Exit permit leaving India

Nick-H

No you do not.

If you have a valid muliple-entry visa you can simply come and go.

Both on X visa and as PIO, as a registered resident, I have made several trips and my exit (or re-entry) has never been queried.

a_f_d

fwiw I was on a multiple entry 'X' plus 'Residential Permit' earlier this year when I had to make an unexpected trip to the UK. I asked at the FRO who said it was no big deal since my RP expired with my visa, but technically I needed an exit / re-entry stamp, which they gave me. They told me particularly NOT to surrender the RP at the airport.
In the event I applied for a new visa while I was in the UK, thus voiding the RP anyway (if anyone notices!), but as I understood it the deal is that if you don't have the exit / re-entry stamp (on the RP) and the airport people notice the 'RP' entry on your passport they should insist that you surrender the RP.

AndyD 8-)#

kuri

If you have been in India for longer than 180 days you need to get the exit permit, even if you have a multiple entry visa.

This was explained to me by an officer at the border when I tried to cross into Nepal. I hadn't got the exit permit. I hadn't even brought my booklet from the FRRO to prove I had registered. I figured that I didn't need to because I had a multiple entry visa. WRONG!

It was an expensive mistake.

Aishah

I have had the same experiences as Nick - in fact your post is news to me, kuri. Does one, with a PIO, need an exit permit if leaving the country after living here more than 180 days? Is there any government department link to a ruling about exit permits? (I would look if my connection was faster - but won't be back to broadband for more than a week)

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Haylo

kuri speaks of his "multiple entry visa" which makes me think that he's not talking about PIOs here.

At a wild stab in the dark, it sounds as if he thought that registering with the FRRO meant that he could overstay his 180 day visa limit, which of course it doesn't, and in the situation of a visa (or trip length limit) overstay, you do need an exit permit before you can leave the country.

EDITED TO ADD A VERY IMPORTANT not...

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Nick-H

I have never obtained an exit permit or had one expected of me. I stay, legally, as a PIO-card holder and a registered resident, for as much to 12 to 18 months between visits outside of India --- I live here.

Aishah

And the same with me, firstly with a multiple entry visa, and now with PIO. But as Haylo is pointing out, the difference is he had to leave the country every 180 days on a multiple entry visa? I never did on mine, so maybe there are variations of these?

I've never had FRRO tell me I require an exit permit when I go out of the country. So perhaps it is specific only to certain types of visas.

kuri

There seems to be some confusion here. Let me clarify.
I had a 1yr multiple entry employment visa.
I am NOT a PIO.
I DID register with the FRRO within 14 days of arriving in India.
I stayed in India for 8 consecutive months then tried to leave without getting an exit permit. The guy at the border explained that since I didn't even have my FRRO booklet, there was nothing to prove that I had even registered with the FRRO. So in his eyes, I hadn't registered, had stayed for more than 180 days, and was now trying to leave.

Haylo

Ah, so that explains it, because you can stay over 180 days on an employment visa if you register, whereas with a tourist visa (which is what I wondered if you had) you cannot.

So your problem was that at the border they assumed you hadn't complied with the registration law, and you couldn't prove that you had complied.

It's not so much that you need an exit visa if you don't register, it's more that an exit visa is the way that they deal with people who have broken the terms of their visa - they are prevented from leaving the country, blacklisted for future visa applications, have to pay fines etc. then go through the time consuming and bureaucratic process of applying for an exit visa to be allowed to leave the country.

So, to sum up the situation as I see it:

• No, you don't need an exit permit just because you have stayed for longer than 180 days.
• Yes, you need an exit permit if you've broken the terms of your visa, but if you've done that, that's the least of your worries!

Nick-H

I was about to have that problem on my last departure --- but I had my RC/RP with me. As I've said on other threads, I do not know if this was just a zealous officer, or if they are clamping down.

Would it be such a big deal for a PIO-card holder, who may enter and leave India without any visa, to stay longer than 180 days? This woman apparently thought so.

If I could afford the air fares, I'd do more research!