fiddycent

Hi - I visited India last month and just got a re-entry visa to go back for a short trip due to a death in the family. They stamped my passport that I need to register at a FRRO office within 14 days. I am going only for 5 days. I am going to a small town and don't think they have a FRRO office. I checked with registering at a FRRO office in a big city but not getting a clear answer. Someone told me it normally takes 7 days just to register

Does anyone have any experience with this or any suggestions to expedite? What exactly do I need to show the airport when I am leaving from India? A copy of the registration?

Any help or advice is very much appreciated.

AJLondon

How long do you plan to be in India for?

fiddycent

5 or 6 days

AJLondon

Can you check with the Indian embassy in your country of residence, and see if they are willing to accommodate what seems a reasonable request given that you will be only in the country for under a week.

This assumes you have a passport from a country that is not "special" from a security/diplomatic perspective for India...

Keyser

which city will you be landing in or leaving from????

ukdoctor

Also try to get a PIO/OCI (if you have indian origin) for the future. I have been through the same nightmare of having to go to the Indian embassy to sort out my re entry.

I got my OCI a few months ago and its the best thing I ever did.

GUWonder

The Indian visa headaches are certainly an incentive to picking up OCI or PIO status for those granted allowances for such status.

What I have noticed from conversations with Indian diplomats and current and former Home Ministry personnel is that there has been an increase in choosing short-duration visas by Indian-origin citizens of a variety of OECD countries. That is being done significantly for reasons related to plans to acquire OCI status. [Why pay more for a five-year or ten-year Indian visa when in a 3-6 months or a year you will be paying for OCI status and thus not have any of the waiver-acquisition hassles related to re-entry within 2 months.]

oliver2002

Every time I apply for visas for my wife and sons the staff at the counter asks why I have not gone the PIO/OCI route yet. My PIO card made sense for 1000$ about ten years ago, for 160€ it makes even more sense.

NickW

If you're not intending to stay more than 180 days, you do not need to register at the FRRO (unless you're Pakistani or Afghani or some other edge case). I previously had a 6 month multiple entry visa. That was also stamped with the 'must register at FRRO' wording; but there is no such requirement unless planning to stay in India for the full duration.

http://indianfrro.gov.in/frro/

fiddycent

thanks everyone. i ended up registering at the local police station (serving as the FRO office). didnt even ask for it at the airport on the way out. i almost wanted them to after all the trouble but didnt push my luck haha.

definitely going to get the oci/pio card - just havent had a good reason to yet until now.

hyderago

Get OCI.

PIO is, in game theory lingo, strictly dominated by OCI.

SQ421

I suspect I will be asked this question when I drop my application off for an Entry Visa (category X, I think) and the answer is probably best left undiscussed with the Indian babudom.

As an aside, I actually came to this thread to post the following link.

Pretty stupid, if you ask me, to have private citizens (not just hotels and guesthouses) register any "foreign visitors" that might be residing in their residence.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/15626271.cms

The reasoning, quoted below form the article, is even more astounding. Isn't that what inbound immigration checks are for? To record who's entering the country?

SQ421

Count me in as one of them. Only tangentially.

I'm applying for a five year "entry" visa (which mercifully does not have the 2 month entry restriction) next week at a cost similar to that of an OCI. Specifically because I do not want to apply for an OCI while the Indian Government remains pig headed about the exact status of the document in question.

I do not like what, to me, seems like condescension in the following excerpt re. the OCI taken from the VFS website (and arguably, though not necessarily, directly quoted from MEA)

It is not "dual citizenship". It is a glorified permanent resident visa. Call it as such.

Secondly, every document I've come across maintains that OCI holders for all intents of purposes will be treated as an Indian Citizen. Sounds all fine and dandy; except it also follows with the caveat emptor that an OCI holder can be denied Consular Access form the country of their citizenship. Now, I doubt I'll ever need that assistance and it might seem pompous of me to even consider that as a reason, but it is what it is.

Don't call it a citizenship because it clearly is not.

I can afford to take a stand and pay for a 5 year visa every 5 years, and I'm doing it as long as it remains tenable.

/rant over

ukdoctor

The United Kingdom has made its position clear









From

http://www.heenamodi.com/2011/11/14/...atus-lose-out/

ukdoctor

You can always argue about point 1 of the statement that 'Our understanding is that the Indian authorities would not consider a person holding OCI to be a dual national,although this would be a matter for the Indian authories'

However the indian constitution does not allow dual nationality anyway so there is no question of the so called dual nationality issue.

Moreover consular access is quite different from diplomatic immunity ( most people are confused between both) and is way overhyped. If you commit a crime in India, you will be tried under Indian law anyway and the consulate would not be able to do anything Significant. You are problably better off hiring your own local lawyer.