Passport Lost

[jnr]

Hello Guys

I had recently sent mine and my wife's passport to Indian Consulate in San Francisco via USPS Priority mail with signature confirmation. I had also included an express mail returned envelope. Everything was properly sealed in the priority mail envelope.

I got a call from the consulate two days later that they received the priority mail envelope with just the return express mail envelope and nothing else. They claimed that usps must have lost the rest of the mail enroute. I find it hard to digest that it could have happened. Couple of my friends told me it has to be the consulate which has misplaced them or may be someone over there is processing it and there is a communication gap between them.

I wanted to know if anyone has gone through this issue before and what were your experiences and what suggestion you would make.

Thanks!!

[gc_vbin]

We had a similar experience in March of this year. Had sent everything through USPS priority mail with certified mail service. Initially we thought it was misplaced by USPS and had USPS investigate and they couldn't find our package anywhere in their system. All it had was the origin scan at our post office in colorado and thats it! After many contacts with the consulate they finally found our passports at the consulate...
I can definitely imagine the anxiety you are going though.. try contacting them in a few days and see you get a positive response..

Originally Posted by jnr

Hello Guys

I had recently sent mine and my wife's passport to Indian Consulate in San Francisco via USPS Priority mail with signature confirmation. I had also included an express mail returned envelope. Everything was properly sealed in the priority mail envelope.

I got a call from the consulate two days later that they received the priority mail envelope with just the return express mail envelope and nothing else. They claimed that usps must have lost the rest of the mail enroute. I find it hard to digest that it could have happened. Couple of my friends told me it has to be the consulate which has misplaced them or may be someone over there is processing it and there is a communication gap between them.

I wanted to know if anyone has gone through this issue before and what were your experiences and what suggestion you would make.

Thanks!!

[thomachan72]

This is very troubling. Looks like the Indian consulate is acting like a typical Indian govt office.
Did you ask them whether the package was open on arrival? Try pressing the USPS and see whether they could initiate some contact with the consulate.

[jnr]

Originally Posted by gc_vbin

We had a similar experience in March of this year. Had sent everything through USPS priority mail with certified mail service. Initially we thought it was misplaced by USPS and had USPS investigate and they couldn't find our package anywhere in their system. All it had was the origin scan at our post office in colorado and thats it! After many contacts with the consulate they finally found our passports at the consulate...
I can definitely imagine the anxiety you are going though.. try contacting them in a few days and see you get a positive response..

Did you contact them via email, phone or went personally? I have been sending emails every other day but no response from them sill.

[gc_vbin]

My wife called them multiple times during the day and was able to reach them once..
If you live in the Bay Area I suggest you go to the consulate in person and talk to them...

Also, if the envelope was open on arrival get in touch with USPS at a higher level.. contact the USPS District Consumer Affairs Office nearest you and tell them it had your passports and other important immigration documents (like visa etc.)... thats what we did. They will send an alert to the Mail Recovery Center, in Atlanta - the location where all packages damaged in processing and rendered undeliverable would go – and they will be on the look out for the described documents bearing your names.

good luck..

Originally Posted by jnr

Did you contact them via email, phone or went personally? I have been sending emails every other day but no response from them sill.

[desijackass]

I feel really bad for you because of the headache you have to experience. The USPS is a very responsible service. Some time last year, I applied to a the Canadian consulate for a visa, and my passport came back by regular mail in an envelope that had opened out because the glue did not hold it together. The envelope contained my I-797 also and yet I got all my documents back. The mail carrier had made the effort to make sure the envelope stayed shut.

I really doubt that USPS lost your documents, especially since you had taken so much care to put it all together. I would definitely contact USPS, that way atleast there is pressure on the Indian consulate because otherwise they will just shift the blame. It is sad to see in this case that I would fully trust the US postal service over the Indian consulate.

But that being said, I renewed my passport a few years ago at the chicago consulate, and had no problems. The passport came back within 6 days. I was truly impressed then... I hear horror stories like this and wonder if mine success story was a one off case.

[rk2011]

In such a situation it is better to apply for new passport and it is fast.
To apply for a new passport you have to complaint to police and get a memo and apply for new passport.

[jnr]

Originally Posted by rk2011

In such a situation it is better to apply for new passport and it is fast.
To apply for a new passport you have to complaint to police and get a memo and apply for new passport.

SO for the police complaint do you just go to the nearby police station and file a complaint and then they give you a memo? whats the procedure for that?
Thanks

[thomachan72]

Originally Posted by jnr

SO for the police complaint do you just go to the nearby police station and file a complaint and then they give you a memo? whats the procedure for that?
Thanks

Do you have a valid visa stamp in the passport? A new passport might not be that difficult to obtain from the Indian embassy (I am asuming that particularly since it could have been misplaced by them), however, what is the procedure if you had a visa stamp in that passport?

[bandoayan]

Originally Posted by thomachan72

Do you have a valid visa stamp in the passport? A new passport might not be that difficult to obtain from the Indian embassy (I am asuming that particularly since it could have been misplaced by them), however, what is the procedure if you had a visa stamp in that passport?

If you have a US visa even if it is not valid and you loose your passport, you must report it to the visa issuing office alongwith your the copy of the police report. Next time when you go out of US get your visa stamped, the process is just like applying a new visa.