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YOUR India visa application experience with CKGS @USA

YOUR India visa application experience with CKGS @USA

Old Jun 21, 2014, 12:56 pm
  #91  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: New York
Posts: 7
NY CKGS Experience

I've been reading for the past few weeks about everyone's CKGS experiences and though I would share my own. I mailed in my application so I have no idea what applying in person or trying to visit the CKGS NY office is like.

I sent my tourist visa application to the NY office right after CKGS opened operations, May 22, and I received zero information or confirmation that my package was received for a solid month. During this month, sent 2-3 e-mails to their various e-mail addresses per day, called them several times a week and contacted the Indian consulate's visa help address. Finally, on June 13, I received my tracking ID via e-mail and was able to track my application's progress online.

After the 17th, there were no further updates regarding shipping. I sent in an extra $15 with my initial application documents for courier service and had no clue if they would follow through with it. Lo and behold, on the morning of the 19th, I received my passport and visa via FedEx even though there was no online update about shipping. My trip is two weeks from tomorrow, so I feel very fortunate that my passport arrived in time

I'm not sure if it was my constant e-mailing that caused my visa to get processed or if CKGS is finally starting to unclog their application pipeline.

Here is what my CKGS application status updates looked like.

Your Documents are received from The Indian Embassy 6/17/2014 10:25:04 AM
Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing. 6/16/2014 4:01:57 AM
Your Application is Submitted at the Embassy/Consulate 6/16/2014 2:48:02 AM
Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USAN********* 6/13/2014 9:54:12 PM
Your Appointment is Scheduled 6/13/2014 9:48:05 PM

Last edited by vw08; Jun 22, 2014 at 9:05 am
vw08 is offline  
Old Jun 21, 2014, 5:05 pm
  #92  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 1
I had terrible experience with Cox & King Visa center NY and BLS. I thought I will share my story with you all from start to end. May be it will helpful for someone who is going through same situation.

I had applied for OCI for me and my family on March 20th 2014 to the BLS and just one day before CK took over and came to know that the UPS package that I have sent, was not even open at BLS Office. When I tried tracking status of the application from BLS site, it was showing "it’s under document review approval process”. I have collected my entire package one day before CK took over services from BLS. Since, my family’s tickets to India was booked on 19th Jun 2014, I didn’t have enough time to do OCI process through CK(Cox & Kings) so, I have decided to apply for tourist visa.

First step was to get an appointment from CK site. When I tried from the site several time, it was throwing error while scheduling appointment. After repeating the same couple of days in unusual times, luckily I got an appointment on 6th Jun 2014. In the site, it also mentioned that you can do walk-in appointments. So, we thought we will make an attempt for that. We decided to go on 2nd Jun 2014.

We live in NJ and drove to NY “235w 23rd street NY” where CK center setup. First problem we had was there was no parking spot available in day time. All paid parking lots were full. We searched for parking lot for an hour and finally got one spot with high rate. Around 11am we were in front of CK building. At the gate, there were 3 security guys. We told them about the walking interview, but they didn’t allow us to enter building. One of the security guys, his name is "Justin" told that there is no walking interview there and if anyone cancels their appointment then there is a chance of new appointments and that can be used only after 4pm. Assignments will be done based on first come first serve basis. So, that built up a line in front the building. We were at 7th position in the queue. After 3:30pm, people are started coming for pick up visa and line started growing up. Batch by batch they have allowed to enter inside building for pick up folks. I have waited from 11am to 6:30PM in the hot sun with my family and two kids. Finally, they allowed 5 appointments for new applicants and rest of the people has to leave for that day and can come next day morning 9AM. We were only 5 more applicants left there. Still they didn’t allow. We have waited some more time, and when every left that place, we have approached to one security guy, his name is "Chris" and told about our situation, and literally begged for last appointment. He didn’t agree for the first time and he went upstairs and got the permission for one more last appointment. We entered building as last applicant. Around 7:15pm I have applied for visa for my kid and visa & renunciation for my wife. The officer named "Jasmine Hicks" collected fees $82.05(x2) for visa and $199.64 for renunciation. Payment was made through credit card. He promised us that visa processing will take only 3-4 days and can be collected within a week and to find the status, use CK site. We thought all well and we drove back to home, reached home by 10:30pm. When I checked my email from home, saw a confirmation email from "[email protected]" saying that "Payment ind collected".


