Hey , i would suggest you must visit to NY center, their systems are not updated , but, if you visit center , probably you would get your passport. when i was there, i saw lots of the same cases there but everybody got their passports.Their system is mess but passports are safe.

Andrian : I agree with your point and BLS is improving and they had changed some thing in visa website which helped us to identify anything easily.

Right andrian You should visit BLS centre and I m sure they have your passport.

Same issue- BLS couriered the docs on 11/13. Not received as of 12/3. Pls get in touch with me ashwyn at gmail dot com. I already have a few of you. Pls spread the word so that we make a strong case. quasar- have you filed an FBI complaint>

Call or email Travisa who are in the business of expediting visas. They can run interference for you with BLS. You send your application & passport to them and they can deal with it as we seem unable to do. People here have reported success this way and say it costs an additional $60 which seems very reasonable to me. http://travisa.com/contactinfo.htm

Yes, BLS is the contractor that issues the visas as the Indian consulate used to do themselves. Travisa is a company that specialized in dealing with whomever is the issuing agent whether it's the consulate or their representatives, in this case BLS. Travisa will have a pipeline that individuals don't have and as their customer you'll get the kind of service that BLS isn't giving with their monopoly on the visas. Go through Travisa and given your departure date waste no time.

I am not a bit surprised that passports are getting lost. BLS has the most disorganized operation. Their systems don't sync up with what the reality is. Visas/OCI/PIO applications are sitting ready at the consulate but they don't notify the traveler/applicants. Their phone number is answered by a call center in India which is manned by a bunch of clueless people. Their local offices are run and managed by people who have no idea what is going on. This is a disgrace. No tourist to India wanting to travel to India should have to go through this ordeal that BLS subjects them through.

As far as I know neither BLS nor Travisa are travel agents. BLS is the visa contactor for the Indian gov't and Travisa is an expeditor of visas. The expeditor would take it to the contractor. Many people have had difficulties trying to deal with the contractor, BLS, themselves either sending documents or taking them in person. We'd all be interested to know how you fare doing it yourself in person. I'd still consider Travisa, a reputable company with whom I have experience, as a fallback position. If you have time. If it were me I think I'd let the experienced people, Travisa, do it. Will $60 really be that significant if your trip must be postponed?

Hi All,

I am in the same Boat, from San Francisco, not New York.
I went yesterday 12/5/2013 to pick up my Indian passport and BLS SF told me that passports were stolen and they complained to police but has not provided my any report not letter.

This company is so irresponsible.

Looks like this is a scam happening across US.

will file a report to FBI and local police like mentioned above

Thanks

Well, good. Keep us posted.

We received our visas last week from CIBT,Inc., a site recommended to us by Delta Airlines. It took a total of 3 weeks, including the turnaround time for us to submit better pictures, and cost for two visas $339.00

BLS' web-site is now down for two days straight. Looks like the server is kaput.

I have tried reading this thread but I am overwhelmed. My son has ticket to fly on December 26th and we are being told by agency we hired it may come the 23d. we are in panic. I will email Rattanw.
If i know someone in India can that help?
any suggestions?
J

Which office did you send things to? We got ours through the Washington DC branch, and paid for Fedex to return our documents. There was one problem and they called me and the problem was remedied without adding any delay to the process. If the agency you hired is telling you the 23rd, you will have to believe them. Do you know how it will be sent to you?

NYC and I think fed ex...they just say being processed at this point.
J

Fedex may even deliver Christmas day. Good luck. India is a tough place to have to get to on short notice.

Just checked their schedule in the US -- no they don't deliver on the 25th, but they do on the 24th, so you have one day "grace" if it doesn't arrive on the 23rd. You may even get a notice when it is sent off via Fedex, hopefully whomever you chose to facilitate your service will let you know by tomorrow that it is on its way.

