No more visa extensions in Dharamsala

Hello all,
Some of us in possession of long term tourist visas in the past have been able to extend or visas without having to leave India every 6 months...but sadly no more .
Now everyone! has to leave the country every 6 months and stay out of India for 2 months before returning.
A friend of mine just yesterday June 30th 2012 crossed into Nepal and was not permitted to re-enter, and was told he would have to stay out for 2 months.

Sad news but I hope it's helpful news.

As they say in brookleen - " Who died and made you king" The simile here is "Who got transferred and made you'll sober up" <------ that is a smiley, just in case !

In patches of India them kotwals march to their own drum till the Energizer Bunny stops drumming and kotwals are to be replaced.

Petition the SCI for this grave injustice. If this does not work, you can write to USEND or SCOTUS, they are in a liberal mood off late

What's with the visa extensions in Dharamsala, anyway?

I suppose the OP might find this bit of news interesting, the thread was started in late 2009: http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...please-t96729/.

For more such amusement from times much longer past (caution: lengthy threads ahead), try also Foreign owned property in Goa, (Part One) & the equally classic Foreign owned property in Goa, (part Two).

ps Nowmonline, I figured I'd have a look at your previous post history to see what was driving you.

It looks like you have for longer entertained the idea to somehow stay in India for an extended time. Whilst Americans are eligible for a 10-year Indian tourist visa if they can get it (I'm not aware it's difficult to get, could be getting harder though), it never allows you to stay for more than 180 days at a time. These days, you indeed need to stay out for 2 months between any such visits. If it looks like all you're using it for is essentially to quasi-stay in India (so never doing more than that hop of two months out), I guess you may at some point also just be stopped from re-entering. It's not what the tourist visa is for, as the name might suggest. That two-months-out rule has been introduced precisely to prevent this.

Of course employment or volunteering would require an employment visa, studying a student visa, etc., all with their own quite specific requirements. For more on these matters, kindly carefully study also:

http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/,
http://www.mha.nic.in/, notably currently its http://mha.nic.in/ForeigDiv/ForeigHome.html,
and for those of Indian backgrounds over the past few generations, http://moia.gov.in/.

But bottom line, as a tourist you're never gonna stay there for more than the 180 days max. allowed to you, no, and so don't entertain any fantasies about it (for some nationalities it's considerably shorter).

In short btw,

Unless this is some first-hand or close second-hand information you're referring to (I guess some people always find a way around), this has never been the case no, and you were judging that wrongly, or misinformed about it.

... preferential treatment is however still available for 'patrons' of Auroville

AndyD 8-)₹

Pretty exceptional provision, though, isn't it. (Comes with a lot of but's and if's, too, as clearly stated in that very document.)

I would in any case not want to turn it around to suggest that if you're looking for an extended stay, just join up with Auroville. Wonder what those Aurovilleans would make of such an endeavor, too. (As in I can't know but wouldn't be surprised if they'd just flat-out refuse you if you weren't serious about it, let alone to now hang onto India in their name, and not being a full-flung participant in their community, and having been accepted as such by them. It would probably have a direct bearing on their own status, and with such provisions provided to them, even if their philosophy would allow for it. A glance at their website suggests that, unsurprisingly, there'd be some conditions involved to really join them, other than perhaps paying them a casual visit. Starting with a one-year trial period as a newcomer and indeed being a full-time participant and not leaving Auroville unless on exceptional grounds, now you can take it from there.)

See http://www.auroville.org/comingtoav/how2join.htm, etc. They also currently state that to join you need to visit them first for a minimum of three months btw, now if you decide to apply and are accepted for the trial period go back home -- in the case of foreigners, of course -- to apply for the appropriate Entry Visa that they say they'll then endorse, etc. and yada yada and so forth. The easy answer to all your prospective long-stay troubles it certainly wouldn't seem to be, and now ask yourself first do you subscribe to their worldview and lifestyle, and feel like hanging out with them and complying with their rules for so many years. It looks like they will certainly ask it of you, and indeed why wouldn't they. To allow some goofy Westerners to stay in India forever I'm sure is not what they're about, and again they'd be jeopardizing such provisions granted to them if they did.

My thing it certainly wouldn't be, and I have some serious doubts and criticisms of the entire philosophy and its history -- down to me finding it outright dubious and having good reason to --, but then thankfully that wasn't the question, so my opinion on them as such is irrelevant here. More relevant here would seem to be that there is nothing to suggest you could simply be some hanger-on and merely paying lip-service to their ideas and practices, and now expect to stay in India let alone anywhere outside of Auroville (little cult'ish provisions, anyone? We'd like to build our ideal society here, but would prefer if you didn't engage in too many activities of your own nor exposure to the outside world that might interfere. Aldous Huxley and the likes might have had something to say on that) for any prolonged period on that basis. No matter what I think of it, it just doesn't look to work that way.

This will be the last time I share information I've come across to try to help other travelers, in this form...goodbye

Quo vadis.?

I have never understood why the 2 months away rule is looked down upon by tourists who come to India, instead of being grateful for having an opportunity to spend 6 months in a foreign country. A solo backpacker from India, if he were at all to get a Schengen tourist visa, isn't allowed to stay in the "Schengen" zone for more than 90 days, forget travelling in individual countries for that long and an application for the same requires a long winded process where you have to show your bank statements, tax returns, employer's certificate, an itinerary, give an awkward interview and god only knows what else.

I think it is the Indians who ought to be cribbing about faulty visa policies and the humiliating procedures for travelling abroad than the other way around.

Don't blame you, borderline trolls seem to dominate here.

Good luck in the future.......

Quite possibly, but the main purpose of this forum is to inform and assist those travelling TO India..............

I was reacting to and making an observation on what the OP chose to call "sad news".

In any case, this forum is about much more than just ferrying tourists around. People like to crib, cry and pointlessly fight over issues too.

I said "main", not "only".

And I stand by that, because;

From the first lines on the introductory page to IndiaMike.

(we will ignore the repeated mis-speeling of "traveller"..............l ol)

Johnny,
Who is Miss Speeling ?

She is the girlfriend of Dick Slexic

Did you mean to be Theyyamdancer, have meant to ask that for ages....

OK ignore that, got suspicious and Googled it......... Theyyam dancing from Kerala

God knows what I thought a Yam Dancer might be?