Monday, May 14, 2012

Legal or Illegal? Someone tell me now...

So...sorry I've not been posting lately. We've been going through some hard times. I was told by a friend of mine that because of the change of police jurisdictions that happened last year that he had been transferred from the Bhavani Bhavan FRO (in Alipore) to the Kolkata FRRO (on AJC Bose Rd). So, like the 3rd I go to the Bhavani Bhavan FRO by myself only to find out that yes, I have been transferred and I need to bring in my original Residence Certificate / Residential Permit (RC / RP) and they would sign it.

So, I go home and report this information to DH, and he says ok, and I said I will take it tomorrow and have them sign it. Well, I'm waiting for him to figure out what he is doing, and then he ups and gets ready and tells me to get ready, and all of a sudden he says we are going to the FRRO. So, we go to the FRO to get them to sign it and then we report to the FRRO.

Here, they tell us that my RC / RP is illegal because I have been registered on a 10-year tourist visa. I get pissed and they tell us that we have to go to New Delhi and go to the Ministry of Home Affairs for them to regularize my overstay and convert my Tourist visa to an Entry visa. So, feeling all pissed because now the government has made me a criminal (I have never gotten a ticket in my life...) and I just want to go home and cry.

So...I go home, and then later that week after we had been getting all our paperwork together we go and speak to the Commissioner of Police (who is over Kolkata Immigration) who says, "This sounds like a complicated and long story. Let me send you to a patient listener, I am a very impatient listener." We go and talk to the Assistant Commissioner of Police who then verifies that even if I have been wrongly registered I am still registered, and therefore I *HAVE NOT* overstayed and am not here illegally. Thank Goodness!

So, now we have to get our marriage certificate apostiled (I have no idea really what that means, except that they will verify that it is real...) and then we will head to Delhi. :-)

I am sure we will be told a few different things there, so I'm hoping our luck holds out.

5 comments:

  1. What a mess! I really hope they get this straightened out for your soon. I never had any trouble at the MHA thankfully. They do a good job and don't BS you around. I know you'll breathe a lot easier when it gets settled though.

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    1. Thanks Kristy :-)

      Everything will be fine soon.

      Have fun and enjoy your trip to the homeland :)

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  2. Hi..just found your blog and I went through the verification of our marriage certificate 10 years ago. Our lawyer friend lodged it with the appropriate person and then we waited...and waited. Finally after looking into it we found the guy who was meant to verify it had taken it home and then retired. Took another 2 mths for him to find it and return it for someone else to verify it. Fun times...

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    1. Hey Emma, Thanks for reading my blog.

      Well, we're at the stage where the certificate is at the Marriage Registration office and is being checked against their records. DH will probably go next week to see what the status is. I'll blog about the whole process when we're done with it. :-)

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