An anguished father writes:
"My son is in Sydney, doing his PhD.
Since his Indian passport validity expired (i.e., under six months validity), he had to give it in for renewal in Sydney via the private agency VFS. Unlike in India, there's no tatkal or quick passport renewal process, so they said renewal would take 8 weeks!!!
And now 8 weeks later, he has no passport and he needs to travel to the US on December 4 to attend a conference as part of his PhD course. He gave his application for passport renewal to VFS around mid-September, and VFS sent it to the Sydney consulate after about 10 days.
When he didn't get his passport after the promised 8 weeks, he approached VFS, who said they have no info on it yet from the Sydney consulate. So he finally approached the consulate in person (as they don't answer phone calls or reply to emails) and found there were many others facing a similar desperate situation, and clamouring for their passports.
So after much dithering they pulled out my son's application from a long pile where it's been sitting untouched and unprocessed all these 8 weeks. They said they have now finally sent it to India for processing!!! This is terrible service on the part of the MEA as this is how the Sydney consulate's visa section treats Indian citizens!
My cousin's son is also in Sydney and facing a worse situation. His passport renewal application has been pending for 5 months (about 20 weeks !!!) -- these Indian citizens have been 'imprisoned' by the Indian government without a passport in Sydney, and unable to travel out for work or to meet their family!
E-mails to Dr Jaishankar and his staff in Sydney and New Delhi get no response."
Here's what Indians in Sydney who face this apathetic service from the Indian consulate say online about this situation.
Read their experiences
here.