On 13th JUN 2014, when I checked for status of my son’s visa status, it was showing ready for collection and for my wife, below list was displayed.


Application Status - Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing.
Date of Status - 6/9/2014 6:33:51 PM

Application Status - Your Application is submitted at the Embassy/Consulate
Date of Status - 6/9/2014 4:35:32 PM

Application Status - Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USANXXXXXXXX
Date of Status - 6/2/2014 6:23:19 PM

Application Status - Your Appointment is scheduled
Date of Status - 6/2/2014 6:19:21 PM


On 16th JUN 2014, I went to CK around 4PM and stand in the queue for pickup. The security guy collected all return receipts from everyone and after long time he brought my son’s visa back. I felt so happy that I got at least one and thank to the GOD. Now, I need to get my wife's visa. And that, I needed within 3 days because they are travelling in 3 days. The security guy "Chris" who took return receipt, came back and hand over the receipt and told that, this visa will be ready by Wednesday or Thursday.
I felt so bad and got doubt about something going wrong with this case, decided to come back next day for further follow up. I left around 7:30pm from CK.

My mother-in law was not well these days, so, I thought of applying for emergency visa rather waiting for regular visa for my wife. Got the medical letter from the doctor and we prepared for applying emergency visa next day. For applying emergency visa only we need is passport from CK and can go to embassy apply same day and get visa for the same day.

Next day, 17th JUN 2014, we dropped our kids to our friend’s home; I & my wife went to CK early in the morning. Our intention was to get the passport if it’s not ready with visa. We reached CK around 10AM. As usual, security guy didn’t allow us to enter inside building, we explained our emergency situation and showed him letter from hospital, and he allowed us to enter inside building. Chris was lead us to the officer and we explained to officer about our emergency situation. She is a young Indian lady. She started searching racks over there and went to the back of the office. After sometime, she came back and told that there is back office team; they will look for further search for passport. Every 20 minutes we were checking with her about the status, and she had very big attitude problem. She was updating us the same without going to back office and check. We really got frustrated because we need to get this passport before 12:30PM. Embassy will accept emergency visa applications only between 9AM-12:30PM. We told to so many officers there, no one is ready to take the responsibilities. We have waited for long and waited patiently, but no result. Around 3pm one guy told that they don’t have passport and its with embassy. Immediately, I went to embassy to check up on that. I ran to the embassy because I have to be there before closing time which is 5PM. My wife stayed CK itself. I reached embassy around 4:30pm and stand in the visa pick up queue. Talked to officer about the status of this case and she confirmed that, embassy never got the passport from CK. “What’s going on?” Again I went back to CK.
I reached CK and there were very big crowd of pick visa folks and processing issue folks. Security didn’t let me enter inside the building this time. I have to wait in the queue. Waited about 2 hrs. Then they decided to enter all the folks to upstairs around 6:30PM.

Officers were calling names of the people whose Visa/OCI/PIO got processed. Most of the people were not there. Hall was so crowded and around 8:30pm they finished calling names.

We are again back to the square, approached another officer, to look for passport. We mentioned about the embassy status to him that no passport with them. He is an Indian guy, but did promptly search for the passport all the places, but couldn’t find it. He was searching for half an hour or so. Very honest guy did his part very well, but result is nothing. Time was about 11PM, and all kind of frustration tension was going through inside us. Need to go back to NJ, which takes 2 hrs. Need to pick up kids from friends place. And still no Passport yet. There were about 15 people facing similar kind of issues. Around 11:30pm, we approached another guy, he name is "Herbal" or something, and he comes only in the night shift it seems. I would say he is a king of liar, politician etc... He lied to us that, passport is in process with embassy and asked us to come to embassy next day morning around 10:30AM, and visa will be ready by then and if it’s not processed then you can collect passport from there otherwise visa can be collected in the evening. He also promised us that he will give a wakeup call in the morning when everything ready. We didn’t have any other option to trust this stupid politician. We agreed to meet him there at embassy and left the CK office by 1AM. We reached our home by 3:30AM.

