hi all. i am a Canadian citizen, and ex-Pakistani (renounced my Pakistani citizenship officially in 2023) based in NYC. The first time I applied for a tourist visa, I lived in Toronto at the time. My security clearance came in within 3 weeks, but when I was ready to go, India-Canada relations took a nose dive because of a high-profile murder in British Columbia. In a complete halt on consular affairs, India never stamped my visa on my passport.
I waited 2023-2024, moved to the US and based in NYC since 2024 now. Went to VFS New York a few times in 2024-2025 but they always said they were not processing visas for Canadians, made sense because diplomatic relationships were still sour. 2026 has really accelerated things in positive relationship development, and I found out they are now accepting and processing applications for Canadian citizens (of Pakistani origin is important because I will ALWAYS have to apply a paper based application). Went this September 16th, everything seemed OK, things looked like they were going perfectly, they had told me to submit e-receipt for my change of status application in the US (my O1B visa application is pending with the USCIS and I am transitioning from F1 OPT status). VFS said and confirmed everything was in order.
Yet here I am, 3 business days later, consulate general of India in NYC has rejected my application! All the VFS customer service could say was that the reasoning provided is "apply from your home country." VFS confirmed over the phone that the NY consulate DOES process applications and provides visas for Canadians. So they were dumbfounded as well. I emailed the visa branch, but they never reply. I called the consulate today and they suggested to email only.
So disheartening. Any idea why this might be? Should I have waited for my O1B to get approved and take my I-797 or something? Why would the VFS then give me wrong information saying e-receipt was enough? I'm on day 8 after applying the premium processing timeline.
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