India Visa Center

There has to be a better way.
A family member had prepared his application, all he needed was someone to hand it in for him as he was out of town for a couple weeks and couldn’t swing by Georgetown before he had to leave.
In order to drop off the completed paperwork for a visa application, you have to set an appointment online.
The application form was a printout from the website, but to access the file online I had to fill in all of the information again. Rather tedious and unnecessary…
Even more fun, the website said something didn’t match, even though I was entering the information exactly as it appeared on the printout. After reentering the information 3 times, it was clear: the website would not let me make an appointment. To drop off completed paperwork.
So I called the local number to see about setting an appointment manually. The voice prompts ask me to enter in the 9 digit case number, I do, and… ringing. Nothing. 15 calls over the space of 4 hours later, still no one had picked up.
So I dropped by the office, only to be told that it required an appointment online. I explained the situation (website not working, phones not working, paperwork is right here, please take it) but they said it was now after 4pm (4:03 by my watch) so they could not help me and I should come back in the morning.
On my way home I called the local number again, because why not at this point? This time, Chicago answered. I explained my experience, and in response they said, «Well, DC does get a lot of calls.»
Perhaps broken phone software is a way to discourage that.
I was then told to fill everything out from scratch again and make an appointment that way, as the only way the local office would see me is… with an appointment.
I arrived the next morning to find the lobby was barren. No, they did not check to see if I had an appointment. The attendant read over the paperwork to ensure it was in order, and then directed me to a glass window with another attendant who proceeded to do the exact same check. She then handed me a receipt and I was on my way.
I can understand the desire to try to control crowd volume, but this is absurd.
So I have been to this office 3 times in 3 days. It has been an exhilarating masterclass on the efficiency of the private sector, as India outsources its visa operation to a private company. This experience has had all the fun and charm of putting Time Warner in charge of a dentist’s office.

OMG!!!
This place is horrible. People do not answer phones. I tried calling them literally 200 times and all of the time the phone was busy. Customer service totally sucks

First a positive, a co-​worker applied for a visa via their mail service… she had an easy, hassle-​free experience.
However, their in-​person visa service is a nightmare. They don’t answer phones when you call with questions, the answers that you get are often wrong (it took three trips for them to actually give me the visa back– even when it was sitting right there in a drawer), and the wait time is ridiculously long for a service that you have to book a time in 15 minute increments. Moral of the story: mail it in, if you have to use them.

I think this place is getting a bad rap. My friend and I filled out our applications online and showed up with our proof of residence, printed application, passport, photo’s, and $ 76. We were in and out within 30 minutes with no trouble what so ever.
The only confusing part of the process was what line we would need to stand in for our travel visa’s. We wound up standing in line for the person at the front desk, she looked over our applications and directed us to the right window.
The person who took my application was helpful and really went the extra mile to make sure we understood the process and explain everything. I was dreading this trip, and was pleasantly surprised.

Travisa is the only place you can go through to get your Indian visa.
Their website is pretty straightforward and the process seemingly so too.
I filled out my application online, printed it out and sent it with all my docs to Travisa. It arrived the next day, according to my tracking.
They showed the processes that it went through on their end online but it took about 2 weeks to come back to me, which was concerning as I was on a tight timeline.
Word to the wise, allow yourself as much time as possible.

This spot will make you wanna say screw the Taj Mahal, get me to the nearest bridge (that would be the Key in this case).
*deep breath*
So you are required to have a Visa to travel to India. That alone annoys me, but I digress. Anyhow, you go on the India Visa website, sign over your firstborn, and at the conclusion of the application, you are given the option of an appointment time. They are in 20 minute intervals, and you are instructed to show up 10 minutes beforehand. There are very specific instructions — no cell phones, no food, no bags, no purses, all papers must be in a clear bag, yadda, yadda, yadda. Besides the fact that none of that is enforced, there is NO appointment.
I repeat, THERE IS NO APPOINTMENT.
You show up and stand in line for over an hour to get your papers processed. So before you get in an accident racing to the «appointment» because you forgot the copy of you birth certificate, please remember THERE IS NONE. You get there and get in line, whenever you do.
There is no one instructing you once you enter, and Travisa needs to invest in that. Secondly — you are required to turn in two passport photos w/​the app. Most people come prepared. Others did not, and so the guy has to come out and around the glass partitioned desk and take the photos of the idiots who did not show up prepared. We’re already in third world slowness, so anyone that aggravates that is worthy of being shanked.
Oh — did I mention when you get the visa these photos are nowhere to be seen??? Yeah, that’s right. They’re not used for the Visa. I have no idea where my likeness is showing up. It could be in a trash bin at the Indian Embassy with hundreds of others for all I know.
When you get to the guy, it’s actually a pretty fast process. He does a lot of folding papers, and stapling, and cutting, and stapling, and folding, and cutting. That whole British regimented system is clear as day in front of you (except, the guy was black, not Indian). I had a lot of time to think and I thought about how we, as Americans, didn’t get that regimented approach from our British roots. Is it because we were spawned from the ghetto Brits? And India got a different class?
Fast forward you are given a 30 time slot to get the visa the following business day. 5:30 — 6:00. Everyone is to report at that time. I showed up twenty minutes early, even left work. The guy announces that his courier hasn’t come, sit tight. I waited until 7:30. We sat and sat and sat and finally they arrived. One girl missed a 7:30 p.m. flight that she had just paid $ 200 to change.
Another thing is this is one of those offices where you see a lot of people, but only 1 – 2 are tending to the applicants. You wonder WTF everyone else is doing!!! The travel posters start to annoy you, the Indian music starts to annoy you, shit they should at least give out free chai or samosas to appease the people.
En fin, allow yourself time for this process.