When I went to submit my application with appointment in brampton, security personal said to someone that for walk-in line up start at 7:30.
OCI process
- Thread starter blueshirt
- Start date
Not sure about that. I went to Toronto office in middle of April around 11Am or some thing. we were let in.
I have a pleasant experience in the BLS Brampton office. I just walked in and it took around 30 minutes for submitting an application for surrender of an Indian passport. While different peoples have different experiences, based on my five experiences (for submitting applications for SC, Visa and OCI (3 experiences) and collecting the Indian Passport after SC and Canadian Passport after Visa) I find the staff at BLS Brampton is very courteous. In all my experiences of submission of applications, it took me only 5 minutes for submissions and the BLS staff also did not press and marketing for any add-ons like courier services, phone tracking etc. They just asked whether you want any add-on services if you say 'No' they are not insisting on these.
Submitted my passport surrender today at BLS Surrey as walk-in, I was in and out in 90 minutes total:
Using @vvarma's format, thanks for the help , since I followed his thread, made changes to what I did.
1) Reached at 7.27 am. 5 person/family applicants were already lined up ahead of me.
2) They opened at 8:05. Said that they accept walk-ins only for Passport surrender and strictly need appointments for OCI or Visa.
3) Lady at reception (speaks only English, so few old applicants ahead of me had some communication issues
), she checked the paper work, gave me a token number.
4) She also noticed that I had a mistake in the application, apparently if you change your legal name, the application for surrender should show the old name same as it is in Passport, so she asked me to fill the forms again.
5) She did give me a token to keep in the line up so that was good on her, but she asked me to be ready with forms before my number gets called.
6) Luckily, these forms can be filled online on phone and I did that on phone and converted it to pdf and sent them to their email.(email address is pasted on the reception table)
7) After frantically filling out the forms and sending them the email I waited in their waiting hall. I am not sure but I did notice that only 1 counter was being used for walk ins but by the time my turn came, another counter was being used for walk-ins.
8) I was called after about 10 minute of wait. She processed my Surrender application. All my documents were in order. Did not even check any of the originals.
7) Can pay by Cash or Debit. I paid by Debit card (each application payment of $165.10) apparently 33$ is the courier fees which is pretty steep in my opinion, and they charge this to each applicant although it is in the same household, I didn't fight this cost and paid the fees.
8) Asked if OCI Application needs 1 physical photograph or 2, lady confirmed they need only 1 photograph.
9) Also, for applicants whose passport is expired, she asked me to write on a plain paper a declaration that my son's passport although expired is the only passport he has and we never renewed it, (no strict format in this)
10. I was done by 9:30AM.
Documents submitted for Surrender (VANCOUVER JURISDICTION ONLY):
- Checklist (Returned back)
- Application form, (for minors page 1 of applicatin form can have parents sign instead of fingerprints)
- 1 Photo
- Indian Passport (Latest)
- Indian Passport copy (First + Last pages + Observation + photocopies of Visas were returned)
- DL copy, for minor a BC ID photocopy works
- I am still waiting for Canadian Passport, so had a letter explaining that (Returned back without even reading)
- Canadian Citizen Certificate copy
- Canadian COPR photocopy (Returned back)
All docs were self attested with just applicants signatures. For our son's application me and my wife basically signed on all the photocopies, also as a safety measure i had his left hand thumb print on all photocopies, although not sure if that is required.
The lady on the counter mentioned 15-20 business days(~1 month) for surrender certificate, and 40 business days(~2 months) for OCI, so anyone planning to travel, keep a buffer of 3 months if the intention is to travel with OCI.
Using @vvarma's format, thanks for the help , since I followed his thread, made changes to what I did.
1) Reached at 7.27 am. 5 person/family applicants were already lined up ahead of me.
2) They opened at 8:05. Said that they accept walk-ins only for Passport surrender and strictly need appointments for OCI or Visa.
3) Lady at reception (speaks only English, so few old applicants ahead of me had some communication issues
), she checked the paper work, gave me a token number.4) She also noticed that I had a mistake in the application, apparently if you change your legal name, the application for surrender should show the old name same as it is in Passport, so she asked me to fill the forms again.
5) She did give me a token to keep in the line up so that was good on her, but she asked me to be ready with forms before my number gets called.
6) Luckily, these forms can be filled online on phone and I did that on phone and converted it to pdf and sent them to their email.(email address is pasted on the reception table)
7) After frantically filling out the forms and sending them the email I waited in their waiting hall. I am not sure but I did notice that only 1 counter was being used for walk ins but by the time my turn came, another counter was being used for walk-ins.
8) I was called after about 10 minute of wait. She processed my Surrender application. All my documents were in order. Did not even check any of the originals.
7) Can pay by Cash or Debit. I paid by Debit card (each application payment of $165.10) apparently 33$ is the courier fees which is pretty steep in my opinion, and they charge this to each applicant although it is in the same household, I didn't fight this cost and paid the fees.
