Moving to India advice

Shila

Hello

Advice request

My partner and I are moving to India within the next few years.
She is an NRI ( British ) I am British non NRI.Not married. We want to move to Kerala.

1/ How easy is it for us to buy a property ?

2/ Can I buy property in my name as an non NRI in Kerala ?

Have received lots of confusing information. Some say yes some say no. Please only answer if you are sure.

Will answer any questions

Regards
Paul

edwardseco

Very big issue and discussed at considerable length here because of its challenges and complexity. I suggest starting on the archives here because (IMHO) there isn't an easy answer. Cheers..

edwardseco

Some of the discussions on this topic run into the many pages so try a search on property, etc. Be aware it isn't easy and has been recently been made tougher..

adunut

One big concern we had when we were relocating was repatraition if we ever decided to move back and now with recent changes it is more easy than ever.

You can repatriate back upto a $1 million when you move back and this could be from any transactions real estate deals, sales of stocks/mutual funds etc as long as you have cleared all your taxes.

akt

India is not an immigrant country. NRI being a general word, I assume your partner will be able to move there legally and you have already thought of the legal cover you'd require: a job, a business, etc. Wanting to live in India or with someone you are not married to may not suffice.

Merchant

You should really talk to an immigration lawyer. Anything you learn here is just speculation.

Nick-H

Check the IndiaMike threads (among others) on buying property in Goa

Check the Reserve Bank of India FAQs on FEMA (the current law applicable to foreign exchange and land ownership) egNote that NRI is defined as a citizen of India resident outside India.If your partner now has a British passport/citizenship she is no longer an NRI according to this definition.

If she was an Indian citizen, or can show that she is of Indian descent (the degrees are specified in the relevant official information and are not the same as the FEMA definition given above) then she can qualify for a PIO Card, or, even better, OCI --- Overseas Citizen of India, a sort of pseudo dual citizenship.

With her Indian descent and her OCI in her hand, I can not imagine that she will have very much difficulty in buying property (not agricultural) in Kerala and in living there long-term.

Now for the bad news.

As boyfriend, lover, or such like you do not acquire or have any rights to anything other than a tourist visa (well... I suppose she could offer you a job! ).

If she is entitled to PIO/OCI and you marry her you then become entitled to PIO card yourself. You will not be able to get it for one year after marriage, but if she is then resident in India you should be able to get a longer-term visa to be able to join your spouse.

Check the Indian Bureau of Immigration, the Ministry of Home Affairs Foreigners Information and your local London High Commission site

I am not a lawyer! I am just passing on, without responsibility, stuff I have gathered over the past couple of years --- I hope you can make use of it as pointers and guidelines for your own investigations

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