India PCC from Toronto
- Thread starter amala1611
- Start date
Hello everyone,
So here is an update on my PCC journey with BLS Brampton (and I learnt how to keep calm and deal with BLS and its ridiculously confusing paperwork):
Feb 23rd PCC application mailed to BLS, The paperwork leaves much to be desired, I hope they make the whole procedure online (eliminating the application printing, demand draft and mailing the package to BLS) in the future.
Feb 24th PCC application delivered to BLS
March 3rd Application received acknowledgement
No update during this time so I have to call them, Took 3 days of constantly trying their phone number, just to get hold of a real person. I was told my application will be returned to me. Maybe my phone call triggered something in their system, so they finally looked at my application
March 11th Application returned to me: a missing document
March 12th Application mailed back to BLS, including the missing document, I was worried they might come up with a missing document again, who knows
March 18th Application was under process at the Consulate general
March 26th PCC check completed at my Indian Address
This time I just waited patiently as I knew they had a large influx of PCC applications and looks like they are a bit overwhelmed.
April 13th PCC printed
I hope to receive it by the end of this week.
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Finally received my India Police Certificate today!!!
This is one of the happiest moments in my life (maybe even trumping my wedding day)
My timeline (I live in Downtown Toronto, but BLS arranged for the application to go automatically to Brampton):
Feb 19 - Application picked up by Purolator
Feb 22 - Failed delivery by Purolator because BLS was not available to receive it; Called purolator to arrange for redelivery
Feb 23 - Application delivered by Purolator
March 3 - Received email from Purolator that application is pending as I did not put in my Father's name (mot sure why the application is deemed incomplete as the notes on the application clearly says one need only fill wither mother, father or guardian's name). Redid application and uploaded to BLS.
March 4 - Called BLS; told me to email "brampton.p@blsinternational.net that document is uploaded, and application would progress to "sent to consulate for processing" within 48 hours. Sent email, received response saying "it is no reply email"
March 8 - Initiated escalation step 2 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response.)
March 10 - Initiated escalation step 3 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response. Followed up after 48 hours; again no response.)
March 11 - Called BLS; was told to send document to CCCANADA@blsinternational.net; and was promised that my tracking would show application is forwarded to consulate in 24 hours and my application would be expedietd because of the numerous mistakes made by BLS so far; BLS failed to meet this promise, as nothing happened in the following 24 hours.
March 15 - Got an email from BLS that my application has been accepted. Tracking shows "under process."
March 16 - Tracking says "Under Process In Transit from BLS Centre to Consulat General" (yes, there are spelling/ punctuation mistakes in BLS's tracking.)
March 16 - Tracking says "Processing at Consulate General"
March 18 - Tracking says "Police verification has been initiated...."
March 19 - Police contacted my mother and requested copies of several documents and passport photo
March 22 - Mother submitted all documents to police and police confirmed police verification report was sent.
March 31 - Mother went back to the police station and reconfirmed that the police report was sent.
April 5 - Called BLS to check whether there was any issue in receipt of police verification report.. Received response that they have no way of knowing whether Consulate has received the police verification report and that it takes 1-2 weeks after police verification report is sent for PCC to be printed. I pointed out that it has been more than 2 weeks in my case and they suggested I call the consulate. When I pointed out that no one picks up the call and voicemail is not enabled, they suggested I email them. So I emailed CGI, and received an irrelevant response that "it takes 6 -8 weeks to process PCC application" and link to their website. I responded to email asking for a response to my question whether they received the police verification report, because if they haven't I would need to address the issue in India.
April 8 - Since I didn't hear back from CGI, I emailed again asking for a response, this time including all the emails on the website.
April 8 - Received the same generic response but an additional line saying "there is no action required from your end." I asked if this meant they received the police verification report as that was my question.
April 9 - Tracking says "Police Clearance Certificate has been printed."
April 10 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "In transit from Consulate to BLS Center"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "Ready for Dispatch"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to “Dispatched via courier.” Purolator tracking says it will arrive by April 13
April 13- Purolator tracking indicated a delay in delivery due to "routing issues."
