Hold on a second.. Can I send off my Visa request to Birmingham? Dont mind the wait as were not going till feb. Will send of ASAP if this is the case.
I got the impression that you had to go in person..
Yes you do, they are not accepting postal applications at Birmingham, also they are only issuing a limited number of visas per day, so you must get there early.
Debs
Debs
OMG thats a joke! I live on the wirral. I have no days leave left this year. How the heck am I supposed to manage this? Are they open Saturday.
Mardon, use one of the Agents listed on the HCI site. They do charge you a fee but it saves a lot of hassle and time 
Mardon
this crazy visa situation may calm down before you go in February - or, then again - it might get worse!
You could also consider going to one of the Visa surgeries, these are held on Saturdays.
I know they do them in Liverpool (and other places but my geography is not good enough to mention anywhere else near the Wirral
).
According to the HCI website there is one in Liverpool on 1st December.
The 2008 schedule has not been issued yet.
CGI Birmingham are only issuing 50 per day but I think the surgeries do about 500 in the day (Nottingham did).
They charge £10 fee on top of the £30 visa cost.
Check the HCI website out.
Polly
this crazy visa situation may calm down before you go in February - or, then again - it might get worse!
You could also consider going to one of the Visa surgeries, these are held on Saturdays.
I know they do them in Liverpool (and other places but my geography is not good enough to mention anywhere else near the Wirral
). According to the HCI website there is one in Liverpool on 1st December.
The 2008 schedule has not been issued yet.
CGI Birmingham are only issuing 50 per day but I think the surgeries do about 500 in the day (Nottingham did).
They charge £10 fee on top of the £30 visa cost.
Check the HCI website out.
Polly
just been to travel agents with mine. said he has a 3/4 week waiting list for visa applications said he should have mine back for 2/12/07. andy
Just had confirmation of our holiday booked with Olympic Holidays to Candolim in Feb 2008.
They've advised me that I can get a visa from the agents on the HCI website.
Oh, and they also say
'the Birmingham & Edinburgh branches of the High Commission accept postal applications'.
Now, isn't that good to know?
Well, it would be IF THE INFORMATION WAS ACCURATE!!!!
I've emailed them twice to let them know the current situation.
I wonder how many other unfortunate people they are mis-informing about the visa situation?
Polly
They've advised me that I can get a visa from the agents on the HCI website.
Oh, and they also say
'the Birmingham & Edinburgh branches of the High Commission accept postal applications'.
Now, isn't that good to know?
Well, it would be IF THE INFORMATION WAS ACCURATE!!!!
I've emailed them twice to let them know the current situation.
I wonder how many other unfortunate people they are mis-informing about the visa situation?
Polly
Yes inaccurate information Polly, and a lot of worried people when they find out they have been given the wrong info! 
We had a letter from Thomson Holidays warning about the problems with the Indian Visas. We dont fly with Thomson's until next March, so at least theyve been a bit pro-active.
We are going through to Edinburgh this Friday for our Visas. We are also getting Visas for another couple as well. If there are any problems and we dont get the Visas on the Friday then the other couple have said they will go to the Glasgow Surgery the following day.
We live in Glasgow but its still better to go thru to the Edinburgh Consulate as the Glasgow Surgery is a worse mess than the HCI in Edinburgh 
Just as well its all worth it when we get to Goa
We had a letter from Thomson Holidays warning about the problems with the Indian Visas. We dont fly with Thomson's until next March, so at least theyve been a bit pro-active.
We are going through to Edinburgh this Friday for our Visas. We are also getting Visas for another couple as well. If there are any problems and we dont get the Visas on the Friday then the other couple have said they will go to the Glasgow Surgery the following day.
We live in Glasgow but its still better to go thru to the Edinburgh Consulate as the Glasgow Surgery is a worse mess than the HCI in Edinburgh
Just as well its all worth it when we get to Goa
We had a letter from Thomson's as well Gemma and we dont go til next March, hopefully I will still be able to get our visa's through our local Asian travel agents who are always extremely helpful
Sue
Sue
Prettypollycat wrote;
CGI Birmingham are only issuing 50 per day.
That isn't quite true Ppc. They are accepting 50 applicants or 200 applications Mind you, its still a complete mess.
CGI Birmingham are only issuing 50 per day.
That isn't quite true Ppc. They are accepting 50 applicants or 200 applications Mind you, its still a complete mess.
PLEASE BE WARNED EDINBURGH WILL ONLY HANDLE SCOTTISH POSTAL ADDRESSES --NO ENGLISH
AND...if sending via agent to Birmingham..BE SURE you have downloaded the BIRMINGHAM VISA FORM! 
I live in Cumbria and I received an email confirming that Edinburgh will accept my postal application.
Mind you that was a few weeks ago
Still I'm going to give it a go...attaching a copy of the email of course
Mind you that was a few weeks ago
Still I'm going to give it a go...attaching a copy of the email of course
Just go for it Spinner as you know I got mine back from Edinburgh in days and friends who are going in Feb are doing the same. 4 weeks for me !!!!!!!!!!
Barrie
Thanks for clarifying that - it does say that on the CGI website.
I thought I'd read on there a while ago that they'd reduced the numbers being processed each day, but maybe I'd just mis-interpreted it.
Polly
Thanks for clarifying that - it does say that on the CGI website.
I thought I'd read on there a while ago that they'd reduced the numbers being processed each day, but maybe I'd just mis-interpreted it.
Polly
I can see this becoming silly season, people will be worried about not getting there visas in time for their holiday and applying for them earlier than normaly they would do, obviously this is causing delays in applications and therefore will have a knock on effect and could have serious implications for tourists who are not aware of this problem, also this will impact on toursim to Goa as people may be reluctant to take late deals.
I dont understand the HCI doing this and its a sad state of affairs lets hope they revert back to postal applications for the 08/09 season or a lot of tourists will be going elsewhere....rant over
Steve
I dont understand the HCI doing this and its a sad state of affairs lets hope they revert back to postal applications for the 08/09 season or a lot of tourists will be going elsewhere....rant over
Steve
I thnik that their idea of farming the issuing of visas out is basically a good idea. Anthing which takes them out of the system must be good, but their mistake which will come as no surprise to anyone, was not to have the alternative in place first. Only they could cause the chaos that they have and then decide to put the system out to tender. The sooner a private company takes over the better for all!
Apparently in the USA you have to apply to a private company and the system works well.
Apparently in the USA you have to apply to a private company and the system works well.
Neither London or Birmingham are accepting postal applications. They will only deal in person (as already said someone can collect your visa on your behalf) or through one of the appointed agencies. I have shopped around at a lot of these agencies are charging £30 - £40 handling fee per visa application on top of the visa fee.
I have sent mine to yourtravelshop in Bolton after a lot of recommendation. They only charge an £10 handling fee per visa application.
I have sent mine to yourtravelshop in Bolton after a lot of recommendation. They only charge an £10 handling fee per visa application.
Farming out the visas is not the answer, it's just a further way to let more people into a money making seam. Over the years half of my passport is taken up with these things, if India was the least interested in facilitating visitors they would have long ago shifted to an electronic system like Australia. There you simply fill in the details online on the visa site, enter your arrival date, pay the fee with your card, which is a third of Indias, and the visa is electronicly activated on arrival. India has the technology, but I'm afraid this would cut out a lot of money making chances for agents and other third parties , so I expect we wont see it for a long time to come Alan
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