"We are going to outsource the passport and other related services," said Consulate General of India, N Parthasarathi in San Francisco on Saturday.
Parthasarathi was in the Bay Area to launch immigration attorney's Anu Peshawaria's recently published book on domestic violence Lives On The Brink.
Parthasarathi said the passport processing would be very similar to what the Indian government has done for visa-related issues.
Though the consul general did not give the name of the service provider, but said, "It will be a United States-based company, and we will announce the name in a couple of months."
He said that now people will just have to wait 10-15 minutes to get their work done at the Indian consulates, since there would be no long queues.
However, the passport work will be done from a separate building, away from the present consul office at 540 Arguello Blvd in San Francisco. He said that there wasn't enogh space, and people have to stand outside for long hours.
Like Travisa Outsourcing that does visa application process throughout the US on behalf of the
"The passport application could be filled online or people could go personally to apply," said the consul general.
Asked if the passport processing was being outsourced because of constant complaints that visitors were treated badly at the consulate, the consul general nodded and said that there was no justification of being rude.
Parthasarathi, while defending this allegation said that whatever complaint was made, there was no justification of being rude.
"The new system is going to benefit everybody. This is for good," said Parthasarathi, who joined the office in October last year.
The Indian government has been flexible in terms of the requirement documents. "If they cannot provide normal documents,we try to suggest alternatives," said Parthasarathi.
"Our idea is not getting the documents; our objective is to establish certain facts. As along as they can provide proof for that, we are supporting it," said Parthasarathi, who said that the department is soon coming up with a new website that would be helpful to people.
