Several instances have come to the notice of the Consulate General that various travel agents have overcharged applicants for assistance in getting Consular services(OCI, Visa, passport, Emergency Certificate, etc.). Often the fee charged is manifolds higher than the fees stipulated by the Consulate for a particular Consular service and in many cases, false and baseless assurances of expeditious delivery of Consular services has also been given by such agents. Details of fees charged by the Consulate for various Consular services are available at Annexure I. It may be noted that no additional fee is charged by the Consulate or VFS.
2. The Consulate has also come across fake documents pertaining to identity, residential address, utility bills, etc. submitted by agents on applicants’ behalf, often without the knowledge of the applicants. This not only causes undue avoidable delay but is also a violation of prescribed Indian rules and puts the applicants on wrong side of the law in the US.
3. It has also been brought to the Consulate’s notice that a number of fake E-visa websites, claiming to provide E-visas services, are active on the internet. In order to mislead the applicants, some of these websites have created images and home page templates mimicking the Government of India’s websites. List of such websites may be seen at https://www.indiainnewyork.gov.in/pdf/fake_visa_website_28apr2023_NF.pdf. It is advised that the correct website for E-visa is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in. Applicants are requested not to apply on any other website for E-visa services.
4. The Consulate organizes an Open House on first Wednesday(10 am to 1 pm) and third Wednesday(2 pm to 5 pm) of every month. Applicants can walk in without prior appointment and meet the Consular Officers for any query they may have regarding Consular services.
5. Applicants are, therefore, requested to exercise extreme caution and avail the services directly through :
a) Consulate’s website (https://www.indiainnewyork.gov.in) – For Miscellaneous Services, PCC for non-Indian passport holders and Emergency Travel Documents.
b) VFS Global website (https://visa.vfsglobal.com/usa/en/ind/), which is the authorized service provider for CGI New York – for all Visa, Passport, OCI, GEP, PCC for Indian passport holder and Renunciation of Indian citizenship.
New York
August 6, 2024
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