Visa

The Indian embassy website says they have outsourced the visa process to Travisa India.  The Travisa India website led me to believe I needed to apply for a missionary visa for 1 year.  This type of visa takes an average of 3 months to process (according to the Travisa India website.) 

Raj of Travisa India looked at my application and requested that I obtain a letter of invitation from Bishop Devamani.  (The application led me to believe that Travisa India was going to request it which is why I submitted the application without the letter.)  Raj also indicated that I should send a fax (which I did) asking that my application be changed to an entry visa.  (Entry visas are processed much more quickly.)

Bishop Devamani sent a letter directly to the consulate handling my visa application but it was not received.  (Raj later told me this is frequently a problem and I should ask for the letter to be faxed, e-mailed or sent to me so I could fax or e-mail it.)  I received an e-mail copy of the letter which I submitted; however, this version was entered directly into e-mail and did not contain the letterhead or the signature of Bishop Devamani.

On 16 December I received a letter from Bishop Devamani.  The letter of invitation (on letter head and with Bishop Devamani’s signature) was dated 17 October.  I guess I will not be sending a lot paper letters from India.

I scanned and e-mailed the letter on 17 December.  On 18 December I received word that an entry visa had been granted the previous day.  Unfortunately for me, the time period granted was six months so now I will have to rush to get the trip booked so I can utilize as much of the visa as possible.

Hello world!

I am starting this blog to share my experiences as a missionary volunter to the Diocese of Dornakal.

The opportunity was born out of the indaba groups of the Lambeth Conference in 2008.  Bishop Nedi of the Diocese of Olympia and Bishop Devamani of the Diocese of Dornakal were in the same indaba group.  During the conference they shared about the work in their respective dioceses.  (Bishop Greg Rickel, Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia was in a different indaba group.)

Following the Lambeth Conference, Bishop Nedi wrote about meeting Bishop Devamani and the possibility for a missionary volunteer.  I am blessed to be that missionary volunteer.