Indian Visa processing times vary tremendously by which office you are obliged to use. Brampton is fast, Ottawa is slow. My last Indian visa took more than 2 weeks. I rather enjoyed not being able to travel for those 2 weeks (the suggestions on getting an exceptional 2nd Canadian passport are news to me...good to know)

Wow, I've had nothing like that out of the Vancouver office.

I applied for a triple entry last time, with zero itineraries. Explained to them I travel last minute J or F. I had to write a nice letter to the Consulate explaining such and actually got it (the Visa centre said it was pointless and I'd never get it).

Why do you travel last minute.....someone else paying the tab. Like the poor taxpayer??

Canada was one of the last "developed" countries to offer the E-passport with a validity of 10 years. DFAIT is so disorganized that they don't even renew Canadian passports in Japan anymore. You must go/send your old passport to Manila. It seems more problematic than a plus.
I found having more than one citizenship is the best answer. No issues. My ties to Canada are only a passport that I use for my convenience. Therefore I use it when it suits me and situations like yours, I keep 2 other citizenships. Makes life very easy.

Brampton office last year issued a 6 month multiple entry tourist visa in 3 business days. Will be going there again in a few days applying for a visa and will let you know how long it takes.

Found that very easy to do; bought an invitation letter online, dropped the application off on Tuesday, and picked it up Thursday morning on my way to Istanbul.

Do you have a Nexus card or enhanced driver's licence?

If so, what about entering the US at a land crossing and then flying domestically?

Nexus as a substitute
 

Have you thought about using your Nexus card (or getting one if you don't have it) for the US travel? That way you can let the Indian consulate have your passport.

You live in Ottawa...

I once tried getting a Russian visa on a Schengen passport in Ottawa using the simplified Schengen passport procedure. They just could not handle it. Guy was so afraid of making a mistake and getting chastized by Moscow, he ended up begging me to use my Canadian passport. Which entailed getting an invitation letter and all that crap. But then he dealt with that real quick.

If you travel to America with nexus and no passport you could run into serious problems. You can be blackballed by the US government and barred entry for ten years. You can also lose the ability to ever get Nexus again. I have been asked several times when using Nexus to show my valid passport.

That's what I was thinking as well... Indian and Russian visas are bureaucratic hell.... kind of gives you a taste of the country before you actually get there.

I don't blame him for trying to extract as much out of the government when it is so difficult to get Canadian citizenship and the government does not treat us very well.
(i.e. why should someone have to pay thousands to go through the process to get PR, then pass a citizenship test which is irrelevant to many Canadians?)
(i.e. eliminating the option to have 48 pages in passport, and worst is pricing the new passport ABOVE the cost to make it, if compared to other nations. Evidence includes the $40 extra charge for 10 years despite this having ZERO additional cost.)

I am entitled to hold passports that are not Canadian passports.
These other passports do not, however, let me enter the US visa free.
(OT: In this case, using the EU passport to apply for the Indian visa may be a better option so as to avoid ESTA, though there is different pricing in some cases for British vs Canadian nationals.)