Canadian folks, let Goanet have your views/experiences at the new services.
We've had a visa processing service here in Melbourne now for over a year. Order? none at all. They do have a queing system whereby you pick a ticket for a service. As you go along, all of a sudden a bloke comes from the side door and shouts "Any one waiting to collect passports?" I mean, one has just taken a ticket for the queue to collect passports, and then there's this idiot who wants to make nonsense of the system. Naturally there's a rush to the bloke. all rules are broken, then there's over an hour's wait for one to actually get the passport. By this time the light flashing the ticket numbers is practically useless! Then there's the possibility of one getting a service performed incorrectly. As I stated sometime last January, I presented my wife's and my passport for a visa. We were issued visas all right, but on my passport, the name printed on my visa was my wife's name. I handed the passport over for corrections, and five days later, there was no sign of my passport. The visa issuing services said that they had not heard from the consulate. After continually contacting them daily for a week, I contacted the Indian consulate in Melbourne, and the lady there asked me to bring all the documentation to the consulate the next day. When I went to the consulate, the lady said she hadn't seen my passport, whereupon, I told her in what sort of envelope it was sent. After a while she comes to me and hands me the passport, saying that it was incorrectly filed. On opening the passport, I observed that no new visa was issued. I told the lady, but she was adamant that she had not commited any mistake -- until I showed her the error. Only then she "cancelled without prejudice" the incorrect visa and issued me a new one on the spot. When she handed over the passport to me, she still insisted that the mistake wasn't hers! I didn't bother to discuss the issue further and waste my time. All that the new "services" do is use more staff to collect / deliver passports. I really wonder if this is more efficient, or whether it is to enable someone to make a quick buck along the way, as now one has to add a service charge to the visa charges. It is not really hassle-free and efficient - it still takes hours of waiting to be attended at the counters, adding to the parking fee (if one goes there by car). Gabriel. ----- Original Message ---- From: Goanet News Service <[email protected]> To: Goanet <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 3:22:25 PM Subject: [Goanet] India to outsource Canada consulate India to outsource Canada consulate 12 May 2009, 1024 hrs IST, PTI TORONTO: With an aim to make visa services faster, hassle-free and efficient, Indian Consulate here has decided to outsource its consular
