Murali -Please help- Stolen passport with VISA & I94

[vipluv]

My mother( Indian citizen with visitor Visa for USA) just travelled from mumbai to Newark yeasterday. But unfortunately in the arrival area somebody stolen her bag containing passport with valid 10 years VISA, I-94 as well as return ticket to India.

My husband immediately reported at the Air-port police about the missing things.
Now we don't know how to approach for these things to reissue them. Can someone help what I should do after getting the police report?? What are the agencies I should approach to file the lost passport ?? How she will be able to travel back to India??

Any help,any clue regarding this will be appreciated..
Thanks

[arshiya]

Hi!
I am not sure if this will be of any help...but when i came to the US as a student i lost my passport and visa the day i arrived..I first contacted the local police..filed a report and got a copy of it.Then i contacted the local indian consulate,which was Houston in my case.They are supposed to issue a duplicate Indian passport.You probably have to get a money order for the new passport fees,passport photos and fill a form,along with the police report and submit this package.I got most of this info from the website.They are supposed to send you a new passport.In my case there was a lazy lump sitting at the consulate who gave me a very hard time,delaying every single thing for no reason,not picking up the phone....Anyway finally i got the passport,and when i went back to India for holidays,i got an appointment at the consulate and after an interview and seeing all my documents..they reissued the same visa to me for the same period.Of course they knew that i was a student here and had to get back.
The idea is that..you need a passport to go in and out of the country but you dont need a visa to go back to india,so i just got my passport here and stamped the visa when i went back.
Now this was what i did about 3 yrs ago,am not at all sure if the case shd be the same for you,but dont panic as this happens to many people i guess.But you may have a whole different route to take ,maybe an easier one.
I hope you can get more reliable information from someone else but just contact your local indian consulate and ask around.Thats your best bet.Good luck.Also,recently a friend of ours lost his passport at the airport after arriving.Luckily someone had found it and returned it to him in a week.so theres hope of that too:)

[arshiya]

I was looking around at the consulate websites.I dont know which state you are in..but the new york indian consulate website has clear instructions on what needs to be done..etc.
See the below link.

http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=31

You should call them first i guess and enquire about your particular case.
If you are in some other state you can go to that states consulate website as rules may differ.Also everything has to be done in person it seems.
If you have a copy of your parents passport and visa life will be a lot easier i guess.i believe you can even get the visa stamped here itself once you get the new passport.

[vipluv]

Hi arshiya,
Thank you very much for your detailed reply. It's a real releif to see your mail. Today is holiday because of the veterans day.. so I am not able to get any status on my case from the police station..

Tried to call the indian consulate but nobody is picking up the phone.. its just long wait.. But I will try to file the case there of stolen passport.

Now I have 2 questions??
1. What you did for the I94?? Did you applied for that also? How's the procedure to do that?? As it happened just after the arrival we even don't know the exact duration on the I94.. Now just assuming that it might be for 6 months.

2. Do you know by any chance that the Indian citizen (Non-immigrant as my mother is on Visitor Visa) can apply here in NewYork Indian cosulate??
I stay in Massachussets (Boston) .. so its easy for me to follow for NewYork consulate.

I will get in touch with you if have any query furthur..

Thanks a lot for your quick response..
Thank you very much..

[csingh]

Dear Vipluv,

I am so sorry to hear about the horrible start to your Mom's vacation...

I just checked the USCIS website for lost I94...this is what you need to do (it specifically states, if your I94 is lost stolen or mutilated....):

http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/10obtaining-arrival.htm#help

you need to file a form I-102, it says to send a copy of the biographical pages of the passport if you have it; but if you don't then you have to explain your situation ( I suggest attach a copy of the police report to your explanation)...

you can download the form from their website...

..and go personally to the embassy...they are not very efficient when it comes to dealing with people by email or by phone....

Keep us posted and hope the problem resolves itself soon.

[arshiya]

Hi vipluv,
Regarding the I-94,actually i did not do anything.I just went back to India without the I-94 pinned to my passport.I just explained to the folks at the airport about my lost passport and that this was a new one.They did not ask for the I-94.This was pre 9/11 though...
Now since you dont know the duration on the I-94,in your case i think you may have to find out the details and do things differently.
Also,you can do everything from your nearest Indian consulate.In your case since its new york..you need to approach them.It might be very difficult to get answers over the phone,so its best to go yourself.Just make a trip and clear all your doubts.They MUST be having some way of figuring out your details.And since its the INDIAN consulate well..they are supposed to help Indians who have come here..visitor,immigrant or non immigrant SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE AT ALL...thats what they are here for...so just go ahead and talk to them.

