Announcements
 

India visa office to open in Brampton Wednesday May 13 2009 By SUNIL RAO | Info From: http://www.southasianfocus.ca/printArticle/69397 Effective Friday, May 22, the Consulate General of India at 365 Bloor St East stops accepting any mail-in applications for visas, passport renewals. New Office : Brampton at 40 Gillingham Drive, Unit 406 The good news is Indian visa, passport and other services in the GTA will be available at two new more customer-friendly and accessible locations - including one in Brampton - as part of the Indian missions' long-awaited efforts to outsource part of its operations to a third party. VF Services (Canada) has been awarded the contract. The possible downside is the new services will each cost $19.25 a pop. Preeti Saran, Consul-General, however said the added cost could be at least partially offset through better public access to the new offices, sufficient free parking, and improved service and delivery options. Hence, effective Friday, May 22, the Consulate General of India at 365 Bloor St East stops accepting any mail-in applications for visas, passport renewals, Person of India Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards, while VFS becomes the first point of contact for most such public services. Announcing details about the outsourcing earlier this week at the consulate premises in Toronto, Saran sought to explain the new services offer far more flexibility. "The two offices, based at 939 Eglinton Avenue East, Unit 102, in Toronto (tel: 416-425-2627 / 416-425-3637), and in Brampton at 40 Gillingham Drive, Unit 406, will have a longer work week and more extended hours of operation, and applications can be tendered in person as well, with multiple payment options including by cash, or debit or credit cards in most instances," she said. She clarified while the front-office and back end of the work such as accepting the applications and scrutinizing them and, later, sending back the processed documents to the applications will be handled by VFS, the actual processing of the papers will continued to be handled by consular staff. "We'll also have close scrutiny of all operations by consular staff on the ground, to ensure smooth operations during the transition period," Saran told the assembled journalists who, after a lengthy hiatus, included media representatives from all Indian communities. All existing functions including document trackability will be maintained, with new ones added, consular officials M.P. Singh, Surendar Arora, Tirath Singh and Kuldip Abrol stated. They added members of the public seeking to address any concerns or specific cases could speak either to VFS officials, or could also escalate these in due process to the consular official concerned. VFS has just started services in Ottawa. The independent third-party contractor has already been operating on behalf of the Canadian government in India, and has wide experience of offering such services in missions worldwide. The two new GTA centres managed by VFS on behalf of the Indian consulate will accept applications for visa, passport, consular, PIO and OCI cards, while document attestation and, depending on urgency, certainly emergency services will still be offered at the consulate. There is more flexibility and easier access: applications can be despatched and/or received in person, by mail or through courier at these centres. The stipulated fees for various services (except OCI) and other charges may be paid in cash or through credit card, debit card, money order or bank draft. The prescribed fee for OCI must however be paid only in US dollars (payable in Toronto) by bank draft or money order in favour of: Consulate General of India, Toronto. The consulate has also stressed it will stop receiving such applications at its 365 Bloor St East office, effective May 22. To download forms and for further details visit www.in.vfsglobal.ca  or www.cgitoronto.ca