Embassy New Delhi, India and Constituent Posts - OIG - US ...

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED
Recommendation 33: Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs
and the Bureau of Human Resources, should request a review of the grade level of the position of
the consular section chief in New Delhi to determine whether the position should be upgraded
from FS-01 to FE-OC. (Action: Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with CA and DGHR)
Consular Section in Chennai
The consular section in Chennai is almost as large as New Delhi’s; it also has high
morale and good leadership. Despite the opening of Consulate General Hyderabad, which took a
significant portion of Chennai’s workload, Chennai’s consular section has already exceeded its
capacity in terms of workspace. Many LE staff members do not have their own work spaces and
have to work in the afternoons at the visa windows. These windows are not ergonomically
designed for interviews nor as work areas.
One way in which Chennai can gain sufficient work space and free up some window
capacity is to have IVs consolidated in New Delhi or Mumbai (see Recommendation 32).
Another partial solution is to maximize the use of the call center in New Delhi (see
Recommendation 21), which will reduce the space needs of the consular information unit. This
unit is already located in another area of the consulate general that is separate from the consular
section. That fact is yet another indication that the consular work area is inadequate to meet the
needs of the consular section in Chennai.
Even though Chennai is on the list to get new consulate facilities, it will be at least 10
years before that happens. In the meantime, Chennai’s NIV and ACS workload will continue to
grow, making the current work area even more inadequate than it is. While Recommendations 3
and 4 address the long-term staffing and space needs of the mission, the space issues in
Chennai’s consular section need to be resolved on a more urgent basis. Every LE staff member
should have a desk.
Recommendation 34: Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs
and the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should design and implement a plan for
expanding the workspace in the consular section in Chennai to allow each locally employed staff
member to have a desk. (Action: Embassy New Delhi, in coordination with CA and OBO)
Consular Section in Hyderabad
The consular section in Hyderabad had a rocky beginning. By all accounts, the first 2
years between 2008 and 2010 were an unhappy time in the section, with leadership and
management problems. The OIG team found morale among the ELOs in Hyderabad to be high
and attribute that to excellent leadership by the new consular management team. LE staff in
general had good morale, but a personal conflict among some LE staff members is causing some
tensions. The consular managers are focused on addressing that conflict.
The consular section cannot meet the local demand for NIV appointments. Work space is
the main constraint. No room exists for expansion of the work area until OBO renovates the
second floor of the consulate building. The consular section could then expand on the ground
floor of the building and add more staff. The number of windows will remain the same, however.
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