To Hell and Back, and I havent even left yet….

Posted in Royal Wisdom, Travel Aches on Jun 28th, 2009 | 0 comments
Oh the drama……
As I sit at the airport at the start of my journey to India, I reflect back on the events of this week and the number of gray hairs these events generated.  My journey is beginning 3 days later than planned, all because there were problems with my application for a visa.
First of all – why do US citizens need a visa for India?  The visa application required proof that I would be returning to the US – basically I had to book my tickets and show a return.  Who in their right mind, currently living in the US, would possibly want to defect to India?  Have they looked at the statistics?  On the dhs.gov site, I found numbers of those from India receiving permanent resident status over the last 10 years.  The numbers fluctuate from between 30,000 and 80,000 per year!!!  The only information I could find on Americans immigrating to India was those of Indian descent.
So imagine my surprise when my business visa application was rejected.  The agency didn’t like the letter my client wrote because it didn’t explicitly request a 5 year visa, it said I would likely be working with the company in India through 2014.  So when the letter was re-written, it requested a 5 year visa, but if that could not be granted, then a 1 year visa would suffice.  REJECTED…..  Finally – leaving the part out about the 1 year visa, my paperwork was accepted and the visa was granted.  Too bad it wasn’t in time for my original flight.
What made matters worse was the so-called “expeditor” who is supposed to have relationships with these agencies and help the visa application process.  The only thing expedited was my aggravation.  When I first checked my application status online, I saw where the application was not accepted.  I promptly called my travel agent, who called the expeditor, and we were told that it was still in process.  It took them until the next day to get the information that I had – the application was rejected.  So we re-issued the letter, re-applied, and the expeditor told us the visa was approved and gave us the fed-ex tracking number.  So I start packing, going to the store to pick up some last minute items, and 2 hours later we were told the application was rejected again.  Can you say “CLUELESS”???  How can these guys charge for expediting???
Anyway, the drama ended yesterday, 3 days after it should have, when fedex rang the doorbell and delivered my passport and visa.  Now with my ticket rebooked, I am on my way to that wonderful country I heard so many good things about… .NOT.

Oh the drama……

As I sit at the airport at the start of my journey to India, I reflect back on the events of this week and the number of gray hairs these events generated.  My journey is beginning 3 days later than planned, all because there were problems with my application for a visa.

First of all – why do US citizens need a visa for India?  The visa application required proof that I would be returning to the US – basically I had to book my tickets and show a return.  How many people currently living in the US would possibly want to defect to India?  Have they looked at the statistics?  On the dhs.gov site, I found numbers of those from India receiving permanent resident status over the last 10 years.  The numbers fluctuate from between 30,000 and 80,000 per year!!!  The only information I could find on Americans immigrating to India was those of Indian descent.

So imagine my surprise when my business visa application was rejected.  The agency didn’t like the letter my client wrote because it didn’t explicitly request a 5 year visa, it said I would likely be working with the company in India through 2014.  So when the letter was re-written, it requested a 5 year visa, but if that could not be granted, then a 1 year visa would suffice.  REJECTED…..  Finally – leaving the part out about the 1 year visa, my paperwork was accepted and the visa was granted.  Too bad it wasn’t in time for my original flight.

What made matters worse was the so-called “expeditor” who is supposed to have relationships with these agencies and help the visa application process.  The only thing expedited was my aggravation.  When I first checked my application status online, I saw where the application was not accepted.  I promptly called my travel agent, who called the expeditor, and we were told that it was still in process.  It took them until the next day to get the information that I had – the application was rejected.  So we re-issued the letter, re-applied, and the expeditor told us the visa was approved and gave us the fed-ex tracking number.  So I start packing, going to the store to pick up some last minute items, and 2 hours later we were told the application was rejected again.  Can you say “CLUELESS”???  How can these guys charge for expediting???

Anyway, the drama ended yesterday, 3 days after it should have, when fedex rang the doorbell and delivered my passport and visa.  Now with my ticket rebooked, I am on my way to that place where everyone I know who has been has gotten sick.  Cant wait….



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