Thanks,
I'll keep you posted
J

It arrived today..so after all the panic we did get visa in 3 weeks but we used an agency in houston.
j

With all the bad press they were getting (and deservedly) it appears they have finally ironed out at least SOME of the processes to work better. It took us about 2 weeks on our own. But as standard foreign tourists, obviously we had fewer hoops to jump through than Indian-American naturalized citizens.

If you are reading this while you are about to apply or are applying for a tourist visa to India via BLS, stop what you're doing and watch Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil" to get a sense of the bureaucratic nightmare that awaits you. If you are a US citizen with NO Pakistani origin, you will most likely get your visa (or, likewise, a citizen of the country where you are submitting your application). If not, here are a few tips to help you avoid cancelling your trip, thereby resorting to writing a review on Fodor's when you would have otherwise been landing in New Delhi.
1) If you are not a US citizen, send your application to your own country. Otherwise, you will pay a $20 "reference fee" and have at least one week of additional processing time added to your application. If you are a US citizen with Pakistani roots, even if your family has renounced their citizenship... I hear Aruba is quite nice at this time of year. Unless you are serious about your plans and have a lot of time to spare, don't book your tickets until you have your visa.
2) Try finding a third party to complete your application for you. The BLS website is written in stilted English and navigates in a way that makes it hard to believe how so many companies have outsourced their IT services to India. Travel agents have access to third-party resources that will take care of you application - they even have their own special drop-off & pick-up booth at BLS offices and seem to maintain a pleasant relationship with BLS employees.
3) If you decide to complete the application yourself and manage to comprehend the website, apply in-person, if at all possible. BLS sat with their thumbs up their ass for 9 days until my postal application was sent to the embassy. Make sure you bring plenty of copies of your application materials, cash (exact change) or a money order (they do not have a credit machine or ATM onsite), and lots of patience. I should mention that when I made a visit to the office in DC, I used the wrong door and went straight into the employees-only area where there were plenty of passports laying around. That said, make copies of your passport because the office is definitely not secure.
4) Once your application is submitted, neither the BLS "help"line nor the embassy telephone helpline will be of any use to you - use the web-based application tracker. First, the telephone numbers listed for the individual offices do not work. The telephone directory for the embassy will only direct you to the BLS helpline. As for the BLS helpline, you will need to redial the number at least 10 times (my record is 30) until you are able to get past the "all circuits are busy" message. Once you have been played the recording that "we are experiencing a high volume of calls so call back at another time" message followed by some classical music, you will be connected with a BLS representative. Be sure you are calling from a quiet area because the BLS phone line is of a third-rate quality that makes it very difficult to understand what the representative is saying. If you ask for an update on your application, it will be immediately apparent that the representative is using the same web-based application tracker that you are using. If you have any concerns about your application and use this opportunity to voice these concerns, do not be surprised if the representative hangs up on you, even if you are being polite. Best thing to do at this point is to monitor your application online and follow-up in person at BLS or at the embassy if there are any issues that come up (this is why a third-party agent can save you a lot of grief).

All going well, you'll have received your visa in less than 1 month. If this is not the case and you have had to cancel your trip, you will now need to get your passport back. If you need it back sooner than later and it's still in-process at the embassy, here's how to do it:
1) BLS will tell you that if you want your passport back, you need to submit a letter of withdrawal to their office stating that you are withdrawing your application. I contacted my country's emergency visa and passport services and according to them, it is illegal for an embassy to withhold a non-citizen's passport without good reason (and a tourist visa application is NOT a good reason). Call your own embassy and know your rights and what to do if you get any flack from BLS or the Indian embassy.
2) Go to the Indian embassy where your application is being processed and hand them a copy of your passport indicating that you want your passport back, with or without the visa. If they give you any push back, calling the police probably won't help. I watched that backfire on a guy who became increasingly upset at the embassy in DC - he was about to be cuffed as I left the building. Rather, contact your embassy and get one of their officers to accompany you if you run into trouble.

Hope this helps navigate what puts the "bs" into "BLS". Good luck!