Next day, 18th JUN 2014, we reached embassy 9:30AM, and stand in the queue, explained to the officer about the yesterday’s situation and she looked at the system again told the same status, nothing was received from CK. The guy, who promised "herbal", didn’t show up. No other option for us, went back to CK. Security didn’t allow us to enter inside building; even we showed the emergency letter and all documents. What kind of people are they? Animals?...

We waited there till 6:30pm, and finally they allowed all of us to go upstairs inside the building. We approached one officer his name is "Rajesh", very gentle man, told him about our emergency situation and he took it very seriously and started searching for passport. During that time we just enquired with the Indian lady we gave yesterday, she was keep telling same status with same attitude.... There were huge crowed outside building those who are came for pick up as well as visa issues people.
Security and the crowd had some issues there and someone called police. After few minutes Police came there and took the control over the crowd.

We had multiple copies of the return receipt and we are giving to all officers whoever is available. When police was announcing in the building, one guy came out from the very first cabin from left, and we showed him the emergency letter and told the same, he said he is not in the searching department, and he is from IT department. But, after hearing our situation he said, he will find out. You will not believe it, within 10 minutes, he found the passport and came back. We were not able to believe for the first time, but that’s the fact. His name is "Balander singh", he was our hero. Thank GOD.

They didn’t process visa for my wife, because wrong fees were collected. There was a shortage of $20 it seems. From the site, it’s clearly mentioned that 175 for renunciation and 20 for processing, total 195. They collected 199, still not paid full? I don’t know, what’s going on there. Those who are applied visa with renunciation will have this issue because they are collecting same amount 199 mentioned earlier since then. Anyway, we are happy that we got our passport (both us and Indian) back around 7:00pm and left from CK.


Next day, 19th JUN 2014, we went to embassy directly and applied for emergency visa around 9:30AM. They collected $338 including visa and renunciation. Embassy did processing in not more than 3 hours and got visa back by 11:45AM. Evening 8pm my family travelled to India........ I am writing this on 21st JUN 2014, and today morning I got a call from my wife saying that they reached safely there in India......

This is my story, like this, there a lot of Americans facing similar problems there……for those, please feel free to ask any questions on this or general, I am happy to help you all whatever I can!

Last edited by AJLondon; Jun 22, 2014 at 7:49 am Reason: Edited color out
f4rights is offline  
Old Jun 21, 2014, 8:30 pm
  #93  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY Metro
Programs: SPG Titanium, United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,600
This is why I am worried. They received my application on 5/28. It says its being processed on 6/4 but I don't see the 'Its with the consulate' status after over 3 weeks. On 6/4, they did call me and say there was something wrong with the payment amount but after explaining to them, they realized it was actually correct. So don't know if that caused an error but I think its stuck somewhere at CKGS. I called and emailed and everyone is saying different things (its not with embassy, its with them, etc). Does anyone have the number for the NY office?


Application Status

Date of Status

Your Appointment is Scheduled 6/4/2014 11:12:29 AM
Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USAN***** 6/4/2014 8:27:07 PM
Your Basic Details are Entered 5/28/2014 10:33:30 AM
PrivatePilot is offline  
Old Jun 23, 2014, 12:50 am
  #94  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 5
Another incompetent company to deal with VISA

I seriously think that there is something wrong with the Indian Embassy as services are not at all in good shape.

Cox and kings s another link in the chain of incompetency. My brother wants to come back to India as my aunt is not well but he is not even able to get the visa application submitted at the centre. No body allows him to enter the premise of Cox and kings. He says and I quote "The security guard needs at least $25-30 for each entry" other wise you need to wait for an infinite time to submit the application. This is when he had an appointment for the particular day. Basis on his views there is a long queue for the people to submit an pick up the visa. Place is full of crowd and there is no way that a person can leave early. which means if you plan that you will come and drop the application and leave for work that's not gonna happen. Because these guys will make you wait for at-least 5-6 hours.

I will be writing to MEA (Ministry of External affairs) New delhi, India about this issue.