April 14 - Delivered and uploaded to NVC portal!!! Now it will be a 9 month wait to greencard interview...
This is one of the happiest moments in my life (maybe even trumping my wedding day)
My timeline (I live in Downtown Toronto, but BLS arranged for the application to go automatically to Brampton):
Feb 19 - Application picked up by Purolator
Feb 22 - Failed delivery by Purolator because BLS was not available to receive it; Called purolator to arrange for redelivery
Feb 23 - Application delivered by Purolator
March 3 - Received email from Purolator that application is pending as I did not put in my Father's name (mot sure why the application is deemed incomplete as the notes on the application clearly says one need only fill wither mother, father or guardian's name). Redid application and uploaded to BLS.
March 4 - Called BLS; told me to email "brampton.p@blsinternational.net that document is uploaded, and application would progress to "sent to consulate for processing" within 48 hours. Sent email, received response saying "it is no reply email"
March 8 - Initiated escalation step 2 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response.)
March 10 - Initiated escalation step 3 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response. Followed up after 48 hours; again no response.)
March 11 - Called BLS; was told to send document to CCCANADA@blsinternational.net; and was promised that my tracking would show application is forwarded to consulate in 24 hours and my application would be expedietd because of the numerous mistakes made by BLS so far; BLS failed to meet this promise, as nothing happened in the following 24 hours.
March 15 - Got an email from BLS that my application has been accepted. Tracking shows "under process."
March 16 - Tracking says "Under Process In Transit from BLS Centre to Consulat General" (yes, there are spelling/ punctuation mistakes in BLS's tracking.)
March 16 - Tracking says "Processing at Consulate General"
March 18 - Tracking says "Police verification has been initiated...."
March 19 - Police contacted my mother and requested copies of several documents and passport photo
March 22 - Mother submitted all documents to police and police confirmed police verification report was sent.
March 31 - Mother went back to the police station and reconfirmed that the police report was sent.
April 5 - Called BLS to check whether there was any issue in receipt of police verification report.. Received response that they have no way of knowing whether Consulate has received the police verification report and that it takes 1-2 weeks after police verification report is sent for PCC to be printed. I pointed out that it has been more than 2 weeks in my case and they suggested I call the consulate. When I pointed out that no one picks up the call and voicemail is not enabled, they suggested I email them. So I emailed CGI, and received an irrelevant response that "it takes 6 -8 weeks to process PCC application" and link to their website. I responded to email asking for a response to my question whether they received the police verification report, because if they haven't I would need to address the issue in India.
April 8 - Since I didn't hear back from CGI, I emailed again asking for a response, this time including all the emails on the website.
April 8 - Received the same generic response but an additional line saying "there is no action required from your end." I asked if this meant they received the police verification report as that was my question.
April 9 - Tracking says "Police Clearance Certificate has been printed."
April 10 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "In transit from Consulate to BLS Center"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "Ready for Dispatch"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to “Dispatched via courier.” Purolator tracking says it will arrive by April 13
April 13- Purolator tracking indicated a delay in delivery due to "routing issues."
April 14 - Delivered and uploaded to NVC portal!!! Now it will be a 9 month wait to greencard interview...
Hello everyone,
So here is an update on my PCC journey with BLS Brampton (and I learnt how to keep calm and deal with BLS and its ridiculously confusing paperwork):
Feb 23rd PCC application mailed to BLS, The paperwork leaves much to be desired, I hope they make the whole procedure online (eliminating the application printing, demand draft and mailing the package to BLS) in the future.
Feb 24th PCC application delivered to BLS
March 3rd Application received acknowledgement
No update during this time so I have to call them, Took 3 days of constantly trying their phone number, just to get hold of a real person. I was told my application will be returned to me. Maybe my phone call triggered something in their system, so they finally looked at my application
March 11th Application returned to me: a missing document
March 12th Application mailed back to BLS, including the missing document, I was worried they might come up with a missing document again, who knows
March 18th Application was under process at the Consulate general
March 26th PCC check completed at my Indian Address
This time I just waited patiently as I knew they had a large influx of PCC applications and looks like they are a bit overwhelmed.
