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Indian passport renewal- Houston |
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I am studying in Oklahoma on a F1 visa. I have a couple of questions about my Indian passport renewal.
1. My passport expires in Aug 2010, which puts me under less than 6 months. Is this going to be a problem. I will apply for renewal in Houston since Oklahoma falls under Houston jurisdiction.
2. My address in India has changed and my passport has the old address. Do I need to get a notarized proof of address from India? Will a scanned copy of the electricity/telephone bill be acceptable?
3. Do i need to personally go to the consulate? Do you think it will expedite the process?
Soon after this I will be sending in my permanent residency documents. I am guessing the renewal process should not affect the PR status.
Looking forward to your inputs.
Thanks.
Pixie
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to pixi29:
I renewed my Passport in Houston as well. It shouldn't be a problem if you are passport expires within 6 months.
You don't need any proof of address from India. You need a proof of address of where you are staying now. I showed them my Texas DL and the eligibility to stay in US(visa, EAD).
I went and submitted in person, but you can mail it in too. Check the website.
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to MacAttack:
You better give a proof of address in India. In my case, i thought they would refer the existing passport and print the current India address but the Houston Indian Consulate idiots simply ignored that and printed my passport with my US Address. Now I can't use my new passport as a proof of my foriegn address.
S..
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to gettinggc:
MacAttack is correct. I have my US address on the Indian passport.
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My mom sent me a scanned copy of a recent telephone bill with the current address on it. Will that work? Does that have to be notarized in India?
One person mentioned not to bother changing the Indian address, and leave it as is. I am doubting that and wondering what the repercussions of that would be?
Btw, thanks for all the above inputs.
pixie
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to pixi29:
I am from Oklahoma. I mailed in my application in jan 2010. I got my passport in 7 days. you do not need proof of indian address. use your current indian address instead of the old one. you do need proof of U.S. address. get your documents esp visa photocopy etc notarized from bank if mailing in your application. Fill all the blanks in the paper printout - answer all questions. check that your first address on the printout is indian address and the second address is US address. it is not clear what address you are supposed to fill out in the online application. so you may have to try couple of times to get it right.
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Thanks guyz for all the help.
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to pixi29:
Please see my answers for your questions.
1. It is not a problem. As per the rules, you can apply for renewal 12 months from the expiry date. When I applied, I had only 5 months left.
2. I also changed my address when I applied for renewal. I did not submit any document(s) for the new address.
3. If you go in person, before 10.30AM you will get the passport on that day itself. If you are sending over USPS/Fedex, go for electronic signature without fail. For me, I had issues. I called them two weeks after I sent. They said they have not received it. Good thing I had the electronic signature which put lot of pressure on them and they traced out my package.
Moreover, to apply for I485 your passport should not expire within 6 months from the date of application. Ensure that also. Good luck!
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I have a question about passport renewal.
I filled out the form online and printed it out. There is a question in the form asking, how long has the applicant continuously resided abroad?
What is the answer to it?
Do I exclude the days that I went back to India to meet my folks and count from the first day I came to US or count the days the last time I went to India and came back till now? It is a bit confusing.
Thank you.
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to dadaji:
It would the # of days that you stated in the US since your last departure from your home country. For example, if you left India (most recent departure) on March 23rd 2008, you have to document it as 2 years.
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I have another question about the renewal of passport.
I am mailing my passport for renewal and when I filled out the form online, it did not give me the option to select whether I am sending it online or personally going to the Consulate General of India and therefore I had to set a date or give them an appointment date. But for some reason, I have delayed sending my application. Is it OK that I have that appointment date that is already passed or can I change my date online and print out the application again.
Thank you.
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I still haven't heard from cgi-houston about my passport. I sent a fedex pre-paid return envelope with my package. Tracking info showed that they did receive it on Mar 17th. I have sent atleast 5 emails, so far no response. Tried calling them, no answer or the phone is busy. Not sure what to do. Wish they gave me some information so if need be, i could drive down to houston, since i live in Oklahoma.
