At Indian Consulate, Sydney!

After the end of a very very Lousy Weekend, it was Monday morning. After all that research, I felt a little prepared for the visit to the consulate. The consulate working hours were 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, and I was ready to go at 8:30 am. I had a feeling that I should handle it all by myself and was not sure if it would offend my colleague if I just informed him and went alone. While I was pondering, at around 8:37 am, I received his call and we agreed upon starting then. 

As soon as we got into the cab, he asked me if I knew where we needed to go, saying that he only remembered it was some 'XYZ'(don't remember the name now, but that was not it) street. I almost already did by heart the name of the street and directions to that place, so could guide the cab driver. 

As soon as we entered the premises, I could see some people waiting for their turn. I went and sat behind one of them. Very soon, it was my turn. I went and explained my situation to the officer. He asked if I had filled the form online. I had done that last night and brought along copies of that, my old passport and annexure 'L'- affidavit for loss of passport . He then told me of the other documents which would be required like photographs(2.5" * 2.5"), police report, plus notary by JP(Justice of Peace) etc. I had a couple of passport size photos of different specifications which I showed to him and it seemed that those might work. I asked him of the expected time it would take to complete the process. He mentioned that consul general takes the call on case to case basis. I could totally understand his standpoint but asked him to give me a ballpark number based on all of his previous experiences. 

He said that it might take anywhere between 7-10 days or less but it's hard to comment then. Suddenly, my colleague said something like, why would it take so much time for a small thing like this. I was surprised by the way he put it across, so I requested him to let me talk. The officer suggested to get the notary done first by a JP(Justice of Peace). Finding a JP itself was a challenge, provided that I had no idea what it meant. We went downstairs and asked the guy in the medical shop, who then gave us a list of places where we could find one. 

After scanning through the list, I thought the best option would be to go to the Supreme Court. My colleague said that we should try some other place since people at Supreme Court(SC) would not be free to do such a small thing. But, I felt it would be easy to find people with that sort of authority in SC. After a brief debate, I agreed to try the other place. As soon as we reached the one of the two JPs at that place, he indicated that they had no authority to sign on a document issued by any other govt. except that of Australia. I inquired if we can find somebody at SC and he confirmed that we would. 

Finally, we reached SC and an extremely helpful lady did it in a couple of mins after having a look at a few of my docs like company ID card, old passport copy etc. We then reached back the consulate and the guy suggested us to handover the police report and the photographs. So, I gave him the events card.  He said that they need a little detailed report than that. I asked him, how much time would it take to get that. He said it might take anywhere between 7-10 days, the reports dept. sends it via courier. I asked him of  the details they look for. He did tell me. I once again asked him of the time it would take once we had that all. He mentioned that usually depends, anywhere around a week or may be less.

Then we went to the police station. The officer I talked to last night was not there. I waited for a few seconds when another officer came in to check the reason of my visit. I told her about the case and she said that they don't have access to the report, Only the reports dept in Parramatta could issue it and they usually send it by post in 7-10 days. She handed over a few phone numbers to check with before visiting the place. We tried all of them a number of times but could not reach anybody. While I was sitting over there, I remembered the lemon story from 'Getting to Yes'. I went back to the counter and same officer came again to speak with me.

I told her of my situation and she could understand the trouble I was in. I asked her if she can issue a letter stating that I lodged a complaint last night about the loss of my passport with details of the complaint, my passport and my personal details like name, date of birth etc. She agreed. She was so kind that she typed the letter right then and got a copy. I was reading it and my passport number was not included in that. I told her about my concern. She was so sensitive and smart that she realized that information would be required. She asked me for the number again and simply inserted it, took another copy, signed it and handed that over to me.

Then started the hunt for a photo studio. We did find one, but the photographer could not get the photos cropped to the required specifications. I remembered seeing one near QVB the previous week during one of the brisk evening walks. We then looked for that one and finally could get it done in another 30-45 mins. We reached the consulate back by around 11:50 am or so. The guy who helped us with the procedure so far was on a call and another person who was discussing something with him a few seconds earlier was waiting. He did look like an officer. So, I showed him all my documents, told him of my situation etc. and asked if there was a way I could go back home asap. He had a look at everything and said "Come back tomorrow morning and collect the EC(emergency certificate)". With amaze, I asked him that the other officer said it may take anywhere around a week to process the application. He said that's fine, I could collect the EC the following day. He then went inside. A few seconds later, the officer put the phone down and I told him about the conversation I just had. He reassured saying that the person who asked me to come back the next day was the consulate general. With his agreement it could be done by tomorrow. I was happy and we then headed back to the hotel, after handing over all the required docs.