Most country requires a visa for entry, that I understand.
Instead of having the service completed by the consulate, India has outsource
their visa process to a private company, BLS. Although the website is visually
appealing and colorful, don't be fooled. The process to obtain a visa for India
was the most stressful process I have experienced to date. For anyone that will
be doing their practice in India, brace yourself.
I think the most confusing part was filling out all the forms
online. Not only did I have to fill out a form for the visa, I also had to fill
out a form in order to make an appointment.
After I gathered all my documents, I headed to San Francisco.
This trip took around an hour and half (
I took the FS express bus and then the 38L to Geary). Once I got to the office, I had to get a number.
Although I made an appointment for 10am, that doesn't mean anything. It was
basically first come first serve. I thought this was funny because the website
made such a big deal about filling out forms and scheduling an appointment only
to have it be first come first serve.
Finally, 30 minutes after my scheduled appointment, I was
called to the window. I was really nervous because I just wanted to submit my
forms and be done this with this. However, it turns out I didn't have a letter
to prove that I was living at the address listed on my application. The lady
rejected my application and I had to scramble to get that. I decided to call my
co-op and asked them to email me a letter. Luckily I was able to get that and
submit it to the office.
The entire visit took about 6 hours...
Required documents:
1. Online India Visa Application Form
2. BLS Order form
3. Visa/IPO form
4. Proof of residency: I lived in a co-op so I had to request
a form that stated I lived in that space and the form had to be signed.
5. Photo copy of my student id: I am confused about this
because I was never asked for my student ID before
6. Passport photo
Link to get your: http://www.visa.blsindia-usa.com/visa.php
...Good luck!
Sounds like a very stressful process. I'm glad everything worked out! Lucky for me, I guess, all I have to do to obtain my visa for Uganda is to pay a $20 fee at the airport. Or so they say... I guess I'll find out soon!
ReplyDeleteI agree it was pretty crazy, I finally did get mine as well but it was definitely a tedious process. Apparently the company BLS is shutting down in the next month too...When I was talking to a guy in the office in San Francisco, he said that most documentation things in India have a similar process so make sure you save time for that!
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