Hello, my name is Chirag Patil.

I live in the state of Washington and I’m a legal resident of the USA. I applied for passport renewal and my mail was received by the consulate at San Francisco on December 5th 2023.

I received an email from escalationssfo@vfsglobal.com on December 8th 2023 asking for additional documents which was the marriage certificate and a letter explaining my current marital status. I sent them both via courier and they received it by December 29th 2023 and then I heard nothing back for over 2 months. Again, on February 23rd 2024 I received the same email asking for same documentation,  which I sent them both via courier and then received no email response nor any call. The tracking status on their website would say- ‘Passport application is under review’.

I contacted VFS Global in the interim via paid calls and they said their Job is to just take care of application and my case is with the consulate and they cannot do anything further. I was confused and worried because it was over 4 months. I emailed the same email (escalationssfo@vfsglobal.com) multiple times and received no response. I tried calling the consulate but they have no helpline numbers where you can speak to someone.  So, I called the emergency number and they said, they cannot do anything since it’s not a family or medical emergency and hung up the call. I was losing hope at this point.

I tried contacting the San Francisco consulate via email. I emailed each and every email Id found on their website asking for update or any help and that I was stressed and wanted to travel home for over one year, I emailed these accounts- (cg.sf@mea.gov.in, consuloci.sf@mea.gov.in, dcg.sf@mea.gov.in, misc.sf@mea.gov.in, passport.sf@mea.gov.in, passport1.sf@mea.gov.in,  vcoci.sf@mea.gov.in, misc.sf@mea.gov.in, passport.sf@mea.gov.in

I emailed them all on April 29th 2024, June 26th 2024, August 19th 2024, August 25th 2024, September 24th 2024, October 31st 2024, November 11th 2024, January 9th 2025 and  I received not a single email response or any point of communication from the consulate.

In the meantime,  I tried looking for help to expedite my process and found an agent who at that time was in Florida. Even after being a legal resident in the US, I was asked to pay thousands of dollars to check on it which I couldn’t afford.

Meanwhile my grandmother was sick and I had no option but to go see her which was sad and frustrating.

I had lost hope and luckily through some medium in January 2025(13 months since I applied) I found out about REDIO and their role in helping Indians overseas, Upon contacting Dhanashree Patil ma’am, she swiftly responded and got my case to the attention of Mr. Prem Bhandari sir who lives in New York and takes pride in helping those in need. He got in touch with me and started taking notes of all the details till date. Since their calls at VFS are charged $2.48/min , he called VFS Global multiple times using his personal credit card and spoke with them about this case. Finally,  after he asked VFS to explain and get this case resolved, initially they would give the same answer but after he spoke to them and explained who he was and held them accountable, they started working on it. VFS asked me for the same documents again which they asked 14 months ago which I had sent them via courier twice already.

He used his Twitter handle @PremBhandariNYC to keep the responsible authorities accountable and it helped. After the wait of 14 months and 27 days, they initiated a police verification for my passport renewal and Mr. Prem Bhandari sir wasn’t pleased with that. His words and hold of power in the Indian diaspora is very strong and hence they skipped the police verification process and printed my passport the next day and I received it on March 04 2025,  after 14 months and 29 days.

It took Mr. Prem Bhandari sir less than 2 weeks to get everything done for me.

I have never met this person before or have any personal relation with him, but he showed me the true meaning of ‘Seva’,  and our Indian Government and our Indian community should be proud to have people like him  who selflessly help others in need without expecting a single rupee in return.

I am touched by his helping nature and way of getting things done,  and it’s inspirational to young people like me.

The whole process was such a stressful and frustrating one. If Bhandari sir had not helped me out, I would still be clueless and would not be able to see my ailing grandmother.

Now I can finally make travel plans to visit home. Thank you so much to Mr. Prem Bhandari sir and team REDIO for helping people like me in times of need.

Chirag Patil

Washington, USA

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