BLS seems to be disallowing visas to people from Indian origin if they were naturalized in the US a long time ago and no longer have their old Indian passports. Just prior to BLS this was not a problem. In fact even if someone had their old passports that were already canceled prior to June 2010, they also did not require a renunciation certificate. Now there is no such indication.

Or am I missing something on their website? Their response over email also offers no way to get an Indian visa without an old Indian passport (even if naturalized decades ago).

To suka 123: I'm of Indian origin and haven't had an Indian passport for over 20 years when I became a naturalized US citizen. I still got my visa. You have to fill out a deemed surrender certificate, along with a notarized affidavit of loss. My best advice -- go to the office in person. Carve out a LOT of time in your day, because your visit will probably take hours. But you really need to go in person.

BLS International in San Francisco is the worst office & I have had nothing but problems trying to get my visas for India! I applied about a month ago & have tried to track my application on their website, however they are horrible at updating the status. Their customer service are non existent!

I am due to fly out on Tuesday, today is Saturday and no sign of visa!! I have had no replies to my emails or my phone calls. To my horror 2 days ago when I tried to call the BLS office, their phone lines were disconnected! I tried calling other BLS offices in the country & all the numbers I tried were disconnected so I emailed the Indian Consulate office to find out whether BLS is still doing business or has closed down overnight!!! Did I get an email reply from the Consulate? Of course not!!

I finally tried calling the Houston BLS office yesterday & got a human being who was somewhat polite & seemed sympathetic towards my concerns. This person assured me that my application had been put on top priority & that I would definitely hear back from someone that same day. Have I heard back from anyone? Of course not!!!

I have vowed to myself that I will never travel to India again if it is so stressful to even get a visa. I will not be getting a refund from the airline, if I am lucky I might get a small credit. Does the Consulate care about people like us? Do they feel that they have accountability? NO, otherwise they would crack down & do something about this problem that more than a few people are facing!

Good luck to who ever needs to use BLS. I certainly won't be needing any luck after this experience.

It appears that all travel to India should be suspended (except for those with a 10 year visa already) until the visa-on-arrival program is in place and functioning. This is truly shameful.

Dear BLS international services inc,

I have to say you have taught me a lot about patience. My husband and I did receive our tourist visas a little over four weeks after we applied. Thank you very much for that, we are really excited to go to India. However, I do have some suggestions on how you could make your service more accommodating...

We applied via post because we live 12 hours drive from the nearest Canadian BLS office. (vancouver or surrey)

-When we used your online postal fee calculator on your website, it told us an amount that was $60 higher than what we needed to pay. We 100% for sure entered all our information in properly, because we did it multiple times to confirm the price. When BLS received our applications, they wrote us an email informing us we had over paid. We either needed to cancel this bank note and send them a new one (while they held our passports) or give them permission to absorb the extra money. We were more concerned with a smooth visa process than the extra $60 so we told them they could keep the money. My suggestion would be to update your calculator so there is no more room for error.

-We were 100% in the dark throughout the entire process. Their tracking system on their website kept saying our confirmation numbers didn't exist and whenever i would call the BLS employees would tell me they had no record of our passport numbers on file. I would like to say thank you to BLS for always answering the phone and speaking kindly to me. I received no confirmation that they received my email indicating that they could absorb the extra money from the bank notes. I called multiple times to make sure they knew it was okay to do so, in the hopes that our applications weren't on hold or anything but no one knew anything. I emailed called and when i inquired about possibly faxing them my request for confirmation of receipt i was laughed at, and told if BLS wont reply to your email they will surely never reply by fax. Everyone told me it is just that the application process was difficult and they were very busy, too busy in fact, to even update their own computer systems. I was told multiple times that BLS would send the Indian embassy a request for status on my application and that I would get a phone call within the next 24 hours. This clearly never happened. I do feel though most of the BLS employees I dealt with were quite friendly on the service, I do understand what everyone is complaining about relative to their apathy. No one ever empathized with my worries of a potentially lost passport, and no one ever offered to do anything to help me find answers. I ultimately had to except that the worst case scenario would be that my passport was lost and that I would not be able to fly to India. Which fortunately, because I live in Canada, I have a safe, healthy, and secure home that I am not trying to escape or anything. So staying put is disappointing, but not the end of the world. I would suggest to BLS that they hire more support staff so they have the resources to keep their applicants informed.

