My sister who lives in England and comes to Goa during winter arrived in Goa in January this year. She normally likes to get a six month visa but this time try as she might, she could only get a three month visa. So I suggested that she should get an OCI card.
She told me that she had tried to do it in England, but the High Commission there was very uncooperative. It was at this juncture that I got an idea. These visas also amount to a tidy sum and an OCI card would facilitate round the year stay in India if needed. I decided to write to the NRI Commissioner to solicit his help in getting my sister the OCI card. I must confess that I was pretty skeptical about this but decided to try for the heck of it. Here Goanet played a part. I scoured the Goanet archives for the email id of the NRI Commissioner. Having got the email id, I wrote, I must confess with a good deal of skepticism, asking for the Commissioners help and stating that my sister would appreciate any assistance in obtaining an OCI card from the Commissioner. To my surprise, within two days, I received a phone call from the NRI Commissioner's Office asking if I had sent a mail to the Commissioner. I was told to come with my sister to the Office of the Commissioner in the New Secretariat Complex at Porvorim. When we went there, unfortunately the Commissioner was on his way out as it was rather late that we managed to go there. The Director of NRI Affairs, Mr. U. D. Kamat introduced himself and assured us his help if we came to the office again. So promptly the next day we visited Mr. Kamat. Unlike most bureaucrats in Goa, we found Mr. Kamat refreshingly different. He took a personal interest in the case and asked his Secretary (Christopher) to download the form and advised us on what other documents to attach. We posted the documents by speed post on 2nd February and the same were received in Delhi Government sorting office on 4th February. So far so good. But then in the maze of Government offices in Delhi, the letter got stuck and was only received on the 31st March by the concerned department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. There after it was pretty routine. The signature and photographs were scanned within 21 days and a few days later they were printed and now the OCI card has been dispatched. At every stage, Mr. Kamat's office tracked the case and we were informed telephonically. Sitting in Mr. Kamat's office is an experience. The telephone never stops ringing and Mr. Kamat is ever ready to help in all sorts of matters that pertain to NR Goans. Let me give a few examples. There is an email from one of our Goanetters thanking the Commissioner for his assistance with getting a visa to Kenya. A lady is in the office. Her husband has passed away in the Gulf without leaving a will. She has got documents which require attestation from the Home Department. A clerk from the Home Department (upstairs in the Secretariat Complex) tells her to get them notarized. She already has them notarized. Mr. Kamat calls up the Under Secretary and explains that the Government there requires attestation from the Home Department in Goa and thus acts as a middleman in this case. Another Goan has passed away in the West Indies and his mortal remains are being transported to Goa. Mr. Kamat's office tracks the movement of the body at each stage and has a log kept. A Goan is going to Libya to work. The Government there only recognizes degree certificates if they are in translated to French and authenticated. The NRI office arranges for a translation through Alliance Francais and gets the same attested in the Home Department. Never a dull moment in the NRI Office. I must admit that I was impressed by this one Government Office. -- Tony de Sa. tonydesa at gmail dot com ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