8) Asked if OCI Application needs 1 physical photograph or 2, lady confirmed they need only 1 photograph.
9) Also, for applicants whose passport is expired, she asked me to write on a plain paper a declaration that my son's passport although expired is the only passport he has and we never renewed it, (no strict format in this)
10. I was done by 9:30AM.
Documents submitted for Surrender (VANCOUVER JURISDICTION ONLY):
- Checklist (Returned back)
- Application form, (for minors page 1 of applicatin form can have parents sign instead of fingerprints)
- 1 Photo
- Indian Passport (Latest)
- Indian Passport copy (First + Last pages + Observation + photocopies of Visas were returned)
- DL copy, for minor a BC ID photocopy works
- I am still waiting for Canadian Passport, so had a letter explaining that (Returned back without even reading)
- Canadian Citizen Certificate copy
- Canadian COPR photocopy (Returned back)
All docs were self attested with just applicants signatures. For our son's application me and my wife basically signed on all the photocopies, also as a safety measure i had his left hand thumb print on all photocopies, although not sure if that is required.
The lady on the counter mentioned 15-20 business days(~1 month) for surrender certificate, and 40 business days(~2 months) for OCI, so anyone planning to travel, keep a buffer of 3 months if the intention is to travel with OCI.
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Thank you and this is super helpful. I'm glad you had such a good experience and have nice things to say about the services
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Risabh_Canada
Star Member
- Jan 11, 2014
- 19
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Missisauga
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 29-03-2016
Applied passport surrender on March 1st by Post . No updates Nothing on BLS website just showing processing at consulate general' . Anybody in the same boat ?
You can check status on passport website where you had filed application. Login and wait for few seconds it will list your application s. you could check status from their. They have status updated by cgi. Once it goes to printed status you can expect SC, mostly a week later. Hope this helps
canadamaple
Hero Member
- Jan 20, 2016
- 153
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Ottawa
- NOC Code......
- 2112
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 11-09-2014
- AOR Received.
- 23-01-2015
- IELTS Request
- Upfront
- File Transfer...
- Upfront
- Med's Request
- Upfront, RPRF Upfront
I got off the phone after speaking to a BLS agent (Ottawa). This guy was very polite and patient. He looked up my passport info and said that my documents have been sent to HCI for 'pre-approval'. After this step, the original documents will be sent back to me. Fingers crossed.
Hi Everyone,
We have applied for an OCI card as a postal Application through BLS International Services, Toronto, Canada.
As of today, the status is still showing as under process in OCI website. We chose the travel date based on the timelines in BLS & OCI websites with an additional 2 weeks and booked our flight tickets to India on 22-May-2022. But unfortunately, there seems to be a delay in the processing of our OCI cards.
As per BLS the documents were sent to CGI on 24th-Mar-2022, but in OCI website the application date is 19-Apr-2022, we don't know why there is a 4weeks gap between BLS & OCI?
We have reached out to BLS/OCI Helpdesk/Sampark, but no use. Can anyone provide some insights on this situation. Appreciate any insight or solutions on this situation.
Thanks & Regards,
VAUS
We have applied for an OCI card as a postal Application through BLS International Services, Toronto, Canada.
Date | BLS Website | OCI Website | Days |
11-March-2022 | Purolator Pickup of Documents | ||
14-March-2022 | Delivery of Documents to BLS | 1 | |
24-March-2022 | Processing at Consulate General | Under Process | 10 |
04-May-2022 | Processing at Consulate General | Under Process | 51 |
As of today, the status is still showing as under process in OCI website. We chose the travel date based on the timelines in BLS & OCI websites with an additional 2 weeks and booked our flight tickets to India on 22-May-2022. But unfortunately, there seems to be a delay in the processing of our OCI cards.
As per BLS the documents were sent to CGI on 24th-Mar-2022, but in OCI website the application date is 19-Apr-2022, we don't know why there is a 4weeks gap between BLS & OCI?
We have reached out to BLS/OCI Helpdesk/Sampark, but no use. Can anyone provide some insights on this situation. Appreciate any insight or solutions on this situation.
Thanks & Regards,
VAUS
Hi There,
I am in the same boat as you. My timeline
18-March picked up by Purolator
19-March recd at BLS
23-March Acknowledged at BLS
25-March Under process at BLS
20-April Under process - OCI
Travel date is 7 June. Should I start getting worried? Only hope I feel is tweeting to MEA, tagging OCI team and attending their in person grievance session which happens on a weekday for 1 hour.
Any idea on how much time it takes at OCI between Under process to printing/ dispatched?
I am beginning to get worried if the OCI doesn't make it in time for my travel on June 7
Thanks tm.bilal.
Can you confirm the 11 April Under process is on OCI website or BLS?