If I were to apply for an Indian Visa ever again I would physically make my way to the BLS office (I believe BLS is the only company you can go through now) and just pay for a rush visa service. This way I could receive my visa within two working days and I would save myself the grief of being in the dark. If this is not an option for you, apply for a 6 month tourist visa, and get it in the mail as many months in advance as you can.

So, end of October 2013, I'm using BLS India to get my visa. The state of the website is painfully convoluted and does not inspire trust. Calls to the NYC office go unanswered, and the call center helpline remained unhelpful beyond canned info available on the website. I was not going to send my Visa by FedEx/UPS (the UPS store reported a high level if packages going missing)

I arrived at the nyc office and Complaints while waiting on the line abounded. Reminiscing about Travisa, and how fast and accurate it was.

They shut down the line outside at about 2pm, and took those if us inside who were on 'expedited' service. They dropped us at the Internet cafe downstairs, saying that the computers were down. This seemed like a genius use of resources ( though spending lots of time in India, prepared me for this lind of wacky nonstandard work methodologies but this could really upset the type of person who probably will not adapt well when they go to India). I got an official receipt tracking number for 157.50, and the personal number of the of the woman who handled the paperwork. I was then told that the expedited fee ($160 in addition to the 157.59) was required. This additional fee was not on the website, and should be clearly listed, and I did not receive a reciept for this additional payment.

I recieved lots of support from the agent via her personal number. And I waited until after they were closed to make sure I would get it. I missed my arranged travel home, and I would have been better served if I had given myself an extra day, or not booked return fare until I had my visa in hand. It took great patience, but the staff was in good spirits, and very friendly and patient. And I got my visa, so that's good.

--//end of useful text for visa seeker//--
And since BLS is monitoring this thread, fix your website, spelling and grammar errors abound, it's unclear, the obsession with multiple tracking numbers required airbill numbers for form generation (these numbers can't be generated in advance unless you have collected the hardcopy forms and electronically generated forms purchased for returns will be cancelled as unused before the package arrives in your office!). Next, sort out office phone responsibilities. And eliminate the call center, not associated with each office.

The website does not load well on the mobile phone.

The handout shared in line was a good idea, but it was unclear, and non specific, this should be rewitten based on the type of card/visa that is needed. It should have a little bit about the process and also be bilingual as many people on line had limited English.

Then keep the flexible spirits up for the staff. Make sure they are paid well, and appreciated.

Mmeperdu, deepat60, hapto please email me with the details of your concerns at [email protected]. We will be most glad to help.

I've got my visa, so it's ok-- but read the above post, and take the changes under advisement ( if you want more details, you'd have to hire me as a consultant to find the errors and diagnose user experience).

Because I was sitting in your office for 4 hours, I saw many transactions. While some had no opinion, a greater portion of the responses had been negative. Some of it is normal, because its a tedious process, and some people arent used to this buracracy, but much of it is because many felt that they could not trust BLS with the documents.

BLS will have to improve that sense of trust as the core issue, because if there was another option, even if it took longer, or cost more, many people would have taken it. I hope BLS can get it together, because you do have some amazing staff ( and I think some hires from Travisa -- I saw the person who processed my visa last time.) who work very hard to have most of thier energy wasted.

I finally got through to BLS...if you can call it that. I was transferred to a call center in India and I had a very bad connection and trouble communicating with the representative. I can't even figure out where to go on the BLS site to start to complete the application. Can anyone post the direct link? Also, are there alternatives to using BLS? Thanks.