[Murali]

the comon step what normally people do in such situation.

1. Report to police , must take a copy of the written complaint.

2. Contact nearest indian consulate and report stolen passport and apply for new temp passport you may need that police compliant copy, you should get a new passport in few days.
If you have copies of the pasort and Visa some where even if in India get them Faxed over here that will help

3. Report to USCIS abt the lost visa and I94.
Go to USCIS website get the support line numebr and call them.

Suggestions for all the users.

Always make few copies of your passport, visa ,etc Keep them in 2 -3 different safe place.
Also if your travelling keep a complete set one into your Cabin Bag and other one in your Checking bag they are useful in such situation.
Hope this helps and Dont worry ..you will get over with soon..

[vipluv]

Hi Murali,
thanks for your reply.

We filed the police complaint to the police authority.Got the case no. & will get FIR tomorrow.
I have my mother's passport as well as Visa's copy .So I think I will be able to apply for the passport.Do you know how much time it takes to get the passport (if you know rough estimate)??

About I-94 issuance ,
I got the information from the website I got from you and CSingh...It says that to get the duplicate I-94 it can take upto 3-6 months depending upon the case..Is it true??
Does anyone ever applied for I-94 & got it earlier than that..I think we will need it early. As it got stolen at Arrival area we don't know how much duration of stay she got on I-94 as we were not able to see it also.

Last question I have is about the VISA?? Will she be able to get the VISA by any chance??

Thanks to all of you for your support.

[Murali]

1. Bases on the passport number and Visa number USCIS should be able to track the I94 dates in thier record.
I would say take an infopass appointment with USCIS and meet the immigration officer in person, that will be useful to get all your answers.

2. Passport can take any thing between 5 to 30 days, since the passport is lost Indian consulate may take some time to verify the information from thier indian office.

3. Unfortunately you cant get the new visa here in USA..
you may have to apply again in India again next time, since you have all the rcords of stolen pasport ther may not be much problem in getting visa.

Hope this helps.

[arshiya]

Also Vipluv,I saw the following on the new york consular site.

http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=199

The last two paragraphs say that yu can transfer the visa to the new passport..if you have a copy of the visa,but may take time etc...Maybe you can enquire about this too.
And from my personal experience i think getting a new passport may take a few months also.

[vipluv]

I am waiting for the police report now. Once I get it then
1.I am planning to get the infopass appointment as suggested by Murali. Then I will get to know, how much duration of stay she got at the port of entry.
2. I will apply for the new I-94 there.
3. With the same police report I will apply for duplicate passport at Indian Consulate at NewYork.
4. For the VISA .. I am not very sure what to do?? As Murali said may be I will have to apply again at US consulate in Mumbai with the record of stolen passport.

As Arshia said , I will enquire about the VISA transfer at the NY consulate if they can do it..Today is Diwali .. so I will not be able to talk with those guys till Monday.

Till now have not reported about the stolen passport & I94 at the consulate as well as USCIS because I don't have the copy of police report...as Newark port Authority police verify the case & then issue a copy. May be by the end of the day I will get status from them about the my case.
Will it be too lase to report to USCIS and Newyork Conulate if I report there on Monday??

Thanks to all of you for your support. I will keep posted if something happens or I need some help.. in either case
Thanks

[Murali]

Dont worry, Polcie has tier own procdure to verify and it takes time ..you have to wait till you get the report.
Since she is already in USA, USCIS has the reocrd for her entry , so the staus is legal and you do have the copy of her passport and Visa so it should be OK.

[arshiya]

Hello Vipluv,
As Murali said,dont worry about the police report taking time.They will do it as soon as possible and reporting it at the USCIS will not be a problem.It may seem confusing at the moment but once yu've met all the people and things are set into motion yu'll be able to relax.I am sure this happens to a lot of people and they will know how to handle it.

[vipluv]

Arshia , you and Murali gave me very good information. I think once I will bet the police report.. then things will go fast. Till then just have to wait. Will try to call the police to get the report ..and then proceed.
It was just shocking to know that you lost all the importtant documents.. But now anyway will have to take it as it comes.

Keep you posted what's happening & will get your suggestions..

[vipluv]

Hi,
I have to apply for my mom's duplicate passport. She is here is US now & we can apply here in Indian consulate in USA.

I was just wondering weather its possible to apply in India where the original passport was issued (in the same passport office).
Can we do it??

I saw indian consulate website & mailed them too. As they send the whole case to india and verify everything there is India.. it will take long time.
I think applying in India will be much faster..

So does anybody knows weather we can do this way..

Thanks