JC in India

Visas / Immigration / formalities

Depending on which country you are coming from, getting an Indian visa can be either easy, or incredibly painful. Thankfully there are a large number of countries which now qualify for e-visa status, and if you are lucky enough to be travelling from one of these then this will make things much easier. E-visas can be used for both leisure and business purposes, and do not come with the cumbersome requirements of physical signatures, letters of invitation etc. etc. 

Do beware of fake sites which try to lure you into paying extra for ‘help’ in the applications though, each of which are surprisingly realistic. The only site you should use for applications (paper or e-visa) is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in from which a range of links will send you to the relevant sections. Admittedly it may not be the easiest site to navigate or form boxes to complete, and I have heard of people having challenges to make it all work but with perseverance it is easier than it used to be.

If you are coming on an employment visa then this is obviously a paper-based process and will require various documents from your employer, and I would expect they would provide all relevant support. 

Additionally, once established in India you will need to apply for an e-FRRO, (FRRO = Foreign Regional Registration Office, with the ‘e’ meaning it can be provided remotely). This is basically an addition to your employment visa and is the formalisation of your right to live and work in India as a foreigner. The validity of the e-FRRO is linked to your visa so both go hand in hand. Application for such is similar to that required for getting the employment visa but will also require copies of accommodation lease or hotel confirmations for long term stays, i.e. a formal address in India. 

Achieving the e-FRRO will then unlock the ability to get a PAN number, which is your tax designator against which all tax paid is reconciled. This again requires an application process online, but once you have mastered the e-FRRO and Employment visa then this is just a natural progression. Once you have this completed you will be truly entitled to live, work, bank and pay tax in India (banks require an e-FRRO in order to open an account).

One thing to note is that an employment visa / e-FRRO is (at time of writing) only valid for one year and needs to be renewed prior to expiry. This is a process which can be commenced 60 days in advance of its expiry, and while the application is under review you are technically not supposed to leave India until it has been granted. It is generally quoted as taking up to 14 days to process, but my experience is this is usually done in only a couple of days. You do not need to physically submit your passport, as the extension is done as a revalidation of the e-FRRO document. Therefore, once one year is completed the physical employment visa in your passport (assuming that’s the process that was followed) will show an expired date, and so you will always need to travel with your e-FRRO document also, as this will be checked as your visa. Worth a note that when checking into most hotels in India as a foreigner you need to show your visa also, so it will be necessary to take the e-FRRO document with you even domestically.

Another important thing to remember is that to leave India it is required to show proof of having been allowed to be in India. i.e. a copy of your visa/e-FRRO. Technically India can refuse your departure if your permission to be there in the first place cannot be proved. Expect these documents to be checked thoroughly when checking into an outbound flight. It is also worth noting that there is a huge level of importance given to correct taxes having been paid in India (hence some of the international bank transfer challenges I shall describe later). Therefore, on final departure from India you would only technically be allowed to exit the country having proven you are up to date with taxes. In reality I am not sure how this would be checked if you just left with a still valid e-FRRO document / visa. However, an employment visa is linked to actual employment and will expire when the employment ends. In this situation you will need to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) in order to leave the country.

The final legal document you can apply for, but are under no obligation to do so, is the Aadhar card. This is only available to an expat after 6 months of living in the country, and requires biometrics to be recorded, photo’s to be taken and a similar level of document verification to occur in parallel. This is useful to have as it simplifies certain processes with respect to banking, taxes and what is known as the Provident Fund, which is the equivalent of a National Pension style scheme which you / your company may be paying into and you may seek to withdraw from on leaving India, or when allowed depending on your home countries welfare agreements with India. For me personally as British I cannot withdraw any Provident Fund contributions until I reach the age of 58. However, such nuances vary by country, and I recommend specialist financial advice in this field if it applies. 

The other benefit of an Aadhar card is that it is recognised as being proof of being ‘Indian’. As a result, if you hold one you can pay local prices for entry to venues where there is differential pricing between Indians and Foreigners. It is unlikely you will recoup the relatively high cost of the Aadhar card this way (about 10,000 INR), but it has value in the astonishment factor when you can announce yourself as Indian and they must accept the fact.

Overall, it is necessary to be prepared for Indian bureaucracy to be quite cumbersome in the set-up phase. Although to be fair once you have all the relevant paperwork required which is basically comprising of passport details, family details (there is a particular penchant to referring to the father as being responsible hence details of them required on occasion), employment contracts, and apartment leases it is not that complicated. And once all achieved it becomes relatively simple to renew as required.

The only other thing to note is that the countries administration, online shopping, banking etc., is all built on the provision of OTP’s (One Time Passcodes) delivered to your registered mobile phone. Logging into the e-FRRO portal for example requires an OTP. Checking Provident Fund balances requires an OTP. Buying pretty much anything online requires an OTP. Therefore, getting set up with an Indian mobile is high up there on the priority list. This can be done quickly at the airport on arrival if you want a temporary SIM/number, which is relatively cheap and only requires provision of passport details for proof of ID. However, for longer term dealings it will be better to have a fully contracted number and keep consideration of potentially needing this after leaving India for further financial transaction access. The catch 22 being you cannot have an Indian number if you are not permitted to live and work in India, i.e. if your visa has expired. So, you could need to set this up via an intermediary in some way.