Foreigners Registration Office - Pune

Bulshit

god it was awful.

Pathetic Staff and pathetic procedures! they'll do anything to make your work delayed and difficult as much as possible so that you get someone there to bribe and do your work within an hour.

The worst ever.... least efficiency.. staff is not supportive at all.. totaly careless.. my application was pending confirmation without any reason for more than a week..

No wonder why foreigners hate Indian bureaucracy and this is the first impression they get of Indian government employees. Pathetic people and pathetic procedure. At least they should speak fluent English if they are suppose to deal with foreigners.

Having had to frequent local FROs for visa extensions over my last 7 years, I'd say this office is a "step up" in comparison with the other FRO used by those who reside outside the Pune city limits. We foreigners do indeed have reservations about making an FRO trip -- let alone all the complicated paperwork. We look forward to going to the FRO about as much as going for a root canal. Hours and hours of our lives are spent preparing for and going through the experience. On the plus side, the experience at both FROs has marginally improved since they computerized the application process a few years ago. At least it cuts down on the long stretches of waiting in earlier years. But computerization has brought its own agonies. And documentation requirements seem to increase incrementally. I've found several friendly, attentive staff at this FRO, as well as English-speakers, far more than I did at the other office. But more such staff are sorely needed. So too is an overhaul to the design of the office to avoid pileups of people in the middle of the narrow office. I can't imagine that even the staff like the current arrangement. They can hardly squeeze by us to walk from one part of the office to another. There should also be clear instructions about the process at the front entrance. A copy of the checklist of required documents that currently hangs behind an officer whose desk is visited later in the intake process should hang there instead. Or else be printed and available when we walk in. Also at the front entrance there should be information about the nearest shop to get the "jackets" we are required to provide for our paperwork, plus any last-minute copying we may need to do. AND there should be a visual showing which office cubicle to go to when we're ready to proceed. In terms of physical layout, this FRO office is much cleaner and better equipped than I recall the other one was. It has an attractive and spacious garden, as does the other FRO, perhaps in recognition of the need for a place for us to go for a little sense of peace and sanity amid the fray -- a small consolation. But the need for consolation could be so easily reduced just by making a few fixes to the visa process. I love India. I just wish the hoops we have go through at this FRO office and its companion office could be streamlined to make it more palatable for both us visaholders and the FRO staff.