Hello all -- Has anyone used ZVS for Visa to India - We are departing on 2/19 and they are telling me that due to back-up at the Indian Consulate in Chicago (my processing center) that they are now processing Visas by date of departure -- ie we will not get our passports back till about 5 days prior our leaving for India....does this sound right? Any help would be appreciated. I have tried to call the Indian Consulate all day and have never been able to get through to a live person.
I am worried....thanks,

Who is telling you this?

I would think that you could express mail your passport with the required form and fee and have it all back within a couple of weeks at the latest. However, you are saying that you are told otherwise, is it the visa service that is telling you this?

In general I never trust services that are outside of the official governmental agencies designed to provide passport/visa paperwork and permissions. You run the risk of being fleeced, and/or having your documentation/ID stolen, be aware there are many scams out there that require you send passports to such and such a location. This is just my opinion however...

I have used Zierer in the past, can't remember when or what for. I use Visa agencies a lot, I feel more secure handing my passport over to someone who is accepting responsibility for its safekeeping. I have never mailed my passport off to a consulate/embassy myself.

The visa service agencies are costly, but I feel more secure using them when my passport is out of my possession.

Forgot to add; you might consider asking a different visa agency.

Femi -- what other Visa services have you used??????

What I forgot to say in my post is to express mail your stuff to the consulate/embassy.

I have no problem with trust in the US Postal Service, provided it is one of the services that includes tracking. Express Mail also includes some insurance which you can increase.

I'm not saying that the Visa Services are a bad thing, just that I don't think it necessary to pay someone to do what I can do myself.

In either case you passport is our of your possession (unless you present it to the embassy/counslate yourself), so it is a matter of who do you trust the most (or least).

In 2006 we sent our passports off to the Indian Consulate in Chicago and also the Viet Nam Embassy in DC by the Postal service means I mention and included a prepaid return. We had a turn-around of about 10 days in both cases.

I live in Los Angeles, and so I go to a local agency: http://www.intpv.com/index.php

I have done a fair bit of comparison shopping, and generally the agencies charge the same fees, usually no more than a $20 difference between agencies.

I am sure Visa agencies exist wherever you may live.

I feel more comfortable using the agency, because in the very unlikely situation that my passport should go missing, I think it would be easier to track it down.

Sorry to be so absent minded; but I wanted to also mention that some consulates have not been easy to work with, and this was when all I wanted was tourist info.

I couldn't imagine trying to track down my passport within the system.