Dealing with Indian government offices is like fighting mythological monster: you cut off one head - it will grow tree others!
After the pain of FRRO registrations, court marriage &its registration, extending and converting visa, applying and receiving PIO card (just to learn that I have to go through the same process to convert it to OCI card), I finally had the holy grail - the infamous OCI! How naive of me it was to think that it is the end of our trouble!
When our son was born, we decided on Polish citizenship and OCI card for him. After all, how hard could it be to get OCI for someone who is half Indian? Well... I can tell you how hard: VERY!
First of all, we timed everything quite well according to all the official information: the registration of birth, applying for the passport and then visa, which, according to Indian embassy's website, takes approx. 2 weeks.
However, we were advised against applying for anything else than tourist e-visa because one of the consuls was absent and therefore there was a backlog in visa processing. In other words, there was no chance of getting a proper visa on time.
Looking back, I should've known just then, that the whole process will be full of complications!
We arrived in Goa and marched to the local FRO, to register, extend, convert - all the usual fun, and that's when the real problems started. First of all, e-visa is non-extendable and non-convertible. So, as they told us, we can stay for 30 days and then our baby boy will have to leave the country!
When we managed to convince them, that flying 3-month old back and forth across the continents isn't a good idea, they agreed to do all the extension/conversion magic provided that we submit all the documents. We had everything on hand - or so we though. Apparently a C-form is and always has been required.Funnily enough, during all my FRRO adventures, no-one ever asked me for a C-form, including Goa FRO. Not very surprising though, as they change their regulations and laws weekly plus the rules differ from office to office and from officer to officer!
Oh, and have I mentioned the cherry on top of FROs ineptness? After learning that my husband is from Rajasthan, the chief of the office told us "If I knew you were not from Goa, I wouldn't have agreed [to help you]". Unfortunately, in this little piece of paradise that Goa is, locals loathe outsiders and let it be known, every opportunity they get. Even so, hearing sth like this from government officer is a bit much!
Anyway, we got the "application under process" paper and were on the mission to get the C-form ASAP. Unfortunately, it is up to the landlord to file for it - supposedly they are obligated to do it whenever they rent to foreigners, but if they don't, nobody will say a word. After all, they are the locals, it's just the foreigners, the "outsiders" who get into trouble.
Apparently, the title of the house wasn't clear, so to get the C-form, our landlord had to apply for some other document from the court. That meant another trip to FRO, explaining why we didn't submit the documents yet. Surprisingly, we heard that that's not a problem and we can submit it later. Of course, at this point, I didn't believe them in the slightest. I knew it was a ticking bomb and apparently it just exploded.
We got a call that they can't help us after all, and our son will be required to leave India in order to apply for a proper visa. That was followed by the usual "we are not responsible for...". After all, not taking responsibility for whatever they say or do is what they do best. Basically, you can talk to 20 people in those offices, you will get 21 different answers and, in the end, it won't matter anyway, because "they are not responsible for...".
So now, we are making another trip to FRO, this time with our landlord, to explain why it took so long to submit the stupid C-form and to hear in return, how they can't help us because they can't.
In moment's like this, I often feel like I'm in one of the Kafka's novels with all its incomprehensible bureaucracy, illogical requirements and nightmarish, near-impossible quests.
...and all of that before we can even think of applying for visa extension, not to mention OCI!
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