Carpe-Diem

Below I have outlined the process for obtaining the PCC from Police Commissioner in Mumbai. If you can get it any other way in a shorter time, try it by all means. There seems to be no standardization in this process.

TO OBTAIN PCC THROUGH POLICE COMMISSIONERS OFFICE IN MUMBAI

Visit the Victoria Terminus Crime Branch Police Commissioner’s Office. They accept the completed form along with supporting documents. The turnaround time for this is 1 month. A constable from your local police precinct (from all addresses in past 5 years) personally visits you at home to verify your details.

Here is the checklist of things to take to Police Commissioner’s Office:

a. Passport

b. 2 ATTESTED photocopies of passport

c. Rs. 100 Fees (DD only)

d. Completed PCC Form

e. Photo 3.5 X 3.5 cm (to be affixed to PCC form)

f. Ration Card (original)

g. Most Recent Pay Stub

h. Neighbor’s Reference

The address & phone numbers of the Regional Passport Office:

Office of the Commissioner of Police

D.N.Road, Mumbai 400001

Telephone No- 22641261

A heads-up for those folks who are ready to fill out the paperwork for the visa interview. The latest DS-156 form has just been released. This one expires on 11/30/2010. It is available at http://evisaforms.state.gov/

The previous one was expired for a long time already and I could see VJ'ers asking if they could use an expired form.

Cheers!

Don't worry. You are not alone. You just have to wait.

Mine hasn't been touched since 6/20/07 which is the date they mailed me the NOA1.

Mine has not been touched since they received it in June'07 at the VSC and when I tried getting the status of the case from their automated system, it told me the same thing you were told. I am going to wait it out for a few days more before I talk to a USCIS representative. Maybe it is already assigned to an officer. If so no point in calling at such a late stage and complicating matters.

Hi JackUK,

I am in the exact same situation as you are. My fiancee was given a certain name at birth which appears on her birth certificate. However this name was never used anywhere else since her family gave her a new name within a few months (old name was too boring!). As a result, all her documents like passport, degree certifcate, tax records use her new name. So I did some research to see how the USCIS and ConOff would like this situation to be remedied and I found the answers in the I-129F and Packet 3 instructions.

Basically you will need a sworn affidavit made by someone who was present at the time of your birth (your parents of course) stating that you were born with a certain name as stated on the birth certificate and then you came to be known by a different name which you adopted as your new name and furthermore that both the names refer to the same person. This affidavit will have to be notarized as well. Hire a lawyer to do this, it is worth it.

Attach this affidavit and your birth cert to the I-129F application.

Cheers,

RaRe

I would provide it anyways. It shouldn't hurt your application, and can possibly deflect an RFE.

Thanks. I will send in the birth cert.

bszoom42, are you going through Mumbai consulate? My fiancee & I are from Mumbai.

In the VJ Step-By-Step Guide for K1 Visa, it is mentioned if you/fiancee is using a name different from the relevant docs, you must provide USCIS copies of docs that made the change like marriage cert, adoption decree or court order.

My fiancee's birth cert has a name that she never used after her birth. All her official docs like driving license, passport, degree certificates etc are using her new name. As a result I had to make a court affidavit to explain this which I will be enclosing with the I-129F petition and also mention her old name in "Other Names Used" field.

My question is, is it necessary to include the doc containing her old name (i.e. her birth cert) so USCIS can see where that old name was used?

The I-129F instructions do not ask for this but I am trying to prevent a RFE based on this.

Hi everyone,

I am filing a K1 visa for my fiancee who I met in Bombay this month. This is the first time I will be filing a K1 visa since I became a US citizen this year.

In Aug 2001, I had filed Form I-824 to process my wife (also from Bombay) as "Following To Join" based on my I-485 approval a few months earlier. The process was abandoned soon after due to marital troubles and we got divorced in Feb 2004. She even ignored the letter sent by the Consulate to submit her paperwork (DS-156 etc). No consular interview was ever scheduled.

I just called NVC to see if they have any record of the case. They ask for USCIS receipt# which I have. Their automated system shows no such case exists. So I am assuming that this case was purged since it is over 5 years old.

Should I bother sending either NVC or USCIS anything in writing about officially closing the case before I file the K1 for my fiancee?

Any help gladly appreciated.

Regards,

RaRe

Thanks everyone for their input. Looks like every consulate works in a different manner so there no "standard" procedure at the consular level.

I e-mailed the Bombay Consulate with my question and they replied within a few hours. The agency that works for consulate returns the originals to the applicant after they are matched up with the photocopies and sends the validated packet to the consular officer. The applicant is still required to carry the originals for the interview in case the consular officer wants to look at them.

As part of the K1 visa process, we will be required to submit originals of birth certificate, marriage certificate (for prior marriages) along with photocopies to an agency contracted by the American Consulate in Bombay few days before the actual interview.

Parting with the orginals is a pretty scary thought.

Does anyone know at what point are the originals returned to the applicant? How reliable are they in this regard?