Emergency Travel to India - Need Suggestion

[Urgenthelp]

Hello all,

My wife needs to go to India for an emergency (her father passed away). Unfortunately, her passport is with the IRS (we applied for her ITIN number last month and passport is one of the requirements). We are taking the help of the Senate to work with the IRS office to get the passport back. Meanwhile, is there any way to travel to India with an emergency travel document or something like that? I am trying to get in touch with the consulate also....

Any suggestion would be great.

Thanks...

[stonecold_1981]

Ugh! Why would you submit the original Passport to the IRS? You should always send photocopies of originals. Unfortunately, you don't have many options, execpt for the following:

1. Call IRS - explain the situation and push them to send the passport ASAP (most likely, you will get no result from this, but still worth a try)

2. Go to your local Indian Consulate. Explain the situation. They "may" issue a new passport (in which case, your wife will still need the original passport to re-enter US)., but I'm not sure if that's exactly how it works.

By the way, you are not taking the help of the "Senate".....you are taking the help of a "Senator". Huge difference between the two!

[Urgenthelp]

Thanks Stonecold_1981. The IRS has revised its rules last June and we can either submit our passport or certify it from the consulate. I didn't know the certify option and wouldn't have done it anyway because there is no consulate at the place where I live and didn't expect a situation like this.

I spoke with the IRS but there is no hope. Indian consulate in SFO is even worse. There is no concept such as good customer service. They don't care and don't try to empathize with the situation. We looked at all the options in the Indian embassy but nothing helped us.

Right now, I am just waiting for the passport from IRS. All they say is that they are looking for it (for the last 10 days).

And thanks for correcting me on the Senate.

[ganjoram]

Thanks Stonecold_1981. The IRS has revised its rules last June and we can either submit our passport or certify it from the consulate. I didn't know the certify option and wouldn't have done it anyway because there is no consulate at the place where I live and didn't expect a situation like this.

I spoke with the IRS but there is no hope. Indian consulate in SFO is even worse. There is no concept such as good customer service. They don't care and don't try to empathize with the situation. We looked at all the options in the Indian embassy but nothing helped us.

Right now, I am just waiting for the passport from IRS. All they say is that they are looking for it (for the last 10 days).

And thanks for correcting me on the Senate.

 

Hello all,

My wife needs to go to India for an emergency (her father passed away). Unfortunately, her passport is with the IRS (we applied for her ITIN number last month and passport is one of the requirements). We are taking the help of the Senate to work with the IRS office to get the passport back. Meanwhile, is there any way to travel to India with an emergency travel document or something like that? I am trying to get in touch with the consulate also....

Any suggestion would be great.

Thanks...

Hi Urgenthelp,

We too are in a similar situation. My wife needs to travel back to India due to some family emergency and her passport is with the IRS office. We are following up with the IRS office since past 1 week but nothing fruitful yet. Also the Indian Consulate are not in a position to help us. Could you please let me know how soon did you manage to get the passport from the IRS office?

 

Also any suggestion on the approach would be very helpful..

Thanks..

[cap-gap]

Hi Urgenthelp,

We too are in a similar situation. My wife needs to travel back to India due to some family emergency and her passport is with the IRS office. We are following up with the IRS office since past 1 week but nothing fruitful yet. Also the Indian Consulate are not in a position to help us. Could you please let me know how soon did you manage to get the passport from the IRS office?

 

Also any suggestion on the approach would be very helpful..

Thanks..

indian consulates can always give emrgency travel document on the same day, which can be used to travel out of the country..

 

as it is not allowed to ship the passport, the most correct option for her is apply for a replmnt passport in india and then get a new visa stamp(if she is in a non immigrant status)..

[cap-gap]

also, just go to the indian consulate directly..dont waste time trying to get hold of them on phone..