Five year tourist visa for India

Could anyone tell about this five year tourist visa. The last thing i had heard was that one has to leave India every 3 month. I am a Germany citizen and intend to go to Bangkok to get my new visa. If anyone could give me suggestions on those 2 question would be of great help.

India visas seem to depend on your country of origin. In the USA you can get one for 10 years (I have one) but you have to leave India every 180 days (6 months) but you can then come back without getting a new visa. Apparently this is not possible if you are from UK. So I don't know how it works for Germans. Maybe google India Visas for German citizens?

The again, maybe if you get it in Bangkok it's totally different. I'll bet someone on here knows.

thanks a ton to camel girl... now I wonder if i as a german citizen, taking tourists visas for the last 19 years, would have any chance to get such visa from USA?

What are the options for getting Five years tourist visa from Bangkok? Anyone here who has experience in Bangkok?

No, the 10-year tourist visa is available only to U.S. citizens. And you don't get it "from" the USA. You (if you're a U.S. citizen) get it from the Indian government, i.e., from an Indian consulate in the U.S. But you, as a German citizen, can't come to the U.S. and get it from an Indian consulate here just because you are physically in the country.

It seems to me that you are more than a little bit unclear on how visas work!

Thanks for making that clear. I guess I should have used the words US citizen. Can you imagine if people from around the world sent their passports to the Indian Consulate in the US for 10 year visas

It is strange how India decides on what kind of visas to issue to particular countries. Politics, I guess

But the part I still don't understand is when you have to get it renewed at an Indian consulate in another country (like Thailand), do you still get the same visa choices based on your passport (citizenship) as I got here in the USA? This is not really an issue for me anymore, since I've got that 10 year visa, but now I'm just curious.

I was just asking. I had been to Nepal. There after 2 visits, was told to me not to chose another country for getting India visa next time...
A person from USA had formely told me that I could get myself such a visa if I am german citizen... therefore I was asking.

I understand that I have to go to the Indian Embassy.

It is reciprocal to the visa treatment available to Indian citizens in the other country. That is, if the US offers a 10-year multiple-entry visa to Indian tourists, India will offer Americans something similar.

It comes down to whether you are wanting a tourist visa or some other category, and the rules applying in the country of your citizenship by the Indian High Commission there. OZ and NZ would never give a 5 year tourist visa - to the best of my knowledge they are only 6 months. Other categories e.g. business, x category will go to 5years after first having a 12 month one. If you are applying for a business visa you have a better chance of getting a longer one. I am not entirely sure what x category embraces - most people who have this I know are married to an Indian national, but you can get it for other reasons. I don't know what reasons however.

I can only go for a tourist visa. End of last year a new 5year Indian tourist visa was released for 16 countries including Germany. I remember that the rule was that one can get this 5years visa at once, but has to leave every 90 days.

Last time when I went to Nepal, I was intending to take this visa, but the officer told me that to get such a visa I would have to stay another 25 days in Nepal. I could'nt manage this financially, so I had to return with a mere 6-month visa.

After having been to Nepal twice for visa purpose, I was told not come there again to apply for visa.

Still I would like to inquire the rules for 5 year Tourist and for Studentvisa. Can anyone enlighten me on these two visa types?

Here, from the Indian Consulate in San Francisco website, are the rules for a student visa. Please note that you might get different information from the website of the India Consulate in Germany, and if you are a German citizen, you should look there for information, as well as for info about the 5-year visa available to German people.

Student Visa: Valid for six months to one year with multiple entries for bona fide students to pursue regular studies at recognized institutions in India. A letter confirming admission from such an institution along with evidence of financial arrangements for stay in India should accompany application. In case of admission in medical or para-medical courses in India, a letter of Approval or "No Objection Certificate" from Indian Ministry of Health is also required. Likewise, for admission in graduate or post -graduate courses in Engineering or Technical institutions in India, a letter of approval or a No Objection Certificate from Ministry of Human Resources Development (Department of Education) should be submitted. For research purposes detail synopsis of the research project, countersigned by the sponsoring institution in India should be submitted.

I read your Thread in regard to Nepal because I was going there in May, it sounded a nightmare for you and really hard going trying to get a Visa there. If you have some genuine study reason, check out your German, Indian H.C. rules (as we see they vary from one country to another - all very difficult for us) maybe that might the way to go. Good Luck anyway!

The website for the Indian High Commission in Kathmandu cautions against repeatedly applying for back-to-back tourist visas from that office. I guess they finally caught on to the fact that people were using quick "visa runs" to Nepal as a way of doing long-term stays in India, even, in effect, "immigrating" there, by just repeatedly getting 6-month tourist visas. I've heard that it's harder to get the longer term tourist visas available to the citizens of some countries, like 10 years for U.S. or the new 5 year visas now available for some other countries (like Germany) as you mentioned, if you try to apply someplace other than your own home country. I don't know why that should be the case, but I guess if that's how the Indian Government wants to do it, you just have to follow their rules.

U might asking me why I as a German cannot go to Germany. I have not been to Germany for many years, as I am a sickly, handicaped person, financially not well-set and have no place to stay in Germany.
I still hope there would be any information given by people, who went to Bangkok to get their visa.

Given your circumstances, I think you will be having a difficult time even if you get a five-year tourist visa from the Indian Embassy in Bangkok, because the maximum length of any particular stay in India that is permitted on any kind of Indian tourist visa (regardless of the country you're from) is 180 days. So that means you will have to travel outside India at least every six months, which doesn't sound particularly attractive if you don't have much money and are in poor health. A five-year visa (or a ten-year visa for a U.S. citizen) does not permit you to stay in India continuously for the entire five (or ten) year period.