Any thoughts.
cheers,
pixie
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to pixi29:
On CGI Houston's website it is clearly written send a single cashier's check of $60 ($40 for passport renewal and $ 20 for returning the passport via FedEx). There was no need to send a prepaid FedEx envelope. If you did not send enough money (that is $60) then you will not get your passport back. You will need to go to Houston and collect it. For security reasons they do not accept prepaid envelopes.
http://www.cgihouston.org/passportfaqnew.html
"How do you apply/ documents required?
i) Completed application for new passport
ii) Original existing passport and photocopy of first three and last two pages containing personal particulars.
iii) Three recently taken and identical colour photographs with light background of size 3.5x3.5 cm. Photographs should show the front view of full face and should be in civil dress. Polaroid photographs, poor quality photographs and photographs taken in uniform or with dark glasses will be rejected.
iv) Copy of Green Card (both sides, enlarged clear copy) or Employment Authorization card (clear enlarged copy) or legal/ visa status such as H1B etc.
v) Proof of residence/mailing address in USA (photocopy of Driving license/ Lease agreement/ Utility Bills etc.)
vi) Copy of Marriage Certificate, in case passport does not contain the name of spouse and wishes to have it entered in the new passport.
vii) Fees of $ 40 for new passport of 36 pages & $ 50/- for jumbo passport of 60 pages. Please see separate instructions for child's passport.
viii) Return mail charges of $ 20 for return by express mail which is more reliable and safe. Consulate does not take responsibility for delay in receipt or loss of documents sent by mail. No self addressed envelope is necessary. Fees for passport + mailing charges be sent together through a single money order or cashier's check in favor of the Consulate General of India. "
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Thanks for the info kd. I totally missed that and am guessing thats the reason for the delay. Wish they could somehow let me know what the problem is. Anyways, I'll courier a cashier's cheque for $20 first thing in the morning tomorrow. I need to plan out the commute considering exams n such.
thanks again
pixie
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to pixi29:
Pixie,
I would recommend you to goto the consulate and find out what the hell is going on. They are good for nothing. If you can speak Hindi, then you should be able to explain the issue in detail and get an answer from them. They are the typical Indians who work in the Central Govt Offices.
S..
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hi guyz,
I called up this number i found from immihelp forums at around 9:15am. It was this guy's cell phone number and he promptly returned my call and forwarded to the concerned person. The lady who answered was very softspoken. She looked up my name and told me that they will be sending out passports this evening. They had problems with the printer and thats why all passports were delayed by about 15 days.
She said the fedex envelope i sent would suffice. I am so relieved.
Just wanted to let you know.
Again thanks for all the feedback.
Cheers,
pixie
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to pixi29:
Hi All,
I have prepared all documents required to submit for passport renewal for my son(14 year old).
But confused about getting notary.
Last weekend I went to bank to get notary on all copies and on the last page of application. They said, they can not do on any of the forms or copies of documents which do not have text like to be notarized.
Should I send below documents with notary?
Application filled online
Copies 2 Proof of address
Visa copy
3 photos
Change of appearance from. (kid to adult)
Parent Consent form.
Please advice.
Can I send application and copies with out notary?
Thanks
anna
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to skms24:
You may go to any Fedex Kinkos to get the documents notarized. We got it done from there without any issues.
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to Namaskar:
Thanks for reply.
Do we need to get notary on all copies and application form?
best regards
anna
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to skms24:
You just need the copies of passport front and back page notarized. Since this is for a child passport, check with the consulate if you need to get the application notarized.
Check this link for Houston Condulate. http://www.cgihouston.org/PassportMinor.html
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to Namaskar:
And also get the copy of visa/ PR notarized along with the passport copies.
Namaskar
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I got my driver's license, visa and pp front n back notarized from the bank, free of cost.
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to pixi29:
Hi Pixie,
Please can you give the phone number you had called up .I looked in the immihelp forum but didn't get a number.My passpost is stuck with them
and I'm going to India next month.The Houston office do not answer the phone and reply to the mails.
Thank in advance.
Cheers
telugu
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hi,
the cellphone number is 832-283-3357. Another option is 713-626-2956 which is the landline and the same guy responds who would transfer you to the passport officials.
Hope this helps.
cheers,
pixie
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The printer is working at CGI Houston now. They charged $200 from us for Jumbo passport and handed over the same day at 4pm. You have to first fill the application at
https://passport.gov.in/nri/OnlineRegis... which is compatible to Internet Explorer only, and arrange all other documents with it. The online information is very confusing and no one will ever receive your call or reply email. so why to waste time.
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Users watching this thread:
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