April 13th PCC printed
I hope to receive it by the end of this week.
I admire you for managing to stay calm! Glad you are coming to the end of your struggles.
If I may ask what was the missing document in your case? In my case they said my application was incomplete because I did not input my father's name on the application (even though the instructions on the application clearly said one need only input either mother's, father's or guardian's name). They sent me an email with a link to upload a copy of a new online application. it took 14 days after I uploaded that document for it to reach the consulate.
1. I am wondering why you were asked to courier in a new application instead of just uploading the missing document. Was it the nature of the document? Did they need an original?
2. It is strange that mailing the revised application ended up being faster (only 6 days to start processing in consulate) versus an upload.
The inner workings of BLS and CGI Toronto is indeed baffling!
Congratulations buddy. For me also this is the only document pending to upload NVC. Why do you think its a 9 month wait for the interview? I heard NVC only has a 3 months backlog.Finally received my India Police Certificate today!!!
This is one of the happiest moments in my life (maybe even trumping my wedding day)
My timeline (I live in Downtown Toronto, but BLS arranged for the application to go automatically to Brampton):
Feb 19 - Application picked up by Purolator
Feb 22 - Failed delivery by Purolator because BLS was not available to receive it; Called purolator to arrange for redelivery
Feb 23 - Application delivered by Purolator
March 3 - Received email from Purolator that application is pending as I did not put in my Father's name (mot sure why the application is deemed incomplete as the notes on the application clearly says one need only fill wither mother, father or guardian's name). Redid application and uploaded to BLS.
March 4 - Called BLS; told me to email "brampton.p@blsinternational.net that document is uploaded, and application would progress to "sent to consulate for processing" within 48 hours. Sent email, received response saying "it is no reply email"
March 8 - Initiated escalation step 2 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response.)
March 10 - Initiated escalation step 3 (waited for the promised resolution within 48 hours; never received a response. Followed up after 48 hours; again no response.)
March 11 - Called BLS; was told to send document to CCCANADA@blsinternational.net; and was promised that my tracking would show application is forwarded to consulate in 24 hours and my application would be expedietd because of the numerous mistakes made by BLS so far; BLS failed to meet this promise, as nothing happened in the following 24 hours.
March 15 - Got an email from BLS that my application has been accepted. Tracking shows "under process."
March 16 - Tracking says "Under Process In Transit from BLS Centre to Consulat General" (yes, there are spelling/ punctuation mistakes in BLS's tracking.)
March 16 - Tracking says "Processing at Consulate General"
March 18 - Tracking says "Police verification has been initiated...."
March 19 - Police contacted my mother and requested copies of several documents and passport photo
March 22 - Mother submitted all documents to police and police confirmed police verification report was sent.
March 31 - Mother went back to the police station and reconfirmed that the police report was sent.
April 5 - Called BLS to check whether there was any issue in receipt of police verification report.. Received response that they have no way of knowing whether Consulate has received the police verification report and that it takes 1-2 weeks after police verification report is sent for PCC to be printed. I pointed out that it has been more than 2 weeks in my case and they suggested I call the consulate. When I pointed out that no one picks up the call and voicemail is not enabled, they suggested I email them. So I emailed CGI, and received an irrelevant response that "it takes 6 -8 weeks to process PCC application" and link to their website. I responded to email asking for a response to my question whether they received the police verification report, because if they haven't I would need to address the issue in India.
April 8 - Since I didn't hear back from CGI, I emailed again asking for a response, this time including all the emails on the website.
April 8 - Received the same generic response but an additional line saying "there is no action required from your end." I asked if this meant they received the police verification report as that was my question.
April 9 - Tracking says "Police Clearance Certificate has been printed."
April 10 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "In transit from Consulate to BLS Center"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to "Ready for Dispatch"
April 12 - Tracking on BLS website updated to “Dispatched via courier.” Purolator tracking says it will arrive by April 13
April 13- Purolator tracking indicated a delay in delivery due to "routing issues."
April 14 - Delivered and uploaded to NVC portal!!! Now it will be a 9 month wait to greencard interview...
