Hey everyone!
I am currently in Mumbai, India, working. I am leaving on the first of january to start travelling, still on my business visa.. I was planning to extend my visa for another 6 months but it has come to my information that it is not possible for foreigners (or only tourists?) to stay longer than 6 months in india per year. But since i have got a business visa atm, shouldnt it be possible to get a tourist visa once the business visa runs out? Do you guys think i would have to leave the country (i.e. Sri Lanka/Nepal) and apply at the indian embassy there? pl pl help 😊
thanks a lot
Reply to this Hello Tim 😊
According to my Lonely Planet book for India 14 day visa extentions are the only ones given and only under exceptional circumstances.
Yes, you would need to leave the country to get a 6 month tourist visa. Maybe flying to Thailand would be an option if you can get a cheap flight. Getting an Indian visa there involves buying a flight to India at a travel agents in Bangkok. They take your passport for a week and give it back with the Indian visa in it. I dont know what applying in Nepal or Sri Lanka would involve.
Mel
Reply to this thanks for the info!
I have talked to some of my colleagues and funnily enough ... it obviously depends on the time scale from when the indian govt counts it. Why didnt i think of that? 😊 Either the calendar year (Jan to Dec) or the financial year (may to apr) ... as a foreigner cant stay longer than 6 months in india due to taxation reasons, it is very likely that it's the financial year.. which is great. hopefully this solves all my problems!
Reply to this Hey TDL, I think the best way is to visit the FRRO office and I am sure they would be able to help you by extending your stay,, tc
Reply to this I think the visa time starts from the date of issue of the visa. It does for the 6 month ones anyway. Maybe your visa ends in the month it stared.
Reply to this thx mohit, will drop by once ive got some spare time.
uhm what i meant @ mell, was that the indian state does not prohibit a person from staying in india for longer than 6 months, but that it is being countred by either the calendar or the financial year .. so if ive got a visa for 6 months from june to december (or respectively from october to march) that i could get another 6 month visa from january until june (/may to october) :D i hope it is that way... would sort out everything!
Reply to this 
