5 year Indian tourist visa?

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about applying for a 5 year or 10 year tourist visa for India.

My fiance is Indian and I have applied for the 6 month tourist visa in the past. However since I plan on making more frequent trips to India in the future, it makes more sense for me to apply for a 5 or 10 year tourist visa.

Would I as a non-Indian USC qualify to apply for a 5 year visa or even a 10 year visa?

After we are married is there a special visa I may qualify for as a spouse of an Indian national?

Thanks!

[Amar & Bindu 3]

If your fiancee is indian and now u.s citizen then you should apply for PIO CARD

[ELW 5]

My understanding is, you can easily apply for a 5- or 10-year tourist visa to India. The only problem is, you can only stay six months at a time, then you have to leave India for at least two months before re-entering India for up to another six months. It is the longer-term Entry Visas which are limited to those of Indian descent.

After you are married, as a spouse of an Indian national, you can apply for a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card, which is valid for 15 years and you can stay in India as long as you like and leave and return whenever you want - so, be sure to get that once you are married!

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

My understanding is, you can easily apply for a 5- or 10-year tourist visa to India. The only problem is, you can only stay six months at a time, then you have to leave India for at least two months before re-entering India for up to another six months. It is the longer-term Entry Visas which are limited to those of Indian descent.

After you are married, as a spouse of an Indian national, you can apply for a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card, which is valid for 15 years and you can stay in India as long as you like and leave and return whenever you want - so, be sure to get that once you are married!

Thanks for the info on the PIO card, I will definitely be doing that after getting married.

As for the tourist visa, how do the 6 month entries work? For instance, I am planning on visiting my fiance in January 2012, then coming back for his interview which should be in April/May 2012. Would it be possible for me to re-enter India using the same 6 month entry or would I still have to wait 2 months due to the restriction?

[Harsh_77 716]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about applying for a 5 year or 10 year tourist visa for India.

My fiance is Indian and I have applied for the 6 month tourist visa in the past. However since I plan on making more frequent trips to India in the future, it makes more sense for me to apply for a 5 or 10 year tourist visa.

Would I as a non-Indian USC qualify to apply for a 5 year visa or even a 10 year visa?

After we are married is there a special visa I may qualify for as a spouse of an Indian national?

Thanks!

You can apply for PIO card, which is more like perm resident card and you can enter and exit without restriction.

[ELW 5]

As for the tourist visa, how do the 6 month entries work? For instance, I am planning on visiting my fiance in January 2012, then coming back for his interview which should be in April/May 2012. Would it be possible for me to re-enter India using the same 6 month entry or would I still have to wait 2 months due to the restriction?

Unfortunately, the rule that you must stay out of the country for two months after visiting India on a tourist visa, is strict regardless of time spent in the county. So, you could come to spend only one month in India, then you would have to leave for two months, then you could enter the country again. The irritating rules were made after some terrorist activity some time ago. There is a provision for special permission to enter again before two months are complete, but you would have to deal with the Indian authorities for that. You could always inquire about that while you are on your Jan 2012 visit - if you get the permission, you could make your stay longer, and if you you aren't successful, leave earlier so you can return for the visa interview. Good luck!

The Ministry of Home Affairs compiled a FAQ regarding the Tourist Visa restrictions:

FAQ-TVisa170510.pdf

[Ankitc 0]

AFAIK

even if you have PIO card or long term tourist visa you can not stay in INDIA for more than 6 months.

if you want to then You will need to registered your self within 14/30 days of the expiry of 180 days with the local FRRO.

which is very simple process.Once you get your self registered with FRRO you can stay in India till the expiration of the certificate issued by FRRO.

[Ankitc 0]

My wife(us citizen) has been living with me since last 14 months on tourist visa and she didn't have any issue after getting registered at FRRO.We have even visited other countries e.g Mauritius, Dubai, Singapore. So the two month entry rule comes into play.

All you need to do is fill out a simple re-entry permit form at Mumbai airport (or any other airport) which is also very simple (depends on immigrant officer)

QC

[Ankitc 0]

PIO CARD http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/Pio_Card2.htm

OCI CARD http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/Oci_Card2.htm

TOURIST VISA http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/tourist_visa2.htm

FRRO http://www.immigrationindia.nic.in/reg_req2.htm

Regards

[BindasGirl 0]

I am a US citizen, bf lives in India. I applied for and easily obtained the 5 year Indian Visa last year. Nothing to it.

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about applying for a 5 year or 10 year tourist visa for India.

My fiance is Indian and I have applied for the 6 month tourist visa in the past. However since I plan on making more frequent trips to India in the future, it makes more sense for me to apply for a 5 or 10 year tourist visa.

Would I as a non-Indian USC qualify to apply for a 5 year visa or even a 10 year visa?

After we are married is there a special visa I may qualify for as a spouse of an Indian national?

Thanks!

[Lynn n Sam 57]

I called Travisa Outsourcing (the India Visa Issuance company) regarding this same question right before my last Visa which I just received this past July. I told them my fiance is Indian and that I would like to get a 5 or 10 year Visa since I could possibly be traveling back and forth and they suggested that I just apply for the 6 month visa until we get married. They mentioned on their website that you are NOT guaranteed to receive the longer term visa - even if you paid for it - and this prompted my call to them. I didn't want to waste the money just in case. This immigration process and traveling back and forth is quite expensive! I'd be curious to know if they grant you the longer term visa if you decide to go that route as I will be going back for his interview which I'm hoping is by the end of this year! Keep me posted!

Good Luck!

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

I am a US citizen, bf lives in India. I applied for and easily obtained the 5 year Indian Visa last year. Nothing to it.

Are you of Indian origin? I think that makes a huge difference.

I am not of Indian origin but I applied for the 5 year visa yesterday. Let's see what happens!

Edited September 30, 2011 by AKSinghSingh79

[Karri 0]

First time going to India I applied for and got a year visa. Got two trips out of it. Now that we are married I applied for the 10 year visa, figuring what the heck? And got it! Gonna use the 10 year visa for the first time in two weeks, yahoo. =)

[sachinky 464]

I'm just going to get Mr. Sachinky the PIO card since we're seriously considering moving to India within the next year or so.

[Nikita2Charles 31]

I am not of Indian origin but I got a 6 months, then 5 years visa, and the last one for 10years without any issues, the 1st one was for business, then later when I met my wife I asked for a 5 years, I just told them my gf is indian so i expect to be visiting India quite often between work and personal matter then they gave me the 10 years visa. Now we have a son so we plan to do an OCI for him and maybe a PIO to avoid those traveling restrictions.