If anyone wants here's the mail id of the concerned:

Vikram Kumar Doraiswami - Joint secretary - [email protected]

Ms K. Nandini Singla - Director - [email protected]

Dr Piyush Singh - under secretary - [email protected]

These guys look after USA assignments

Hope this helps to all who are in need of help.
angiepitt709 is offline  
Old Jun 28, 2014, 9:09 am
  #95  
Hyatt Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: AUS
Posts: 276
I finally got a reply yesterday, AND a phone call (which I missed, of course). No clue what finally made this happen. I guess I'll believe it when I see it.

Hello,

We will be dispatching your passport along with approved Visa within a day or two. We need to confirm that we have correct address on file, which is xxxxxxx in order for us to dispatch. If we dont receive a response back soon then we will not be responsible for any passport loss in transition.



Thanks & Regards,
A Cox and Kings Company
aschuett is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2014, 12:45 am
  #96  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: MAA
Programs: BA bronze, Marriott silver
Posts: 2,804
http://imgur.com/MKhTvRd

Just saw this on facebook, shared by a friend.

Amazing, just amazing. Someone applies for a OCI card and the envelope she gets back from Cox and Kings has seven passports with attached checks and visa applications belonging to seven different people.

So whoever is missing their passport .. some elderly grandmother in florida probably has it with her after ckgs sent it to her instead of to you.
hserus is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2014, 4:18 am
  #97  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1
NO difference

Originally Posted by vw08
I've been reading for the past few weeks about everyone's CKGS experiences and though I would share my own. I mailed in my application so I have no idea what applying in person or trying to visit the CKGS NY office is like.

I sent my tourist visa application to the NY office right after CKGS opened operations, May 22, and I received zero information or confirmation that my package was received for a solid month. During this month, sent 2-3 e-mails to their various e-mail addresses per day, called them several times a week and contacted the Indian consulate's visa help address. Finally, on June 13, I received my tracking ID via e-mail and was able to track my application's progress online.

After the 17th, there were no further updates regarding shipping. I sent in an extra $15 with my initial application documents for courier service and had no clue if they would follow through with it. Lo and behold, on the morning of the 19th, I received my passport and visa via FedEx even though there was no online update about shipping. My trip is two weeks from tomorrow, so I feel very fortunate that my passport arrived in time

I'm not sure if it was my constant e-mailing that caused my visa to get processed or if CKGS is finally starting to unclog their application pipeline.

Here is what my CKGS application status updates looked like.

Your Documents are received from The Indian Embassy 6/17/2014 10:25:04 AM
Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing. 6/16/2014 4:01:57 AM
Your Application is Submitted at the Embassy/Consulate 6/16/2014 2:48:02 AM
Your application is in process. Your tracking id is USAN********* 6/13/2014 9:54:12 PM
Your Appointment is Scheduled 6/13/2014 9:48:05 PM
There will be no difference if you submit the application in person at the centre, the fee of $18 is paid for no use. These guys are charging triple what the last service provider was charging and still there is no commitment towards the service.I guess this is a conspiracy between the service provider and the Embassy as even the Embassy is least keen to take an initiative in terms of improving the service. I believe this high cost of service fee is being distributed between the Embassy and the service provider SO CALLED CKGS
windyjene is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2014, 7:57 am
  #98  
Hyatt Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: AUS
Posts: 276
After submitting my passport for visa transfer to BLS on April 22. It was finally submitted to the consulate on May 12. Yesterday I received a FedEx envelope containing only my two passports, one of which had the transfer from the consulate dated May 20.

Not only had my passports just been sitting around for over a month, but my brand new passport looked like it had already been around the world a few times. There was sticky gunk all over the back, folded-over pages, etc. At least I finally have my stuff back. You can bet I'll be thinking a bit longer about getting a visa to India next time. Good luck to anyone else who still has their passports with these people.
aschuett is offline  
Old Jul 4, 2014, 10:45 pm
  #99  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 5
Thumbs down Story remains the same

I seriously think that there is something wrong with the Indian Embassy as services are not at all in good shape.