This third class company is operating in US soil. Lets get some form of US authorities involved. Start with BBB. Complain, Complain, Complain with your experiences. Send letters to congressmen. Do something.. This is a security threat to US as they seem like purposely playing with US passports without a damn care.

http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-franc...648/complaints

http://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-...ta-ga-27493106

Well I am new to this forum, and reading all these posts, I can say that I certainly empathize with everyone.

I applied for a Tourist Visa myself about three weeks ago, visa BLS International. I was communicating back and forth via phone calls and emails. They were prompt in terms of that, and were friendly and kind, so I have to give them that.

The issue was that I needed additional documents and was not aware of this until after they decided to send me back my original application with my passport. I do agree that this was my fault initially, however I did not think it would take three weeks. I do understand that the next couple of months are peak season for travel to India, but I wished that the tracking information online was updated every now and then at least.

My question to whoever may know the answer to it: I am Naturalized US Citizen, but I never had an Indian passport because my parents were the ones that became naturalized. Are there any other additional documents I should have sent out, besides their naturalization certificates and renunciation letters?

I would be much obliged to know the answer because I already sent the documents back today.

Thanks.

I am applying for Indian Visa for my 5 months old son and just found out that walking in w/o an appointment is not an option anymore, mailing the visa paperwork would take several days! When I tried making an appointment there is none available until end of november!!?! I need his passport back because i am moving countries and have to visit India after moving on 23rd of november.

It took me literally 10 times to complete the form without losing all the information (poor website). Since, I don't have any option other than sending the paperwork via mail. I hope I would be able to receive the visa/ passport within one business week as i leave on the 12th November!! It has been very frustrating experience so far I hope rest goes well!!

Does anyone know what to do if the BLS online order form was created but due to Fedex issues I had to get new tracking/air waybill number. I.e. after creating an online account and creating an online shipment, we couldn't print the shipping label, so I went into Fedex and they said they would have to give me a brand new tracking number. I haven't submitted yet because of fears of having the wrong tracking number on the online order form, and the possibility of this confusing BLS. Please advice. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Use TRAVISA and let them handle your case.
I used TRAVISA - mailed the application to them, you can call and email TRAVISA.
TRAVISA in turn will take the application to BLS and get it processed for you. It took 2 weeks but atleast I got it done.
Additional cost for travisa is $ 60 -- but worth it.

@Jithbk, just go online and fill out new online order forms with the updated fed ex info. They won't do anything with previous forms you filled out unless you send them in with the supporting docs. So just submit the new online order form with your docs to BLS.

@ PSVD, be sure to carefully read the instructions for a minor's application for a visa. They are specific as to where the child should sign or thumb print (or not sign), and both parents have to sign the application and get it notarized on one of the pages.

I had applied for both a visa and renunciation at the same time and it took 11 working days from when I sent everything to when I received it back. The quickest I've heard is 9 or 10 business days and others have had to wait much much longer. Best of luck to you.

I think manusinghbakshi is on to something. For an extra $60 for Travisa to expedite things with BLS seems to me a bargain.

I have a visa already but it's in my old passport. I was wondering if I needed to run the gauntlet of BLS to have it moved to the new passport and really as a test of their email service I sent the question to BLS in San Francisco. Which BTW seems to be at the same or very near address as the Indian consulate where I got the 10 year visa to begin with. In any case, I got the answer the next day which I consider to be prompt. Maybe they are getting it together and things will improve. I have hope.

@MmePerdu, just out of curiosity what did BLS tell you about the need to transfer the visa?

They said I don't have to have it transferred, just bring both passports. I'd seen conflicting information on various websites so when I go I plan to bring a copy of the email in case I get any flack on arrival. After all the difficulties it was what I'd planned to do anyway but glad someone thinks it'll be OK.

I have heard something similar to that. If a person has an OCI card in a passport that expired just bring it anyway along with the new passport. This info came for the consulate.