Buying a house in Goa

freebirdnz

Hi there,

I know there is a lot of information here about buying property in Goa but I would love to hear from anyone who has recently bought a house in Goa.

I am looking at purchasing a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment or any type of property.

I have a NZ and Irish Passport and live in London. I wanted to know how hard it is to buy a property in Goa from London. Is the best way to do it through an agency here in London? I would of course fly to India to inspect before I buy.

I am looking at having £20,000 so would this be enough to buy a 1 or 2 bedroom? I don't need anything flash but that is all the money I will have so can't afford more and won't be borrowing any at all. Oh and by the way....this would be for me to live in and not for rental. I am planning on packing up and moving there!

OH and the other important thing. If I was to buy a property is it easy enough to sell on? And would I lose any money? I would be happy to break even but wouldn't be happy if I was to lose money should I choose to sell in a few years.

If anyone on this forum is from London and has bought a property I would love to hear from you and would appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance....

Freebird

Nick-H

From what you have told us it looks doubtful that you can legally buy property in Goa, or anywhere else in India.

There are two threads that will fill you in on the situation.

Start here

and then go here

There are more than 1,500 posts and links to external sources there. That's your homework: see you in a week or two

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

freebirdnz

Hey there nick,

Thanks for your advice and yes I did see this thread but because it was quite old I wanted to hear from someone who may have done this recently and/or if there is anyway around it.

I am thinking surely a foreign person can buy a house there???? I will do some more research into this.

Thanks and I am still keen to hear from anyone,

Freebird

freebirdnz

Soooooooooooo then, if I was to marry an Indian then he would get dual passport and I would get residency in India right? Then I could easily buy property.

I would do that. Any takers let me know. In fact I was about to marry a indian man last time I was in India. It was purely so he could get a visa for the UK and not be trapped in India. I would do that for someone and although a few people may not agree it would benifit both parties.

Freebird :-)

Nick-H

Oh yes, they can!

But first you have to establish residence there, by staying for 180 days in the previous tax year. This may be perfectly possible for those on long-term employment visas, but for the visitor, the maximum length of stay ensures that they can never qualify.

Those two threads do come more-or-less up-to-date. The situation has not changed. You will find there not only the situation, but the woes of those who have been caught out by unscrupulous agents, who are still ready to assure you that there is no problem, and also those who have bought legally, but now find that they are not having long-term visas renewed, and will only be able to return to their own property on tourist visas.

India has a huge population; it is not immigrant friendly, it has no PR scheme, it is very discouraging towards retirees.

dzibead

Nope.
And if you had actually read the two huge threads Nick referred you to, you'd realize that "surely a foreign person can [NOT] buy a house there" or anywhere else in India ... unless he or she has some class of immigration status that would allow a person to establish residency. If all you will have is a tourist visa, forget about it, and ignore all the wishful thinkers who tell you that you can somehow fulfill the requirements for being considered "resident in India" if you have a tourist visa. having only the immigration status conferred by a tourist visa is inconsistent with being considered a "resident" in the country.

Many, many foreigners (mostly British) have been burned in their attempts to "purchase" property in Goa. Even for Indian citizens, there are pitfalls when buying property in Goa as the property laws there are very convoluted and there are often serious disputes about whether the seller actually has clear title to the property. Don't even think about it. You can lease property, so you might look into that instead -- maximum duration of a lease term for a foreigner is 5 years, but I think the lease can be renewed...but, of course, no guarantee that the lessor would agree to renew it for a further term.

Also, keep in mind that even if you have a long-term lease, you don't have the right to stay in India for that period of time. You can only stay for as long as your visa allows, which, on a tourist visa, is a maximum of 180 days at a time. Then you have to leave and apply for a new visa.

Nick-H

Cross-posted ----

Yes, you can marry an Indian. But they will check on you, and you won't get PIO-card status for a year. Check out the threads in the visa forum here for details.

Suggest you very thoroughly check out the visa regulations of both countries. I think it is a long time since merely marrying a Brit assured anyone of a British visa.

dzibead

You don't get a "dual passport" just by marrying an Indian citizen. To get an Indian passport you actually have to be an Indian citizen, and you do not become an Indian citizen simply as a result of marrying an Indian national. Marriage to an India citizen would qualify you for PIO ("Person of Indian Origin") status and as such you could buy property in the country (or at least some types of property - NOT agricultural land, for example). But you ordinarily have to be married for a year before you will be issued a PIO card. Your husband could, as an Indian citizen, buy property at any time.

Cross-posted with Nick.

Edited to add, following up on Nick's comment about marriage to a British citizen not resulting in an automatic British visa for the foreigner: sham marriages like you're talking about are illegal and frowned on, to say the least, by the authorities, I suspect in NZ and Ireland, too. If you are found out (and they DO investigate) you and the person you are "helping" would be in serious hot water. People sometimes try that scam in the U.S., too, and it's a felony, and the foreigner ends up getting deported. You really, really need to do A LOT more research before jumping into one of these cockeyed schemes you're talking about! You could get yourself into much more hot water than you ever imagined!

freebirdnz

Hi there........

