Keyser

it was discovered after the attacks happened in mumbai in 2008 that pakistani-american david headley had made several frequent trips to india before the attacks in order to gather video & gps information on behalf of the plotters....the 2 month period is not a measure to secure safety but to secure against these regular visits that can lead to something....

GUWonder

Frequent regular visits within 2 months by foreigners with visas are not a requirement for terrorist attacks to occur, so institution of such a dog and pony show measure as a result of that tragedy is yet another farce done in the name of "security".

Most terrorist attacks in India -- with no exception for even the segment of attacks attributed to foreigners there (which have injured and killed poorer people in astronomically larger numbers than what occurred in November 2008 in Bombay) -- don't involve entry into India with a visa.

This is but a CYA move by the establishment players interested in remaining establishment players who wanted to proclaim to have done something, anything by pretending as if something "effective" was being done even against a re-play of the past occurring in the future.

If the Home Ministry clowns believe this is effective, they are in the market to buy a surface bridge between the US and India.

See above. Establishment players need to try to retain that which they have for themselves. Including in the aftermath of tragedy.

One of the other concerns driving this? Foreigners working and doing business in India while on visas with a purpose that is not for doing business or work in India on a longer-term basis. "Foreign competition".

Keyser

i never said its a requirement for terror attacks....i never even said this rule makes sense....i just stated the reason why its been put in place....

there are a dozen other things the government could have done which would have been more effective than this rule but now that they have put this in place there is nothing anyone can do....

GUWonder

I think this limitation is going to be placed on the path of the dodo bird before the decade is over. Business interests and their bought parties will eventually make sure of that.

If I am wrong, it will show eventually.

Keyser

i hope it doesn't take that long....

abhilife2001

+1
I believe the above is also the reason for the schengen rule of 90 days every 180 days say.. They want to restrict persons coming on business visas and resorting to activities that can be classified as work .. Many other countries including Russia also have the same rules..

rathin100

Absolutely correct. And the rule makes sense to me. If you want to come to India multiple times there are other visas that can be obtained, that let you do so.

rathin100

Correct. A legitimate concern Like with any other country I know of , if you want to work in the country, get a work visa.

oliver2002

Another thing was foreigners living as 'tourists' in India with 5 or 10 year visas that allow max stay of 180 days only each visit. They usually did a quick tour home or to KTM/BKK and returned to Goa/Varanasi etc. The two month rule tries to put a stop to that.

I recently got a 6month tourist visa for my family, the 2 month rule is clearly waived on those by default.

Mark_mnl

That would be nice but that doesn't appear to be the case. The two-month rule applies to all tourist visas regardless of how long the initial visit is. If you, for instance, live in BKK and fly round trip to DEL for a week, you will not be allowed back in for two months even if you only have a 6-month multiple entry tourist visa. You will be allowed back in for a non-tourist visit subject to visa approval.

As you note, the purpose of the rule was to put a stop to perpetual "tourists" who were doing visa runs every 6 months with their 5- or 10-year multiple entry visas. It is dumb that the rule also applies to 6-month visas but it does.

The official rules are here. It is possible to visit a neighboring country from India and then fly back to India on a tourist visa without advance permission but entry is entirely at the discretion of immigration inspectors. Keyser notes some have been denied entry while travel forums such as this one are full of testimonials from people who have done this successfully with supporting documentation such as a printed out travel itinerary and ticket bookings.

Foreign tourists have apparently gone back-and-forth across the Wagah land-border crossing between India and Pakistan without incident so short side-visits to other countries are possible. You just have to have all your documents lined up and hope the immigration supervisor is not having a bad day.

Mark_mnl

It would also be nice if India were to adopt such a straight-forward rule as the EU and Japan have and the U.S. (unofficially?) has. Instead, though, it has implemented the two-month rule which applies even if your visit is a 4-day trip from Singapore or Bangkok. I don't know of any other countries that have implemented such a restriction on multiple entry visas -- the reason might have to do with entry records not being computerized and stored in a central database or that India does not want to trouble immigration inspectors with flipping through passports and counting the total number of days spent in the country.

abhilife2001

AFAIK, entry / exit records are computerised and are stored in a central db..
Yes, there can be measures taken to make the visa process more simple but we are in no way able to influence that ..

US has a max stay period of 180 days right ? and this can be renewed with a quich hop over the border if I am correct ?

Mark_mnl

Hmm, then the rule really doesn't make sense. But then that's never been a requirement of Indian bureaucracy...

6 months with a tourist (B2) visa and 90 days under visa waiver program, if I recall correctly. However, trips to other Caribbean or North American countries do not reset the length of permitted stay. Trips outside North America do but people can and are denied entry if their trips are too frequent or too long in the opinion of the immigration inspector.

I'm not sure if there is an official rule in place but various people have indicated that you should plan to spend as much time out as inside the U.S. to avoid problems on entry. European retirees who own vacation homes in Florida are apparently supposed to spend at least half the year outside the U.S.