Hillary For President

[bobabode]

What a friggin' nightmare.

[MrPots]

This is "merica Rajoo, everything here is designed to gouge you to the extreme.

Nobody charges an honest fee any more, everything is maximum profit.

[Pio1980]

Not Indian bureaucracy?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[CarlV]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

Bob, hope you are sitting down. Instead of the Indian Consulates granting the visa's directly, it is now outsourced to a private company. Imagine that, India outsourcing! These 'agents' have developed an online application process which is a joke and a disaster. And one must fill the form online, then print and sign then mail or drop off (which I prefer).

After two attempts and two visits to their office in SF, I am still short of a three forms and one document. After all is said and done, this will cost me in excess of $600 not to mention my time and expenses. Parking alone cost me $24 for 90 minutes at $4/15 minutes yesterday. This entire exercise is set up to gouge people and nothing else.

Wish I had gone through an agent and avoided all this run around.

Summit Alta Bates hospitals/clinics in Oakland and Berkeley charge 6.00 for 20min, 3.00 for disabled.


Carl

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by CarlV

Summit Alta Bates hospitals/clinics in Oakland and Berkeley charge 6.00 for 20min, 3.00 for disabled.


Carl

Guess I could take BART, but to find parking at a BART station is a major problem. We had an Indian neighbor in Chicago whose advice to me was 'pay and smile'. Guess I will drive again today, park and see what happens.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

Not Indian bureaucracy?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Indian bureaucracy yes, but this outsourced company 'that partners' with the consulate is entirely another matter. They have developed an impossible to use online system (which must be used and forms printed) that is a joke.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

Indian bureaucracy yes, but this outsourced company 'that partners' with the consulate is entirely another matter. They have developed an impossible to use online system (which must be used and forms printed) that is a joke.

Have you asked them how much it will cost you for them to print the forms you cannot print from the system you cannot use?

[Rajoo]

$ per page. My mistake last time was that I did not have my notebook computer with me, only my tablet. I could have continued the form filling process on my tablet but I am much more comfortable with a keyboard & mouse. They do have three computer stations but they were all taken up and the people on it were having just as much as a hard time. So waiting for them to be freed would have been a bad idea especially at $24/hour parking.

Besides they wanted copies of the articles of incorporation for my company in India which I did not have anyway. Why they would want it is another example of India's BS bureaucracy and arbitrary requirements. Since the company is active, this information is readily available online. For that matter before I left I asked them if all they want is money, simply tell me how much and I will pay to avoid this charade. I got blank stares.

[donquixote99]

The art of bribery usually requires a little more subtlety than that. You don't ask them to ask for a bribe. You offer a gratuity in appreciation for an individual's extra help with your difficult case. Enough for a nice dinner for two on the local economy should do it. Pass the money discretely, and say "I appreciate your help. Take your wife out for a nice dinner." Repeat for each subsequent contact, IF service is seen to improve....

[Wasillaguy]

You could try paying them handsomely to give a "speech".