Indian Visa Application Centre - Shanghai

Due to the large amount in trade between China and India, there is now a new Indian Visa Application Centre taking your applications except diplomatics. I went to the site and followed the instruction and check list to the nth degree. When we got there, Audrey said: "wow, it was easy to find and easy to apply". I said: "wait until we have the application processed". True to dumb Chinese and Indian traditions, everything broke down. You cannot trust anything written on the website even though the officials and staffs insisted on it; good thing they didn't swear by it or else, I could have their heads.

First off, at the inquiry desk (aka the application clearing house), well, your business invitation letter is incorrect. It is not a faxed copy. A faxed copy? Said who? The staff say on the website and stated here. She pull out a checklist for us. I told her, read the Chinese and English, it was the same list I pull from the website, there was none. She looked. O... But the Indian consulate required a faxed copy directly from India, from your client. Go figure. No logic. If the consulate receives faxes on a daily basis, how many faxes do you think one will receive and the chance of mixed up and all? Then, we need to translate the Chinese business licence - the company name and company registered address to English. Ok, where was it in the fre*%%*king check-list that said that? No where. Totally fabrication. Just making up as you go along. So we just wrote the English translation on the photocopy. Then, we said down and waited - supposedly for the call to the counter. Well, well, after sitting there for 2 minutes, I asked Audrey how would they knew we were here since the number was obtained was for the inquiry desk. Audrey looked at me and said: "don't know". Well, we asked. Good thing! No one knew. We were totally flipped by now. Audrey's face was red from being mad and began a non-stop non-English totally Mandarin assault. After much "conversation", one-way, we proceeded to the submission counter. Paid the fee. And they asked us to provide the consulate a faxed copy of the invitation again and provided us with the consulate number to fax. During that time, the supervisor, an Indian lady, entered the room. Very "prompt" to work. We told them to change the checklist on the website to state only faxed copy to be accepted. She knew, KNEW, the checklist was incorrect! Instructed the Chinese staff to update the checklist and posted on the net. I followed up with this new check-list. At press time, f&%^$%^%&( stupid - WRONG! Rather than saying FAXED copy only for the invitation letter, it said" original or fax copy only". Both in English and Chinese; so obviously, it was not true. So, more problem for other people ensure in the future. In the meantime, we got the Indian client to fax a copy of the invitation to the Visa Application Centre; guess what, the centre called and said, the fax header cannot be read, too faint, need to fax again. FAX AGAIN!!! What the F*%$%$(! That was totally stupid. So, if you want to get an Indian Visa, do it in Vancouver just like I did, no pain, no hassles and the next day pick-up. For Audrey there is no guarantee she will have it by Friday; we leave for India on Sunday.

Initially, Audrey and dad said I could do the travel visa in Shanghai. Yeah right. I have mine done in Vancouver and ready to roll. No pain. No stress.