Indian Embassy – Washington DC

A couple of friends told me horror stories about the DC embassy consular centre and some of the immigration forums that I read online also had people complaining and bitching about it. Therefore I did have a reasonable amount of anxiety, almost akin to the anxiety levels that one would have at the immigration counter at the port of entry into the US, or while going for the visa extension “stamping” interview to the US Consulate….I had a couple of questions about the application form and just like any other normal person would do, tried calling…. not one…. not two… but ALL THE NUMBERS listed on the website, right up to the top most guy working there… result? NOBODY picks up ANY of the phones! My friend tried faxing them when he sent his passport for renewal… no response….Finally Sudha got through to the NY Embassy and before she could even explain the purpose of her call, the lady at the other end apparently started telling her that we are not supposed to call/go to NY, but to DC instead. So it took her a while to explain that she called only to make sure whether the DC embassy would even be open on Friday, July 3.

The Indian Embassy is one of the many consular buildings on what is known as the Embassy Row – a few minutes’ walk from the Dupont Circle station… Upon reaching there I noticed that the Indian Flag, was not fluttering, but all wrapped up and sort of tied around the pole from which it was hoisted. Fortunately the golden Indian Emblem saved the grace, and is perhaps the only sign indicating that the otherwise nondescript building, is indeed the Indian Embassy.

The Consular office is in the basement of the Embassy building and is probably the smallest consular office in the world. It can probably seat about 40-50 people at the most, not so comfortably. There was no semblance of an air conditioner running in the room, as it was a little muggy inside… The general weather outside was much better in comparison to how it felt inside. People coming there are such idiots, in that most of the applicants, do not have copies of their original passport, or of supporting documents requested. One lady, just waltzed in there to get her passport renewed, but did not have any documents with her whatsoever. She even asked the person behind the consular counter whether her bank check book will suffice as residence/address proof. (?!?!?!?) …Were this the US Consulate or some other country’s consular office, (most) people would have their documents perfectly ordered and heck, they would even have additional documents that weren’t even listed on the website. My question to these people is, why behave like this only because it is the Indian Passport that you need to renew?

Finally, after waiting for a little more than an hour, my turn came and all I had to do was submit the passport and the requested proof documents and I was given the receipt in a few seconds. I would be a greatly blundering, if I did not mention in detail about the receipt given for my passport renewal application. It is a piece of paper with I-don’t-remember-what-is-printed-on-it, and it looks like the receipt one gets at a drive-through Taco Bell. I was surprised/appalled/(?) when I was given this and just wondered why they cannot have a better system in place…Also, inside the office room, I noticed an instant photo booth, which was, unsurprisingly, Out of Order.

Overall, I thought Passport renewal and new applications are better handled back home than here outside the country. Obviously, I am only speaking from my own experience and not generalizing in any way… Other Consulates may be better at handling renewal requests and the Washington office may also be better on other days…