@byorderofthepeakyblinders
Are you applying for IR1/ CR1 visa? If so, once you submit all civil documents to NVC, they take about 1 to 2 months to confirm you are documentary qualified (DQ). Once you are DQ'd you are put in the queue for interview at Montreal US Consulate. Currently the Consulate has a backlog of 8.5 months. So overall, it would be about a 9-10 month wait once you submit all your documents.
There is an excellent tracking sheet by hawkrider from visajourney forum.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JM49PDPPvPKal0WG2rgdZHhsz0/edit#gid=255923754
Unless you have a reason to persuade the consulate to expedite (and Montreal is very stingy about approving expedite requests), I'm afraid it is a really long wait.
I'm under IR/1. Thanks for sharing this doc. That's an unbelievably long wait. I was expecting the whole process to finish in 4-5 months after the NVC approval of documents. But these timelines are pretty scary. My I-130 itself took 15 months to approve. Wow. Thanks for sharing though and wish you all the best for your application.
1. I asked the same question to them over the phone, they said they can't do anything as my application has been returned to me already. It was the copy of the last page of my passport.
2. BLS works in mysterious ways. Their entire system is broken. It somehow works but with a lot of hiccups.
So sorry you have been apart from your spouse for so long....
Yes, I thought it was only a 5 month wait too, and I had a rude awakening a couple of months ago when I found out the truth. Was depressed for a whole week lol.
The 5 to 6 month wait was pre-Covid. Ever since Montreal consulate shut down interviews for about 4 months, they have not recovered from the back log.
I am hoping they will improve and catch up in the next few months and our wait won’t be too long, but realistically I don’t think either of us are moving to the US within this year.
Good luck to you! Looking forward to seeing you on the Spreadsheet
I received my India PCC Today and here are some interesting observations about the document from consulate here in Toronto and differences as compared to the one I received from the Indian consulate in Singapore in 2018:
1. The document has my photograph on it.
2. The document was not printed in colour.
3. The stamps on them are not original. The stamps were either applied digitally or applied by one person by hand, then faxed over to another person to scan, who printed it in black and white before signing. Maybe a “way around” due to pandemic working from home situation. The signature is original though.
4. It mentions that I am the w/o (my husband’s name). I was single when I applied for my last PCC so that maybe why there is this difference, but I find this an odd thing to be listing. My husband’s name is no where mentioned in any other PCC I have received from other countries. I am also curious to know if Heterosexual married men have their wive’s name listed, as h/o. Even more curious about what they would do in the case of a homosexual marriage....
5. The language in this PCC makes it exclusively for use in the United States ONLY.
Just some observations...
1. The document has my photograph on it.
2. The document was not printed in colour.
3. The stamps on them are not original. The stamps were either applied digitally or applied by one person by hand, then faxed over to another person to scan, who printed it in black and white before signing. Maybe a “way around” due to pandemic working from home situation. The signature is original though.
4. It mentions that I am the w/o (my husband’s name). I was single when I applied for my last PCC so that maybe why there is this difference, but I find this an odd thing to be listing. My husband’s name is no where mentioned in any other PCC I have received from other countries. I am also curious to know if Heterosexual married men have their wive’s name listed, as h/o. Even more curious about what they would do in the case of a homosexual marriage....
5. The language in this PCC makes it exclusively for use in the United States ONLY.
Just some observations...
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Yeah it is depressing to hear. The complete process is extremely cumbersome and takes too much time. I read some forums too after your comment and there is a "hope" that they will clear the backlog soon and might increase the interview calls. Let's see. For your 4th point, I have a similar situation as well. I got my PCC done earlier when I was single. In the form I mentioned my wife's name so let's see if they put her name in the PCC or not. It's actually a good thing if they do to make the case stronger but I really doubt they will put w/o in my letter. The policemen did inquire about my wife with my family. And for your 5th point, yes they will do that. My old PCC was for Canada and it was clearly mentioned its for Canada only. That's the reason I had to apply for another one. Otherwise the old PCC is still valid because I didn't go back to India after that PCC.