Extending five-year x visas in India

I am a UK citizen who has been been living in India for most of the last thirty-five years. I am on an x-visa with multiple-entry facility. My last five-year extension expires in the middle of next year.

I know there has been a massive tightening of the rules since I last applied for an extension. I am trying to find out if there are any new rules that might adversely affect my next application.

I write books and articles about India and make it clear in my application that I want to continue my stay in India to pursue these activities. So far, there has been no objection. About ten years ago an official from Special Branch (the department that vets foreigners' activities in India) asked for a copy of all my books. He read them and apparently wrote a favorable report that is lodged somewhere in my file.

(a) Is it still the case that five-year extensions are available to UK citizens who have lived here for twenty years or more continuously?

(b) I apply in my district headquarters, which then forwards my application to Chennai. Last time my extension was granted in Chennai itself, without going to New Delhi and back. Do the regional offices still have the authority to do this?

(c) This query is on behalf of some of my friends. I have been sponsored by a South Indian ashram on each of my applications. This ashram appears on an official list of spiritual organisations whose letters of sponsorship are accepted by the Indian government. This list is an internal government document that has not, to my knowledge, ever been published. Does anyone know where a copy of this document could be obtained? Some of my friends have taken letters of sponsorship from this organisation to embassies and consulates in their own countries. There, they have been asked to prove that the organisation has the authority to sponsor them. I infer from this that many embassies don't have a copy of the official list. It would be most helpful to have a copy, on government stationery, for my friends to present along with their applications.

(d) Is it possible to submit an application for an extension (and have it accepted) several months before the previous one expires? My residential permit expires in May, which means I have to apply fifty days before that and be in India for those fifty days. I would like to go abroad next May. Is it possible to apply a few months early or do I have to wait until the official expiry period?

(e) I understand that there has been a massive clampdown on visas and extensions granted to people who are affiliated with ashrams. Are there any new rules in force for applicants from ashrams that were not there in 2007, the last time I applied?

Not even the availability of sponsorship by ashrams (except, perhaps, for limited-period vistis of study) is public. We understand that it happens, and that some people get to stay in India for extended periods. However, it is a dark procedural corner of the immigration process. It may even be something which is entirely discretionary.

Welcome to the site! You came here with questions, but you may find that you are actually one of the most experienced members in this area.
I hope they never ask for a copy of all my forum posts !

As an aside... given the length of time that you have been here, have you ever considered applying for citizenship?

@David Godman

Welcome to Indiamike! Assuming you are posting here under your real name (or at least the one you publish your books under), then as a "well-known writer" I am sure you have access to sources of information that none of us here do. Even then I hope someone is able to answer some of your questions.

Nick H

I applied for citizenship in the 80s at a time when it was tough to get visa extensions here. The office in Chennai that was processing my application received a letter from Delhi, saying that applications would no longer be accepted from British citizens on the grounds that there were no reciprocal arrangements for Indians to become citizens of the UK. I thought this was a bit odd, given the numbers of Indians in the UK. When I did some checking I discovered that two British citizens had been given Indian citizenship since Independence, one of whom (Laurie Baker) was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and had been sponsored by the Chief Minister of Kerala. I don't know who the other one was. In the previous year 40,000 Indians had been given the right to reside full time in the UK, a process that leads to more-or-less automatic citizenship after a few years.

Indian citizenship tends to be something that the Indian government decides to bestow on people it deems worthy. It is not something you necessarily earn by being here long enough. I had a booklet in the 80s that laid out the documentation required to get citizenship. After reading several pages of documents needed (all in quadruplicate, of course) there was a sentence that said, 'All the above requirements may be waived if the applicant has made a significant contribution to Indian culture'. There was an asterisk that led to a footnote which read 'Such as winning the Nobel Prize'. That summarises the process for me: it's a never-ending obstacle course unless someone high up in the government decides that you might be a worthy addition to the body of Indian citizens.

For example, I had to put an announcement in a national paper, asking if anyone objected to my being a citizen. I put one in The Hindu, bought four copies and snipped out enough of the page to include my announcement and the name and date of the newspaper. When I submitted my application, I was told I had to include the whole newspaper.

'Including the crossword?' I asked.

'Yes, everything,' was the reply.

I had to pay someone to go through an old newspaper warehouse to find four copies of a six-month-old newspaper. Amazingly, he succeeded. But when I went back to the office with them, I was given a list or more improbable documentation to source and deliver, in quadruplicate. And so it went on until I realised that the clerks' primary function was to make me give up, which I eventually did.

The process of granting visas to people who are recommended by ashrams may have a discretionary element to it but you have the wind behind you if (a) you have a letter from one of the authorised sponsors and (b) the office you are making your application in has the list of institutions that can sponsor you.

A friend of mine applied for a visa in Bangkok a few years ago and showed a sponsoring letter from my institution. The official there checked it against a list he had, found the organisation was an approved one, and granted the application. He even let my friend make a xeroxed copy of the approved-institution list to take away with him. This is the document I am looking for. My friend rather foolishly threw it away after he no longer needed it. If anyone could source a copy, it would help a lot of my friends. In the last twelve months I have received emails from friends in Canberra and Munich, both of whom were asked to prove that their sponsoring organisation was an approved one. The embassies/consulates they applied in didn't have this list.

Thank you for your experiences of applying for Indian citizenship. This was a very long time ago; it is possible that things have changed. Did you know that there is even a citizenship application form available on line, with full instructions and details of how to submit an application? It might be worth your taking another look. Things might have changes, or, on the other hand, it might just be a modern, technical interface ...to exactly the same process. I don't know. At the moment, I am thinking of giving it a go myself, but have a couple of years yet (under the marriage entitlement) before I can.

(I know the Crocodile man, whose name currently escapes me, was given citizenship: he might be the other example you were looking for)

Just an update to say that I got my five-year extension, with MEV, and that it took about two and a half months.

The rule that people who have been in India twenty or more years and who have at least one expired five-year extension can get a decision on an extension in their own state still seems to be in force. The under-secretary in Fort St George Chennai signed off on my application without sending it to New Delhi.

Good news! And thankyou for coming back to post your experiences; this could be useful information for others.



Bill Aitken and J.B.S. Haldane became Indian citizens.

Are there special rules for railway buffs? I must go and have a look on the IRCTC website.

The Crocodile Man




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