Cox and kings s another link in the chain of incompetency. My brother wants to come back to India as my aunt is not well but he is not even able to get the visa application submitted at the centre. No body allows him to enter the premise of Cox and kings. He says and I quote "The security guard needs at least $25-30 for each entry" other wise you need to wait for an infinite time to submit the application. This is when he had an appointment for the particular day. Basis on his views there is a long queue for the people to submit an pick up the visa. Place is full of crowd and there is no way that a person can leave early. which means if you plan that you will come and drop the application and leave for work that's not gonna happen. Because these guys will make you wait for at-least 5-6 hours.

I will be writing to MEA (Ministry of External affairs) New delhi, India about this issue.

If anyone wants here's the mail id of the concerned:

Vikram Kumar Doraiswami - Joint secretary - [email protected]

Ms K. Nandini Singla - Director - [email protected]

Dr Piyush Singh - under secretary - [email protected]

These guys look after USA assignments

Hope this helps to all who are in need of help.
angiepitt709 is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 12:48 pm
  #100  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 3
passport given to someone else ?!!!

This morning I saw this dreadful status update from COX and KINGS/CKGS, my passport was already collected in person...but it was NOT ME

Not sure how accurate there date/timestamps are but 7/13 is Sunday...am sure they don't work on sunday...or do they ?

PLEASE HELP, WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW...I HAD PREPAID FEDEX ENVOLVOPE ENCLOSED, NO STATUS ON THAT TRACKING..WHAT STEPS I SHOULD TAKE NEXT ?
  • Passport is collected in Person. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been collected from the Embassy/Consulate and is being sorted. Your application will be ready for collection from our Application Centre within one business day. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing. 07/10/2014
ravi2patel is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 6:25 pm
  #101  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 39
Originally Posted by ravi2patel
This morning I saw this dreadful status update from COX and KINGS/CKGS, my passport was already collected in person...but it was NOT ME

Not sure how accurate there date/timestamps are but 7/13 is Sunday...am sure they don't work on sunday...or do they ?

PLEASE HELP, WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW...I HAD PREPAID FEDEX ENVOLVOPE ENCLOSED, NO STATUS ON THAT TRACKING..WHAT STEPS I SHOULD TAKE NEXT ?
  • Passport is collected in Person. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been collected from the Embassy/Consulate and is being sorted. Your application will be ready for collection from our Application Centre within one business day. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing. 07/10/2014
My sympathies, that is a difficult situation.
I suggest, if possible, going down to C&K office, just to make sure the passport indeed was collected by someone other than you- the way things have been, that update might be completely wrong.
If that is not possible, or if C&K confirm that your passport was indeed collected by a person, report passport theft immediately to the police and the Indian embassy in your area.
Good luck, best wishes.
It is so sad to see India treat its children in this manner.
pgiyer is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2014, 12:08 pm
  #102  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 3
OK, good news and bad news....the good news is that the prepaid fedex envelope I sent had an update on the tracking number so thank god they mailed it...the bad news is that when i got my passport back this morning, I had paid for 10years visa and got only 2years...I guess I have to be grateful i got my passport back

Originally Posted by ravi2patel
This morning I saw this dreadful status update from COX and KINGS/CKGS, my passport was already collected in person...but it was NOT ME

Not sure how accurate there date/timestamps are but 7/13 is Sunday...am sure they don't work on sunday...or do they ?

PLEASE HELP, WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW...I HAD PREPAID FEDEX ENVOLVOPE ENCLOSED, NO STATUS ON THAT TRACKING..WHAT STEPS I SHOULD TAKE NEXT ?
  • Passport is collected in Person. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been collected from the Embassy/Consulate and is being sorted. Your application will be ready for collection from our Application Centre within one business day. 07/13/2014
  • Your application has been submitted at The Indian Embassy for further processing. 07/10/2014
ravi2patel is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2014, 5:21 am
  #103  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Cle
Programs: United Plat; Starwoods Platinum
Posts: 27
So , when did you send your passport ? I am trying to figure out total time it took to get your visa .
rommance_lover is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2014, 5:52 am
  #104  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 28
CKGS Atlanta

Has anyone had an experience with the Atlanta office? We will be traveling to India the first week in October.
Janr is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2014, 11:00 am
  #105  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
I walked to houston office were only about 10 people there didn't seem bad
slickvik is offline  

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