India better be Incredible! after this...
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2007
1
99
220
Trip End
Ongoing
Rome, Italy
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
We were able to pick up our passports at the Indian Embassy today. It was such a bureaucratic disaster. We needed to drop our passports off to get our Indian Visas. So let me explain the very simple process. Since we are experienced travelers we studied the Rome Indian Consulate website and made sure that we had all of our ducks in a row before we arrived. The website stated that they handle visa services from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. It also stated that we needed 75 Euros for the visa and 20 Euros for to fax the states for visa approval. So we arrived at 11:06 and the place was packed, barely a place to sit. Our ticked number was 30 digits past the current number being called and sometimes it would take 15 minutes for the next number to change. After about 2 hours of waiting and nearly 2 minutes before they close, our number was called. Surprisingly the receptionist only requested 20 Euros for the process and asked us for our photocopies of the passport which of course we didn't have. It was never mentioned on their website as a requirement. She refused to make copies for us so we had to run across the street to a store to make copies. I was concerned that since it was past closing time that we wouldn't be allowed back in. But we were. We were told to call in 4 days to check in on our visas. So 4 days later with a phone call we were told that we should come back to pay 75 Euros for the visa fee. Dreading having to go back we had the intelligence to arrive 30 minutes before they open for visa services. Upon arrival, the place was again packed and we once again had approx 30 numbers ahead of ours. I asked someone next to me with a number that was nearly about to be called how she got such a low number. She was told when she called the consulate that all she had to do was come by and drop off the passports at 9am. She arrived at 8:45 and the office didn't open until 9:15 and so she got a number but had to wait until 11AM before they would even start calling numbers, She waited until 11:25 for her number to be called. We actually ended up waiting longer this time by coming in 30 minutes earlier than last! Once we approached the counter, the receptionist told us that we had to pay 75 Euros each and then to come back tomorrow to pick them up. We were nervous we had to go through this process a 3rd time but were relieved when we were told that all we had to do was come to the front window between 4:45P and 5:15P to pick them up. Sounds easy enough. Well, we arrived the next day at 4:30 and there was already a line outside (in the rain) waiting for the doors to open. Once they opened up, people rushed to get inside and were pushing and shoving. One person just walked up simply to the front and when they opened the doors on the inside he went straight to the front of the line with about 4 people saying "NO", and he was pushed halfway back in the line. Finally, 30 minutes later, we had our passports in hand and really hope that our trip to India is worth all this trouble, it's not a very good first impression for most tourists to say the least.
