Registering at the FRRO

Outlaw Star

Hi,

I have a valid tourist visa that last until 2012. What I would like to do is register with the FRRO to stay more than 180 days, however I was told that since I was not of Indian origin that I could not do this.

Has anyone stayed beyond 180 days before and know the procedure that is required and if it is even possible. I am an american citizen.

Thank,
Kyle

Nick-H

Please see the many, many threads on this.

No, you can't register, and you can't stay. You can leave the country and come straight back for another 180 days.

Outlaw Star

Hi Nick,

Thank you. I was searching for threads but I may have used the wrong key words and I couldn't find what I was looking for. Thank you for the info. I will search the threads again.

Kyle

stepmyrjov

Kyle,

I am also an american citizen here in India. We aren't allowed to stay over 180 days. I am planning to hop over to Nepal for a few days to "restart" another 180 days. With a tourist visa you can't register, and you can't stay more than 180 days.

~ Stephanie ~

Nick-H

Every time I see this thread, a song starts in my head...

Down at the Eff R R O...

Haylo

Nothing to do with your origins, you cannot stay for longer than 180 days because you have a tourist visa.

Ask yourself something... How would your country treat an Indian tourist who simply decided to stay in the US longer than their visa allowed simply because they felt like it?

Yes, people have stayed before. They are, in effect, illegal immigrants and are treated as such. The procedure is to be detained at the airport, miss your flight home, be released, pay a large fine, be barred from leaving India until you've gone through paperwork hell to get an exit visa which can take months (see thread below), have your visa voided, and to not get another Indian visa for years if ever.

The post below will give you an idea of the problems that people face if they don't comply with the terms of their visas.

HELP! Unable to leave India!!

FRRO Refusing to Provide Exit Visa / Extension

How attractive a proposition is overstaying sounding now?

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Nick-H

I want spoof y-m-c-a lyrics!

dzibead

Continuing OT ...

I used to work as staff attorney at the First District Court of Appeal (abbreviated "1DCA") in the state where I live and we used to do a little song, complete with appropriate dance moves, that started "One D C A, I love it at the One D C A ...," etc. I guess you had to be there ....

Back on topic:
No, Outlaw Star, you cannot stay in India for more than 180 days at a stretch on the tourist visa and registering with the FRRO/FRO will not allow you to do this. In fact, they won't even let you register (well, some FRO's might because they're just the local cops and often don't actually know what they're doing, in contrast to the regional FRRO's who generally are up to speed on the visa requirements). But even if you have a long-term, multiple entry tourist visa, your stay on any one visit cannot exceed 180 days. You have to leave India, even briefly, before returning. The "plus" of having a long-term tourist visit, however, is that you don't have to apply for a new one as long as your current one is valid, and you can return immediately. If you had to apply for a new visa, particularly if you did so in some country outside the U.S., like Nepal or Sri Lanka, it would probably take a week or more for them to process your application. With a visa that's valid till 2012, you will avoid that.

__________________
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"The perfect is the enemy of the good." - Voltaire

suzannecurran33

So to confirm, has anyone out there successfully managed to register themselves with a 1 year tourist visa and has been able to stay beyond 180 days. A long termer in india told me that if you go back to the frro 2 weeks before the 6 months is up, then it's possible to get another (kind of permit) stamp that allows you to stay, and is a part of the process towards naturalisation...

One more question.. has anyone managed to change their 1 year tourist visa for a residents permit, and if so how??!! I've got permission to be volunteering full time if this helps.

Thanks all

Nick-H

There is no "naturalisation process". Whilst there are circumstances in which a foreigner could apply to become a citizen of India (which would require them to renounce any other citizenship, by the way), it would be a mistake to think of it in the way that it might happen in USA or UK. There is no settlement visa, there is no general work permit, permanent residency, etc etc.

If you have a one-year tourist visa, you must leave and return. If you have a one-year Entry visa, you may or may not need to, according to any endorsement on the visa.

What form does your "permission" take?

Haylo

That does not apply to people who have tourist visas.

See my previous reply to this question, which you also posted on another thread. Please do not ask the same question twice, it is against the forum rules as it's confusing.

If you are travelling to India to volunteer, you need an entry visa, not a tourist visa. If you had got an entry visa, you could have registered and stayed in India for more than 180 days.

dzibead

"Permission" from whom? It it's just from the organization for which you want to volunteer, that doesn't actually give you the right to stay; the terms on which you can enter into and stay in India for whatever duration is something over which the Indian government has jurisdiction.

Also, if you entered India on a tourist visa, it's my understanding that you can't "convert" it to some other category of visa, like an employment visa or an "entry" visa for purposes of volunteering, while in India. You have to leave, and preferably return to your home country, and apply for the new type of visa from there. And there is certainly no way to "change [a] 1 year tourist visa" to a "residents permit". A residency permit is not a visa and it does not confer on a foreigner the right to enter into and stay in India for a certain period of time. It has an entirely different purpose. It allows a foreigner who does have some kind of long-term visa, like an employment visa, to do certain kinds of things, but in and of itself it does not confer the right to enter the country or the right to stay there.

Haylo

The only possible circumstance in which a person's tourist visa can be "converted" while in India, is upon them marrying an Indian - only in that one very specific case can a tourist visa be "converted"