quasimodo Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 I know that Pak embassies are up and down in terms of turn around but my experience has never been very good. I visited India once this year ( Bangalore/Hyd) and had to go thru a visa process ( my country of birth being a little problematic !) - wasnt that bad and I came out very impressed with the Indian embassy here Whats your experiences with embassies/consulars etc ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Indian embassy in San Francisco is ok. Very small place. Narrow walk ways, etc. But they have a decent system in terms of tokens and so far they haven't lost any passports or delayed their processing in my case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quasimodo Posted November 24, 2006 Author Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? The token system was a little curious - and the guy in charge of the visa asked me if his niece who was an MBA could get a job with my company ! But all in all, I am told, has to do with the ambassador - if he is half decent, all embassy staff fall in line. Where I live, in Bahrain, the embassy is helped out by a bunch of volunteers who help Indian labourers in filling out forms etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambit Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Never been to a Pak or an Indian embassy. BTW quasimodo, how did Bangalore/Hyderabad compare with some of your cities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quasimodo Posted November 24, 2006 Author Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Never been to a Pak or an Indian embassy. BTW quasimodo, how did Bangalore/Hyderabad compare with some of your cities? I went to visit some of the IT giants - Infosys (!!), Iflex, Satyam....very impressive complexes/campuses. As for people - well I will say that they were as friendly as I would find back home. But what really struck me that EVERYONE was so busy ! None of the aimless meandering - a lot of purposeful people going somewhere ! The traffic at times was atrocious ( altho I am told that a lot of construction is happening in Bangalore with the Metro etc ) and we ended up having meetings en route to some of our destinations. Food was, as expected, fanstastic and Hyderabai Biryani was - well, legendary. Also flew Kingfisher Airline between Bang and Hyd and was well impressed by the staff Lets see, what else.... Yes, I suppose, what also hit me was the scale of things - my boss ( Mumbaite) wanted to buy one of those snazzy new homes ( Silicon valley clones ) and we went to see a new development - there were approx 1000 being constructed! And yes, Bangalore seemed like a very very religious place - there were temples on every corner, roundabout etc and a lot of people with the white marks on their foreheads. And then it hit me - there was a lot of poverty on display on the streets - I suppose there is a gap between the middle and the lower middle classes ? Bangalore and Hyderabad airports also a need a major uplift ( I believe new ones are under construction ) Hotels were excellent - I stayed at the Kempinski and the Blue Orchid in Bangalore - very smart indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aditi Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Never been to an Indian or Pak embassy. Only one I've ever needed to visit was the US Embassy in Bombay to renew my passport once. Really nice place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer1 Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? italian, french, and greek embassies: awful German: efficient to the core dutch: ok Japanese: efficient and fast US: efficient and good once you get in South African: painful, irritating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm332 Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? North American embassies/consulates treat you like cattle. You talk to them in a raised tone and you over and out. Despite the constant complaints regarding Indian Consulates ...you will rarely be treated poorly. Yes... processes may be inefficient and at times frustrating. Luckily I have never had to stand in line at the US consulate in New Delhi. Almost everyone I have spoken to who has experience of that ... has nothing complimentary to say about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? British embassy for british citizens is totally awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Aditi, Embassies are only in respective capitals..rest of the cities have consulates US Consulate Mumbai-Went to Pick my student visa, was about to give all my papers but they was asked to come to pick visa in the evening instead ( paid 300 rupees to the guard to skip line ) Belgium Consulate Mumbai - Looked like I was going to pick my ID card at college Canadian Embassy - New Delhi - Pretty Neat and Clean, and pretty big US Consulate - Toronto - No Matter you have 10 Stamps to US, its a new interview all over again ( Pre-911) Indian Consulate - Toronto - Same Ole Babugiri, just like any other Indian gov.t Office, - Canadian Citizen can shout as much as they like there French Consulate - New York - Size of any Big Night Club bathroom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm332 Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Rajeev -- correction ... due to their petulant behavior Canadian citizens in Toronto now have to mail in their passports and receive via mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Rajeev -- correction ... due to their petulant behavior Canadian citizens in Toronto now have to mail in their passports and receive via mail. I know, I was talking abt 4 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dada_rocks Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Indian embassy in toronto is quite professional. USA embassy comes of as most indifferent. Canadian embassy in new delhi again runs accroding to script no irrationality. Israel embassy new delhi again very strict but things go exactly as per the script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm332 Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? dada - no embassy in toronto ... only consulates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Dada, u live in Toronto? Kidahr Bhai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aditi Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? ah ok my bad lol....the US Consulate in Breach Candy is the one I was talking about :)...only one I ever been to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dada_rocks Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Re: Embassies around the world - whats your experience ? Dada, u live in Toronto? Kidahr Bhai nope I don't live in toronto. this just happens to be nearest consulate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts