180 Day Visa & Flights

Kinrara

Hi

Want to stay in Goa from Sept 07 to June 08 roughly 9 months (longer than the 6 months tourist visa allows). I am on the understanding that you can renew your visa in Thailand/Sri Lanka etc rather than paying for flights back to the UK when your 6 months is up. Is it possible to book a flight one way out of London for Sept 07, stay in Goa for 6 months, renew visa Feb 08 in Thailand/Sri Lanka for another 6 months and then book from Goa flight home to UK around June 08? Can anyone advise me what is the cheapest way to stay in Goa from Sept 07 to June 08 legally, or can you book return flights in the UK for Sept 07 returning Feb 07, renew Feb 07 Thailand/Sri Lanka and then change the date of your return flight from Feb 08 to June 08.

Regards

incitatus

Just book your tickets from/to the UK for the time you intend to stay.No one ever checks your ticket on arrival in India.Obviously having a ticket with flexible dates makes things easier but is not necessary.
Don't mention your intention to stay longer than 6 months when you arrive in India.
Remember your visa for India starts the day it is issued so remember to factor this in when working out your renewal dates.


The cheapest way to stay in Goa for an extended period is to rent your own place.Since you're going in September you'll have no problem with availability.
Just turn up at your chosen area and ask around.
You'll have to stay in a guesthouse for the first few days to check things out -but as it will still be off-season they'll be plenty of availability-and low prices-there too.

Nick-H

You cannot renew a tourist visa.

You can apply for a new one. An important point, believe it or not. Use of the wrong words tends to upset immigration officials and visa clerks.

Also remember that, when applying for a visa in a country other than the on in which you reside, that the embassy there will check with the one in your home country, and you have to allow the time for them to do that, usually a week or so.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Kinrara

Hi Nick

Sorry,you are quite right regarding the wording, I did mean apply for new visa rather than renew.

Regards

Kinrara

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, do you mean for the period Sept 07 to June 08, or do you mean for the 6 months covering the visa?

Sorry should have said, don't need to rent as have (so called) purchased apartment, that is why I want longer stay in Goa.

Regards

Barryjames

I may have picked this bit of information up incorrectly or misunderstood it. A couple of months ago my cousin in Goa (person of considerable standing) told me that the Sri Lanka option was going to be disallowed and that three month visas as opposed to six were to become the norm, as in Colombia and various other countries?

Has anyone else come across this? It does not affect me as a PIO, I Thought that it may help others in their planning.

The best laid plans ‘o' mice and man.............

a_f_d

Kinrara said .
So take the documents for your apartment plus a photocopy to the High Commission, explain the situation and ask for an 'X' visa. With a bit of luck you'll get a 1 year one.

AndyD 8-)#

Nick-H

No chance.

Somebody hasn't been keeping up with the Goa situation !

a_f_d

on the contrary - on both counts <bg>

AndyD 8-)#

goangoangone

Here we go again.

I did and they didn't!

__________________
GoanGoan......here

a_f_d

my quote:
and others did, and they did!

AndyD 8-)#

Traveller62

I thought you could not get an X-visa any more !!

Nick-H

a_f_d

If you have any useful, personal, hard information on this, please post it.

Otherwise, please keep this vague and possibly misleading stuff to yourself.

a_f_d

ask Noni - two of her friends got 'X' visas very recently.

AndyD 8-(#

Kinrara

Hi Andy

Yes, have heard that some people are being granted 1 year X visas (usually by Birmingham) but they seem to be only granting the people that already had 5 years X visas before. I tried last year, went to HCI London with sale agreement, bank account, certificate of remittence etc and was granted a 1 year tourist visa stamped 180 days. I have to apply again in August, does anyone know how to apply for a X visa or 1 year tourist, is it safe to say that you have "so called purchased an apartment (2005)" and are stuck in the middle of this mess! I am hoping to stay in Goa for at least 8 months and it certainly would be very much easier if I at least got a 1 year tourist visa like before, save having to apply for new one in Sri Lanka/Thailand etc after 6 months. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Kinrara