Wow I am getting my hand smacked! (oouch) I am not doing a scam here by the way.... I was being light hearted so sorry if it sounded like that.

I would however still stick to my guns by saying I would marry a person so they could get a visa. These are MY views and I would do it. I know people who have done it so they can stay in the UK and I really don't think it's such a bad thing. (again my opinion)

I will never forget the look on the mans face when he told me his story of being stuck in India and his dream was to come to the UK to work. Please dont tell me he was lying etc etc as this is true there and if it wasn't so complicated to marry someone in India then yes I would do it. BUT I know that it is complicated not to mention tabu......... so for that reason I didn't. :-) (I also did not say I would get a dual passport)

The Jerry Springer show is worse!.....lol.

Thanks everyone for your advice and I wasn't jumping into anything and thats why I posted questions. I am researching and by the looks of things I am better of not even thinking about it any more.

Just chill chill just chill.......

Shanti ;-)

Freebirdnz

Nick-H

Just that you are not the first to ask this question, nor are you the first to ask it without having done the necessary homework first, so if you think we are jumping on you --- I guess we are! but we're doing it fairly gently, and please don't ask us to go into all the details over again. That's why I pointed you to the two long threads.

The information about immigration/visas for both UK (I don't know about Ireland) and India is readily available on the net, and you'll find the links on other threads on this site.

I make no judgement whatsoever about the moral implications, and I don't think Dzibead does either, just the practical and legal issues.

I can say that you'll find no shortage of people who'd love to use you as a route to a UK visa, but they also won't find that visa as easy to get as they might imagine. Sad, but true.

Yep... I'm afraid you're better off leaving it at that.

Unless... I married an Indian lady, and she and I are living here happily

dzibead

Hey, you ask a question here, you're going to get answers (not always the ones you want, either. ) Anyway, whether you consider it a scam or a sham, and regardless of how "sincere" the would-be emigrant from India is, or how heartfelt his desire to come to the UK to work, immigration officials consider it a sham marriage when the sole purpose is to obtain a visa. Anyway, since you are apparently a dual citizen of NZ and Ireland, it's not at all clear that marriage to you would give him any right to a UK visa.

I'm sympathetic to your point of view...but it's still verboten. As Nick said, I'm not judging the morality of this, I'm just telling you the reality of how it's dealt with by immigration officials. It's easy to be all starry-eyed and think you're doing something good for someone, only to find that you've actually landed them and yourself is a lot of hot water. And apart from the potential immigration mess, once you're married to someone, there are lots of other legal ramifications. For example, do you really want to be liable for the debts of some guy you may not really know and don't really intend to live with in a real marriage? Pul-eeze! Don't even think about going down that road! (I'm a lawyer, my dear, so I know what I'm talking about! )

Oops! That's right ... you said he would. But, no, he wouldn't. First, marriage to you would not confer UK citizenship on him - even you aren't UK citizen, after all - and I doubt that that NZ or Ireland confer automatic citizenship up marriage either, but I haven't researched this. But, second, and more importantly for the "dual passport" point, if an Indian national acquires the citizenship of another country, they lose their Indian citizenship by operation of law - so no dual citizenship and no dual passport. They can qualify for some other status, like PIO or OCI, that would allow them easy return to India without having to apply for a tourist visa, but under some provision in the Indian Constitution, upon acquiring the citizenship of another country, an Indian national loses Indian citizenship automatically, and then has to affirmatively apply for a PIO card or OCI card in order to have rights that go with those statuses - which are not the equivalent of actual Indian citizenship.



No, "just rent, just rent." How much experience have you had of Goa? If you haven't spent much time there (and a lot of people haven't before they get a holiday-euphoria-induced bee in their bonnet about buying there), you might decide that staying there long-term isn't all that wonderful anyway.

freebirdnz

Hey there..... I didn't ask for this to turn into a depate about defending yourself.

If I remember rightly I did say that I do know there is a lot of info here and I DID NOT ask you to repeat it all. So you are a lawyer my dear as you put it, so? I have asked people to reply WHO HAD RECENTLY PURCHASED A PROPERTY. Not to get replies like this. If sooooooooooo many brits are doing it then I would like to hear from ones who have as I am optimistic and it can be done. Never say never. I know about the holiday bug etc and have spent over a year in India and going back again this year.

This isn't a thread about your views on a sham marriage or what I believe in. Can we give that a rest now...Thanks. There are other websites for that. However you seem to know it all.........being a lawyer and all so I do appreciate the facts you have given.

Thanks and just chill out please.

dzibead

Well, excuse me for taking the time to respond to you.

Nick-H

If you did what I first recommended, which is to read those two threads, you'd find there are not too many members here who still harbour this daydream sold to them by unscrupulous agents.

Suggest you go somewhere else and, err... chill.