Leaving India for 2 months before 6 months is up

Dear friends,

I have searched, found some information that was helpful, but am still a little confused. I'm posting this here just so that I can get a definite answer to this question. I appreciate your patience and willingness to help.

I fly into India on March 3rd. Being that I'm on a tourist visa, I am obligated to leave the country sometime before September 3rd. I understand that I will not be able to return back to India for a minimum of 2 months from that exit date.

My question is, what if I decide to leave India sooner? Say I decide to leave India on June 3rd, only 3 months after entering the country. I understand that I'm still not allowed to enter India again for 2 months, but when I come back, do I have a fresh 6 months to use before I have to leave the country again?

Basically, I'm just wondering if I get to start the 6-month cycle over again each time I enter the country?

Much gratitude for your help.

With Love,

-Dave

Your visa has a start date, and an expiry date. Simply on the date printed as expiry, you visa is no longer valid. Whether you spent a week or a day in India it is of no consequence. I am surprised why you did not apply for a 10 year Tourist visa.

If you indeed have 10 year visa, then it matters not much you still have to have a gap of two months between visits. So if you visit India for a week and leave, you can only come back after two months.

If you are visiting neighboring countries for side visits, then upon showing a definitive itinerary, you can ask for a 2-month waiver by applying before you leave. Please search this sub-forum for more discussions on this and the details.

That's correct.

Yes - until your visa expires. If your visa expires before 180 days, then you'll have to leave before (or on) the expiry date.

Yes - until your visa expires. Actually, it's not 6 months but 180 days, which may or may not make a slight difference.

Wonderful. Thank you. This answers my question. I do have a 10-year visa, and so this does give me some freedom.

Thanks again.

Blessings,

-Dave

180 is not actually six months, and it DOES make a difference! 180 days from March 3 (which includes the third) is August 29th, which means you either have to leave on or before August 29th or the date of expiration of your visa, whichever is sooner.

I would not recommend waiting til September 3rd and hoping it all works out ok.

(I used this site to calculated, but you can count the days yourself: http://www.travelblog.org/Cool-Stuff...calculator.php)

Dear Jyoti - Thank you. You saved me from having to calculate this myself.

Gratitude,

-Dave

You may not have to be gone for two months. I should inform you that I am aware of the two-month rule. However, I am also aware of the exception (starting at "No permit ..." in the following) described at india.travisa.com:

Indian visas allow multiple entries into the country, however, there must be a gap of at least 2 months between two visits to the country on a Tourist Visa. No Permit is needed if the visa holder is traveling to multiple countries on the same itinerary and the trip follows the itinerary exactly. The visa holder must carry a copy of the itinerary to show the Immigration Officer.

In the two times that I have traveled to and from India since the two-month rule was first announced, I have traveled to multiple countries and have encountered no problems upon my return to India (even though I had been gone for about two weeks). The only time that I encountered a problem was when I was in Singapore (my stop-over). However, after showing them the print-out from the website, and after about an hour (of the Singapore Airlines employee conferring with her colleagues), I was given my boarding pass to India, and had no problem upon my arrival.

Dear Micky,

This is good news. Thank you. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Maybe no one is trying to re-enter the country within 2 months of leaving, and so that word is not out that it is possible. Maybe they're loosening up a bit? What do you think?

With Love,

-Dave

Not !!!!!! Just crossed AMS. I can vouch that the dutch ain't cutting anyone slack at Schiphol.