Just submitted our OCI application for family in Brampton BLS office. Thought I should share the information. It was pretty straight forward. We already had cancelled our Indian passport and had all required documents and one copy each. (we only need one set of documents, one photo and one checklist (some places saying you need two copies - but Toronto requires only one set of copies, not Two). Make sure to bring all originals with you).
BLS provides a facility to photo-copy and use internet and print for a small fee (50c per copy; but I found it reasonable, comparing their cost of maintaining it and we running back home to print or copy one page)

Fees is (1) a demand draft of C$280 x no of per person drawn in the name of 'The consulate General of India Toronto' (it could be a single one DD or multiple ones of $280 each- BLS wont accept this money as debit transaction or cash)
(2) the required fees for BLS processing (you can pay this money as debit or cash at BLS; the amount varies depending on what all your requesting - like the basic charge + some extra for the kind of courier you select. I would recommend submit the application in person, they have to verify, and trust me there will be something missing - so submitting in person can avoid time delays.

Printing application forms from home: You need a printer ready with the computer when you submit the online part. Right after submitting the online part, computer will prompt for printing the hard copies with Part A and Part B, but most of the computers (internet explorer) will print it with a header and footer of website address and page numbers - BLS wont accept this one. Instead, I would recommend use Firefox, try printing one page before you start typing the application and if you go to the print preview, there will be an option to uncheck the header and footer in print. (internet explorer will allow unchecking, but that unchecking is not permanent - after that one print, it defaults back to print header and footer, and while printing this application, the internet explorer browser wont allow unchecking header and footer).
One good thing, even if you make an error in printing out, you can retrieve the application form for each person by entering the Reference number (this number is generated after submission of part A; should be printed on the form in bold letters- mine was starting with CANTI and some numbers) and date of birth of that person and reprint it correctly. When reprinting, it prints individually, whereas the original print will have only one set with just the part A different for each individuals and a common part B. What I did was kept only the part A from the individual print outs and only one of the part B for commonly for all of us.
Thumb impression for my son - we didn't want to take a chance so I took him with me, they had the ink pad there, so we put the thumb impression there.
Landing paper was another issue for me, I lost my original landing paper and had a re-issued true copy with me. They said they cannot accept that. That copy didn't show the category of immigration I landed in Canada. Luckily, I had a copy of my original landing paper, when I gave that, she said that copy with the original Certified true copy should solve the issue.
So I reached the Brampton office by 8am (could have gone a little earlier) was done by 12 (including - I had to go out to get the DD from the bank, breakfast for my son)..
They took the original Indian passport, Canadian Citizenship certificate, Original landing papers, Birth certificate of my son, with the application. She said they will return these originals when they take the Canadian passport for OCI stamping.
now waiting for their call to submit passport for stamping the OCI.
[By the way, there are so many beautiful staff all around, so you get a feeling of already landed in India or in an air India flight.. ]

Good post. This should help those applying for OCI through BLS.

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Thank You so very much for sharing your experience so much in detail .I for one would be referring to this excellent post when I go in to apply for the OCI .

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Fido.

Quote:

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Originally posted by ashokbaby

[By the way, there are so many beautiful staff all around, so you get a feeling of already landed in India or in an air India flight.. ]

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My OCI timeline from last year if it helps. PIO should be the same , I guess or maybe even faster than OCI.


OCI - Toronto Recent May 9 -2012 application

Date Of Acknowledgment : 09-MAY-2012

Photo/Signature at Mission :  Scanned  On 10-MAY-2012

Registration Status at Mission : Granted on 9-JUNE-2012

Documents Printing Status : Printed on 11-JUNE-2012

Dispatched From MOIA (OCI ):NEW DELHI -DISPATCHED on 13-JUNE-2012

Documents Received at CGI TORONTO On 28-JUNE-2012

^
Went and collected them on the same day , as I was in that area . everything was OK ..the lifetime U-Visa sticker on my Canadian PP and the OCI booklet

Surprisingly the process was smooth and transparent, and within the timeline. Gotta give credit , where credit is due , India seems to be improving in this regard.

Except for the red tape like making 4 trips to get my OCI , everything else was normal.
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Photograph specifications of OCI says:

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One photograph of size 51mm x 51mm for each applicant to be pasted on Part A of the application form. The photograph should be of good quality taken against a light coloured (NOT WHITE) background showing a shot up to shoulders with full frontal view of face. As the photograph is to be scanned for documents the resolution of photograph should be high. Photographs that do not conform to these standards will be rejected.
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Are they very particular about non-white background since most studios take pictures only on white background?

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There has been some changes to the process for OCI.

Now OCI application gets downloaded as .pdf you fill the application online, so you do not have to worry about headers/footers and trying out different browsers. You can now fill both part A and part B online and it gets downloaded as one pdf documents and also contains CANTI number and barcode.

Child's thumb impression has to be preferably in black ink but blue is acceptable.

For change of address in case of OCI reissue of a child, parents have to provide copy of address proof such as driver's license.

BLS also has photocopy, email, printout and photograph services and their charges are given on their website and are quite reasonable.

OCI has separate lineup but each application take a while because of number of documents needed, especially in case of a child, all documents of both parents are needed.

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