Address
2536 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Hours of Operation
10 am to 12.30 am for submission and 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm for pick up ( pick up DATE might differ. You do NOT get most documents back the same day. )
Documents You need for a power of attorney ( till Dec 30th 2011 ).
- Miscellaneous form from the site.
- 3 Photos ( 1 for above form , two for poa )
- 2 Power of Attorneys ( one for you, one for them ) with signature of 2 witnesses with addresses.
- You need to sign everything in front of them.
- Copy of Visa status
- Copy of proof of address
- Copy of first 3 pages and last page of passport
- Original Passport
- If sending by mail, all the above need to be notarized by bank and a money order of amount for them to mail it back. I believe original passport doesn’t need to be sent.
Personal Experience
My father sent me the content and I had to get it notarized by the Indian Embassy in DC. Seems simple right ? NOT !!
I emailed the embassy twice to get info on the same. No response. I called them three times at random times. No one picked up. Didn’t have the right number, I assumed. So, one fine day we decide to trek all the way there with our one year old. Early that morning, my hubby poured through all the pages on the Indian embassy site and at 7.30 am ( the window opens from 10 am to 12.30 am) declares that we need to take a lot more photocopies and a photo than I had figured on. I re read where he gets the information and it’s honestly only he who could have found out those details from the mash up of information on the site.
By 9.15 am, we are on our way, armed with all photocopies, signatures, originals we think should get the job done. We know we are late but figure if we get there by 12 am also. We should be fine. We reached an address by 11.50 am only to learn the embassy was a good 20 mins away which took us 1 hour with traffic. Then it took us another 15 minutes going up and down the embassy road in search of the sad little building with the folded up flag and the faded emblem that is our embassy. Long story short we didn’t make it. Not a single person could be found outside to inquire with, so we headed all the way back with a crying baby.
2 weeks later we decided to try our luck again. Re checked all the info and took some extra papers to be sure. Reached there at 10. I was 788. The number was 756. They got to me in 15 minutes as NOT as single person got their work done due to lack of some paper. Mostly it was that the person didn’t have the elusive ” miscellaneous form ” which the embassy doesn’t keep and thus each one had to go back home or to a cyber cafe to print out and bring back. ” You have so and so paper missing ” and ” Our site gives all the relevant information. ” was the mantra. The lady at the counter was exasperated with all the pleading and arguments. All the people in queue were sweating from fear for 99% of them were dreading coming back again on this 2+ hour drive. My number came and I had to get another photo graph ( I had taken 2 instead of the one mentioned on the site. I needed 3 ). The photo machine they have sitting in the hall doesn’t work and they don’t do photo copies for anyone so I went back out, got a new set of photos, came back into the queue, submitted my papers for notarization and was told to come back at 4.30 pm. Putting a stamps on 4 pages is a 5 hour job, after all.
Came back at 4.30 pm after wiling away time in the heart of DC where parking is elusive and expensive and got my documents at 4.45 pm. Asked about getting a new visa for a baby and was told that they have ” no idea ” as their branch doesn’t handle it. ” Please refer to the site for information. ” Make of my experience was you will, but I can tell you of the 30 odd people I saw that day only quarter had their work done ( most were coming back for the 2nd or third time ), out of which most had to come back another day to pick up the papers ( mailing back documents is another facility they do NOT provide ). None were happy.
On the other hand, my hubby needed his passport renewed. He sent all the relevant documents by mail and we got it back within 3 weeks, no hassle. I think mailing is the way to go !!
