I did a walk-in at BLS Brampton on May 7th (Saturday) to submit applications for Surrender Certificate and Visa for me and my wife. It went smooth. Just sharing my experience (long and detailed) in the hope that someone might find it helpful.
Few things to note:
- There are two different BLS offices in the same area (Buildings 40 & 60). Make sure you go to the correct one. I saw couple of people stand in the wrong line for 30 minutes only to be told that they should go to the other one
- Reached there around 9:30 am on a Saturday. Before I reached I was doubtful whether I would be able to get it done because I have heard about people lining up from 7:30 am on long lines. Don't know whether it was just that day.. there were hardly 10 people before me at building 60. Got everything done and was out in 2 hours. The line was much longer at the other building ("40"). I had driven there first and saw at least 30 people in the line.
- Followed the checklist. Was not asked for any other documents
- They only take Debit or Cash. No credit card
- BLS staff at the Brampton location were very professional, helpful and patient
- They have photo copier inside the office. So as long as you have all the necessary originals, they can take care if you are missing any copies
- If your Picture is damaged or incorrect size, they have a camera inside the office to take pics. They charge $15 for it
Now the details:
- Went to building "60" (for Surrender and Visa) at 9:30 am. About 10 people were lined up before me outside the building entrance (Later came to know that there were additional people lined up inside the BLS office which is on the 4th floor). There was a security person who was letting people in. Line moved slow. Around 10:15 we reached the security guy who then gave us a paper token and wrote "4 applications" on it (i.e., surrender and visa for 2 people) and let us into the building
- Went up the elevator. There was another small line up inside the BLS office room. 10 folks ahead of me
- When I was standing outside the building I wondered why the line was moving so slow. Understood the reason after I got inside the building. People had so many issues with their applications and it was eating up time. I saw one family of 6 who had partially filled applications, missing photo copies, missing signatures etc. who took up one of the counters for more than 30 minutes. Another family had wrong size photos and their little kid wasn't cooperating to take a pic. Another guy had filled out the completely wrong application form and was arguing with them
- I was very impressed with how patient and professional the BLS staff were, especially after reading all negative comments about BLS in this forum. They recognize that some people have come from far and so didn't want to send them back. They patiently worked with them to sort out their applications as much as possible. But this also caused delays for others in the line. Double edged sword. They were fully staffed with 3 counters open and an additional person who was helping with photo copies and pictures
- My turn came at around 10:45 am. She collected one application at a time. Verified all documents. She was fast and focused but it still took a bit of time though we had all the necessary documents. We paid with debit card and were given a tracking number to track status. She mentioned that visa will take 7 to 10 days and Surrender certificate will take 3 to 4 weeks. We were out of the building by 11:05.
So in all it went very smooth considering that I went there prepared to get turned away because of the long lines. I might have lucked out. Can't comment whether the lines are always this short.
. Does anybody know when one can expect to see the status on the OCI tracking website? For now it says "No such record found'.
