retire in india

[carolleb]

Hi, Im new to the forum and have some questions if anyone can answer I would be very grateful. Im carolle by the way, just joined.
Im coming to India in october first for a holiday but I want to retire there too, I found out i can only have a 6 month visa so if I retire there is it still the same and do you have to renew it every 6 months or is it different.
If you do have a 6 month visa and you just have to keep renewing it, where do you do that.

would be grateful for any help
carolle

[Kay]

Hi Carolle

Welcome to the forum. Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question but I'm sure someone else, maybe Dave, will be able to answer soon.

Are you planning to do voluntary work when you retire or do you just want to live there because you like the place? It's certainly an interesting country. I was happy to live there for a few years (in New Delhi).

Best wishes

Kay

[Dave]

Hi from me too

As far as I can tell, India doesn't recognise any special status for people wanting to retire to India - people have to abide by the conditions of the visa they've been granted. So if you have a visa which allows you to enter India for a maximum of 180 days, you have to leave before 180 days have expired and get a new visa to re-enter. (An added twist is that if you're on a tourist visa, you have to spend two clear months outside India before re-entering, so you can't just fly to a nearby country and spend a brief holiday there before returning.)

Again as far as I can tell, there's no requirement for you to return to your country of origin to apply for a new visa. As with any country that requires you to leave and obtain a fresh visa from time to time, it may be that some Indian consulates are more lenient than others when it comes to granting visa applications. But information on that kind of thing is necessarily of questionable reliability - after all, the person who's been refused an application at one place and granted one at another may have changed their application details or may simply have got up some official's nose!

[carolleb]

Actually Kay, I would love to do some voluntary work, I dont want to just sit around doing nothing. thanks for your mail too.

carolle

[carolleb]

thanks dave for answering but now that leaves me with a dilemma, if I have to leave for 2 months before I can re enter, Im not sure what I can do now because I would be living there and where do I go for 2 months, this has really put a spanner in the works.

carolle

[Kay]

Since you want to do voluntary work, if you can find a placement with an NGO then they might sort out the visa hassle for you.

The Indians don't make it particularly easy for foreigners to live there. It's difficult for business people too.

Malaysia, on the other hand, positively welcomes retirees and the govt. even has a special MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) programme. But you need a fair bit of money to get into that kind of thing. It would be nice to think we could all just go and live where we'd like to but things are never that simple unfortunately.

[carolleb]

Thanks kay but now i wont be able to come, although i would have more than enough to live in india on a monthly basis, I cannot come and then leave for 2 months every time its completely out of the question, so I have to scrap the whole idea, im so so disappointed but nothing i can do now.

[Dave]

To do voluntary work you'd need to have a different type of visa, so the requirement to leave for two clear months wouldn't apply (although you might still need to leave and re-enter, or else register with the Immigration Bureau - I'm not sure which). So don't give up on the idea just yet.