From what point is the 180 days counted?

I've been sweating a bit about how to deal with the apparent 181 days between my arrival and my flight out.

I arrived on 23 October 2009.
I fly out on 21 April 2010

Depending on if you count the last day, this is either 180 or 181 days.

When I bought the tickets, the plan was to at least visit Bangladesh. This didn't happen, at least not yet. And, anyway, that was before the "two months" before re-entry rule came into being.

But I just looked at my tickets and my flight out is at 1:30am. Thus, the simplest solution would seem to be to arrive at the airport early and clear customs on the 20th.

The question is will this work? It seems most likely that they will use wall clock time whenever I clear customs and not the scheduled or actual departure time but I really do want to be clear about this. Nobody does pedantic better than immigration.

Generally, we think that if you pass through emigration control before midnight on the 180th day, and the emigration official is not in a foul pedantic mood, then you should be ok. I don't think we've had much feedback on this, though.

Flight at 1.30am, means that the check-in counter should be open by 10.30pm at the latest. Hanging around airports is tedious, but I'd aim to be at the front of that check-in queue when it opens. Maybe get there 9.00pm?

As Nick says, it will probably be okay.

However, if your flight is cancelled you're in trouble.

Incidentally, if the idea of a side-trip still appeals to you, you can apply for a re-entry permit from your Indian Embassy before you leave for India.

first time my wife and i came to india on a longterm visa, i stupidly translated the 180 days to mean 6 months.
so we passed immigration 3 or 4 days after the 180 day limit. the airline interviewed us for about 5 minutes, never referring to the fact that we overstayed our limit. the immigration officer looked at everything, asked few general questions and let us pass. we were a little uncomfortable and did not understand the unusual scrutiny. it was only later in the plane that we figured out our error.

not trying to encourage anyone to overstay their limits/visas, simply stating that immigration officers can and often do show some flexibility to human error.

It is absolutely true that they can show flexibility. It is also true that they can be incredibly difficult and picky about "minor" details like overstaying a visa.

I would be far less confident about stating that they "often" do show flexibility towards visa overstayers.

If the immigration officer did not mention your overstay, how do you know that him noticing it was definitely the reason for his closer scrutiny?

haylo,
we travel quite a bit for professional and touristic reasons and this is the first and only time that i got a strange feeling that something was wrong....and on further thought, something was....so i cannot be 100% sure, but if i were a betting man i would put all my money on it.

i think that they were trying to see if it was an actual mistake on our part or a conscious transgression of the law, we were clueless to our error, and they let us pass.

of course it is an individual call that depends on the agent and the traveler.

in any case, we have learned from this and give ourselves 48 hours on all our visas.

all best
sb

We had a report that someone stayed a couple of hours over and was tossed in the clink for a night..

While you were there and obviously I was not, I find it hard to square that "clueless" assessment with the reality of immigration control. Ignorance of the law is not a legal defence in any situation and immigration is absolutely no exception to that.

He probably just couldn't be bothered to go through the faff of dealing with it.

I would not suggest for a moment that this was a typical outcome, and as I've said before, if the OP can check in early enough, they will probably be okay.

However, anyone considering overstaying their visa should be aware that it is at least a possibility.

Even if someone who overstays their visa is simply required to obtain an exit permit in order to leave, they will have to face the fact they they will not get another Indian visa for at least five years if ever, they'll have lost their flight, and will have gained a no expenses paid trip to Delhi and a couple of days or far more of struggling with the worst of Indian bureaucracy.

While a couple of hours may well be overlooked, in these days of computerised records, relying on an immigration officer not bothering to check entry stamps is becoming more and more foolhardy.

Why are you cutting it so finely? It's just a holiday, isn't it? Just 1 day less in a 6-month holiday would mean freedom of mind.

What did Edmund Hillary say about climbing Everest.?

no question here of relying on officers not to check....the simple fact is that people make mistakes, accidents happen, and there are procedures in place to deal with occasions....at least that has been my experience of life in india and in other places..
all best,
sb

There was a mention in our local newspaper's travel section that India is scrapping the two-month rule. No details were given, just...

>>India: The government plans to withdraw the requirement it imposed in December on multiple-entry visas that forced tourists to remain outside India for two months between trips. The new visa rules will allow three trips to India per multiple-entry visa, after which the traveler will need to apply for another visa.<<

I wonder what that means for those of us with 10-year visas.

don't we all....there was a mention, and i do not have the link on hand, that seemed to distinquish two categories of m-e visas. 6 and 12 month on the one hand and 5 (and 10?) on the other....but this is all hearsay.
...with all the brilliant changes that have occoured since december, nothing would surprise me anymore..and personally i preparing for all eventualities.
all best,
sb

It wasn't supposed to be close at all. When I planned the trip, I was going to at least pass through Bangladesh, possibly Sri Lanka as well. Neither worked out and, if they had, I would have been up against the "two month before re-entry" rule.

I looked at the Nepal option but hunting down the Embassy in Kathmandu to beg for an exception seemed worse. Adding to the trouble is that this side trip would happen near the end with little time to spare and perhaps no other reason to go to Kathmandu.

If the flight is delayed several hours, I may end up sleeping at the gate. If the flight is canceled then I'm not sure if the issue will be 180 days or re-entry before two months but, either way, I think I will have a better case then I would in Kathmandu.