Foreign owned property in Goa, (part Two)

Anders

The way I read the text, it says that even if you stayed 182 days in the last financial year you may still not be considered a resident according to FEMA.
Which part of the government would that be?

Shaktipalooza

I think anyone who purchased land under dubious circumstances should very well be worried about having their property confiscated. That includes:

A. People starting sham companies for the sole purpose of buying a property.

B. People who purchased property while holding a tourist visa.

These are the two most common routes I see time after time. If I owned a property under such circumstances I'd be working pretty hard to dump it or be ready for a date in court, and likely losing the property. Even now the British expat forum has plenty of people interested in purchasing illegally.

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dzibead

I've discussed this 182 day business ad nauseam above. The 182 day rule regarding "residency" has more to do with determining who is a resident for taxation purposes and other fiscal/financial matters than it has to do with a person's immigration status or right to stay in the country. Being in the country for more than 182 days in one fiscal year, or for at least 182 days at one stretch - or wanting/intending to do either of these things - does not in and of itself confer a particular immigration status on a person. Yet people constantly, and erroneously, read the FEMA rules and the RBI rules as if they cast some light on a person's immigration status. They don't. Apples and oranges. If you can't qualify for an appropriate immigration status, forget about "relocating" to India.

Jeez. I'm getting so sick of this topic! For my own sanity, I think I need to ignore this thread in the future and just let the unwary fall into whatever traps they may.

crvlvr

I've been leaning along the same lines for some time now. Its not like warning have not been sounded loudly.

GoanCanuck

What kind of a visa are you on ?

GoanCanuck

The people on that forum really take the cake and the icing too.

palomnik

GoanCanuck:

I'm not sure whether your last question was directed at me, but I'll assume it was. Right now I have a tourist visa for one year, but I assume that I'll get a ten year visa if and when we decide to move to India, as I can as a US citizen.

My apologies to the members of the forum for dragging out this old issue. I expect that whatever I do in India I won't be buying property - now or ever, unless there is a major change in the laws.

GoanCanuck

Since you are going to be on a tourist visa you don't have to worry about the residency angle. There have been cases of people on 10 year tourist visas registering at the FRO and getting a residents permit but that was mainly due to confusion and miscomprehension of the relevant laws by the official at that location.

palomnik

Anders:

To answer to your question, my friend got a certified letter from the "Directorate of Enforcement (FEMA Act), Government of India, re: Enquiries in Respect of Properties Purchased by you."

Sounds pretty official to me.

capt_mahajan

FEMA, and that direcorate, are pretty big guns.

Indicative of how seriously the government is taking this.

GoanCanuck

Yes that is the Central(Federal) Government who sent the letter.

palomnik

I hate to beat a dead horse, but tell me...has anybody else encountered anybody who is actually being investigated by the government aside from my friend? Is this merely a scare tactic with a relatively small number of people actually being called to account? The fact is that my friend didn't actually reside in the country for 183 days in the previous fiscal year before he bought his house, and he thinks that may be the problem, not the mere fact that he bought a house while in the country on a tourist visa.

I have a vested interest in it, because I do intend to move to India this year. I would like to settle permanently, and to set up a house eventually, that is to say to own my own property, albeit not in Goa. How feasible is this, actually? I don't see how I can get a business visa, although I may start my own school.

Nick-H

This is just the start... start Here. By the time you get back to this point, having read over 800 posts and all the links and articles ---- you'll get a better idea of how much life there might be in the old horse.

And then you can start asking questions, if you have any left.

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cyberhippie

Basically it's not easy in fact its near impossible to do this legally!

dzibead

Have you even bothered to read this thread, plus Part One of the same topic??? I'm sorry but you are beating a dead horse, and not very productively, I might add. Sorry to be snarky, but if you actually bother to read this thread all the way through I think you'll understand why.

The "mere fact" that your friend bought property while holding only a tourist visa??? If your friend bought real property while holding only a tourist visa but he thinks his only problem is that he "didn't actually reside in the country for 183 days in the previous fiscal year before he bought his house" then he's seriously mistaken. He needs to be talking to a good lawyer in India, and not the so-called "legal department" of some property developer, because those people dispense incorrect and self-serving advice like candy.

And "merely" a "scare tactic"??? News reports indicate that hundreds of illegal property transactions are being investigated by the government. I guess you could call that a "scare tactic" because it should scare the crap out of people who stand to lose their property and their investments and possibly their fantasy of "retiring to India".

And have you run your own plan of settling permanently in India and starting your own school by anyone who might just possibly have regulatory authority over these activities? Like Indian educational authorities? Or the Indian consular personnel who would be making the decision about your immigration status, which -- unless you are a PIO in your own right, or are married to an Indian citizen, or you have an actual job in India, or you qualify for a business visa (which you say you can't) -- will be "tourist" regardless of your desire to settle there? On a tourist visa, you can't stay in the country for more than 180 at a time (with no guarantee that a subsequent visa will be issued, particularly if you are applying for repeated back-to-back tourist visas) and you can't buy real property, period. So "how feasible is this, actually?" Unless the law changes, which seems unlikely, it isn't feasible.