Tourist Visa from Gerry's in Stratford (London)

I find it hard to believe anyone with pretensions to being a proper consulate in the UK would force people to apply for visas at a place called "Gerry's Visa Dropbox" in some grim part of East London. But it appears Pakistan has done so.

Apparently after seeing India put in a completely pointless middle man with VFS they decided to do the same, but lower down the market.

This is where Google maps finds Gerry's illustrious office:

http://goo.gl/maps/NbQxG

At least you'll be able to pick up a saveloy and picked egg when your passport eventually does show up.

Yep, the 3rd one along certainly seems to be the 1st floor above that fish and chip shop ( at least it's not above the 'Betfred' the betting shop at No.1, or above 'Showman Amusements' at No.2, or the Job Centre across the road+ ). It seems to me that the 'Visa Drop Box' could literally be just that, a more convenient postal box address for the Embassy, so that nobody has to be up early and in the Embassy to sign for special delivery and can turn up for work whenever they feel like it. For that reason, I don't quite get what the charge ( +what is the charge? ) would be for, if it could just be a post holding point. It sounds like a nice little earner to me, that.

Or perhaps they just take a couple of minutes to check all required documents are present and correct before Uncle Latif gets on a city bus and heads over to the Embassy with passports in person? According to the Embassy website, they are closing applications at the 'counters' from November. Not the visa 'processing', but closing application counters ( perhaps to ditch staff? ) . I agree that visa middle men are an annoying trend.

I'm not surprised that you are concerned, really. I consider myself lucky I used that Embassy years ago for one of my Pakistani Visas when getting one was a lot simpler and far 'cheaper' than now. I suppose it 'may' be a good sign that it says it has been delivered to the Embassy, but won't put your mind at rest given how some embassys begin to wind down for the winter season. Good luck Jon, and let us know how you get on.

Yesterday I got a call on my mobile as a response to an email enquiry, and the lady told me that there was apparently something wrong with my itinerary. So I emailed her my itinerary and she checked it over and rang me back in like 10 mins to say she couldnt see what the issue was, and she was gonna check exactly what the problem was with PHC and call me back today. Not heard anything back today sadly.

It was a day to day itinerary made by Lost Horizons.

Still its a bit weird that its taken them a month to decided that my itinerary isnt up to scratch, and I still need to find out what is wrong so I can send them whatever I need to..

Gerrys Visa Dropbox is a private company (http://www.gerrys.com.pk/ thats their main website). When you ask Gerrys what the score is, they just say they have submitted it to PHC and are waiting to hear back. Its impossible to talk to PHC directly, as far as I am aware.

The application centre is on the second floor of that large building, I think called Tramway House or something. Its one big waiting area basically with a desk at one end you eventually get called up to and they look through your documents and then give you a ticket, then you wait around some more until you go and pay for it, then you wait around some more and someone else checks though all the documents at another desk and puts it on their computer system and says you will hear from us in "5 to seven days".

Using the online tracking facility on the visadropbox website, I have determined that of the 46 people that submitted visas on the same day as me, only 4 (including myself) have the status of "submitted to embassy" whereas the rest have collected their passport. (that also means they are probably making a tidy profit, £35 per application so like £1600 income a day. Who knows how much staff and office rental is costing them..) But I cant see how this is more cost effective than just having people submit directly to the embassy?

I will update if and when I hear more about my application...

Interesting, Jon. Out of curiosity, what was your itinerary? ( if you wish to share it, that is ).

Got a call nice and early today. It seems that the problem is my itinerary didnt have a year date on it. It says "February 1st: Arrive in Islamabad" where is needs to say "February 1st 2013: Arrive..".

The letter of invitation clearly states "February 1st - February 19th 2013", but as a separate piece of paper I guess isn't sufficient. So be warned people, you must be careful with your dates!

I have edited the dates and sent it over to Gerrys. Hopefully that will be acceptable.

As for itinerary, I don't think the problem is where or when I'm going, but I will quote the original letter for your interest:
I'm gonna send them and email to inform them of this date issue.

Thank you for choosing Lost Horizon as your tour operator during your visit to Pakistan.
As per our previous discussion, please find the tour itinerary below:

February 1st: Arrive in Islamabad. Overnight at Hotel.
February 2nd– 8th: Tour of Islamabad Area including: Rawalpindi, Rawal Lake, Daman-E-Koh, Lok Virsa, Murree, Faisal Mosque and Taxila. Other activities will include
shopping, walking and enjoying Pakistan food and culture. Overnight at Hotels.
February 9th: Travel to Lahore. Overnight at Hotel.
February 10th– 18th : Tour of Lahore Area including Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque,
Shalimar Garders, Food Street and Wagah Border. Other activities will include
shopping, walking and enjoying Pakistan food and culture. Overnight at Hotels.
February 19th: Travel from Lahore to Wagah Border and into India.

We hope this itinerary will meet all of your travel needs in Pakistan and we look forward
to making this trip an excellent experience for you. If you have any questions, please
don’t hesitate to contact us again. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Ty Gordon and Abdul Bari
Lost Horizon Treks and Tours
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EDIT: It seems I have misunderstood. They are asking for there to be a date of issuance on the letter as well. So I have emailed Lost Horizons to ask for them to send me new LOI and Itinerary with date on the top of the letters.

Edited by: klaus5

Edited by: klaus5