Help on Applying for a 1 year visa!

Kinrara

HELP PLEASE Aug 06 I turned up at HCI London with sale agreement, certificate of inward remittance, bank account details, many old visas and my husband "hoping" to be granted an x visa for long term residency! but alas was issued with a 1 year tourist visa valid Aug 06 - Aug 07 (stamped 180 days max stay). The time has now arrived to apply for a new visa, I would like opinions and help as to how to try and apply for another 1 year tourist visa, I am hoping to stay in Goa from Sept 07 to June 08. Last Aug when we applied for our visas the visa systems was all up in the air, some people being granted x visas and some not so lucky! Do I take all the info again ie sale agreement etc and say I want to live there long term!!!! or is that asking for trouble as officially we are not suppose to purchase immoveable property! I am wanting to stay longer than the 6 months tourist visa so it would be more convenient to just cross the border after 180 days on a 1 year tourist rather than having to stay for 5 days in ie Sri Lanka/Thailand applying for a new visa. Also it appears from postings that Birmingham seems to be more lenient, any views on which HCI would be better to try London or Birmingham.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

CMS

Hi Kinrara,

Sorry that I can't help with your visa problem but would like to clear a misconception you seem to have about home ownership. "Non-residents of India" are not allowed to purchase property. If however, you have spent (or will spend) more than 182 days in India during a single fiscal year (Apr-Mar) then, in the eyes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI--those in charge of such things), you are classified as "Indian resident" and entitled to buy most kinds of residential property in the following fiscal year. This stay does not have to be concurrent but can accumulate over the fiscal year. There are no further requirements in following years and you do not have to prove this initial stay to anyone unless asked. The RBI official I spoke to said "99.9% of the time, no one will ask you, but just to make certain there will be no problems--have proof of your qualifying stay". This information can also be found on RBI's website although it is a bit unclear there. This "ruling" dates from my meeting with an RBI official in their local branch (Cochin) approximately two years ago.

Note that word has it that the current long-term visa problems stem from foreigners ("non-residents") purchasing property in Goa without the mandated prior stay by simply signing a document presented to them by local estate agents that they had met the requirements. Later, after complaints from local residents, courts have found that the statements were completely false.

Hope that this possibly helps you with something if not with your initial request!

dzibead

CMS, the "182 day" thing is not so simple. It's largely a taxation rule: i.e., it's principally used to determine whether a person should be considered "resident in India" for purposes paying taxes. Being in India for 182 days in one fiscal year doesn't in and of itself confer any particular immigration status, and in order for a foreigner who is not a PIO to be qualified to buy property in India, the person has to have some category of visa that would allow the person to stay for an "uncertain" period, for example, an employment visa, because in addition to actually being in the country for 182 days in the prior fiscal year, the intent to remain in the country for an uncertain or indefinite period is also a requirement. Since a tourist visa (or even repeated and successive tourist visas) does not authorize one to remain in India for an indefinite or uncertain period (because each tourist visa has a maximum finite period of 180 days), a non-PIO foreigner who holds only a tourist visa does not qualify to purchase immovable property. And to satisfy the "intent to stay" requirement, it's not sufficient simply to say you "want to" - you have to have the kind of immigration/visa status that would permit it.

I would suggest that both of you read through the two related threads on foreigners buying property in Goa. The laws pertaining to property ownership by foreigners do not pertain only to Goa, however; they are central government laws. See these threads:

Foreign owned property in Goa, (part Two)
Foreign owned property in Goa, (Part One)

CMS

Hi all,

The (my) purchase of immovable property (a residential flat) was called "legal" by the local RBI office in Cochin and also by my Advocate in Ernakulam, so who knows?

dzibead

Well, lots (by that I mean hundreds) of purchases that people were told were "legal" are now under investigation by the RBI.

Nick-H

This is a tough one, and has been, and continues to be, extensively discussed in the two threads mentioned by Dzibead above.

Being told that something is legal by an advocate doesn't really have any standing .

Being told the same the same by a RBI official could be much more useful --- if you have it in writing.

CMS, in talking of the 182-day rule and residency under FEMA, you have not given the entire answer. A snippet from the RBI FAQs .This is the aspect that is capable of interpretation --- and also reinterpretation according to the political climate of the time.

This topic is really very well covered in the Goa Property threads, and in several other threads in the Goa and Property forums. I am therefore closing this thread and and refer you there.

Foreign owned property in Goa, (part Two)
Foreign owned property in Goa, (Part One)

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