Long Stays in India: FRRO Registration, Visa Limits and OCI Rights

The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), or the local Foreigners Registration Office, keeps track of foreign nationals who stay for long periods. The Bureau of Immigration sets out who must register:

• Foreign nationals on a student, employment or medical visa, or a work visa for missionary purposes, valid for more than 180 days, within 14 days of arrival.
• Business visa holders whose stay in India passes 180 days in a calendar year, or 180 days in one continuous stay.
• Holders of any other visa, except on an official or diplomatic passport, once their stay passes 180 days in a calendar year or on a single visit.
• Pakistani nationals within 24 hours of arrival, unless their visa is endorsed otherwise; Bangladeshi nationals staying more than six months continuously within 14 days.

Children under 12 do not register, OCI cardholders are exempt, and citizens of Nepal and Bhutan need neither a visa nor registration. Registration and every other visa service are online, on the e-FRRO portal at indianfrro.gov.in. The Bureau of Immigration warns that overstaying, not registering or not filing required forms brings penalties, prosecution or both under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and can count against future visas.

For a family member on a foreign passport without an OCI card, the visa decides how long they can stay.

• e-Tourist visa, 30 days: valid for 30 days from first arrival, with multiple entries.
• e-Tourist visa, one or five years: multiple entries, but no more than 180 days in India in one calendar year (1 January to 31 December). The Bureau of Immigration applies the same 180-day yearly cap to a paper tourist visa, or both together.
• e-Visas of every kind are non-extendable and non-convertible, and tourist visas are not extended or converted either.
• Entry (X-1) visa: the category for persons of Indian origin and for the foreign spouse and foreign children of an Indian citizen or an OCI cardholder. The e-Visa portal's e-Miscellaneous visa for the e-Entry purpose runs for three months from first entry. For longer stays the Entry visa comes from an Indian mission, and the 180-day registration rule above applies to it.

If the family's plan is a long stay, choose the visa before travelling: a tourist visa cannot be turned into anything else once you are in India. Our India e-Visa guide covers the e-Visa types.

The Bureau of Immigration allows foreign nationals who cannot leave within their visa's validity for a justifiable reason, such as a medical emergency, to apply for the appropriate visa service on e-FRRO. The application has to be made while the current visa is still valid and while you are in India, with time for processing. If it is not granted before the visa expires, you must leave; staying on is treated as a wilful illegal overstay.

The OCI card is a multiple-entry, lifelong visa, and its holder is exempt from FRRO registration for any length of stay. The Ministry of Home Affairs attaches conditions:

• Keep a valid foreign passport throughout: staying in India without one is illegal even with an OCI card.
• An OCI cardholder who is normally resident in India emails the local FRRO whenever their permanent address or occupation changes.
• Research, missionary or tabligh work, mountaineering, journalism and visits to protected, restricted or prohibited areas need special permission or a permit.
• An OCI cardholder may take up employment without an employment visa, but cannot vote, hold constitutional posts or buy agricultural land, farmhouses or plantation property.
• After five years as an OCI cardholder and twelve months' ordinary residence in India, an adult may apply for Indian citizenship.

A foreign spouse who reaches the two-year mark can apply for OCI from inside India through the local FRRO, but not while on a tourist, missionary or mountaineering visa: the ministry asks for a long-duration visa with at least three months' validity and the FRRO registration certificate. Our page on mixed-nationality families explains who qualifies, and OCI or e-Visa compares the two for shorter visits.

Under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, the person who provides accommodation reports a foreign guest, OCI cardholders included, on Form III (formerly Form C) to the registration officer within 24 hours of arrival and again within 24 hours of departure. The Bureau of Immigration's definition of accommodation covers rented accommodation, home stays, hostels, paying-guest houses and religious and charitable premises as well as hotels, so a landlord letting a flat to an overseas relative files it too. Hospitals report foreign patients the same way.

Two family events also go to the FRRO. A child born in India to a foreign parent is reported within 30 days for a visa and exit permit, unless an Indian-citizen parent keeps the child's Indian citizenship. And an Indian citizen who takes another nationality while living in India surrenders the Indian passport and applies to the FRRO within 30 days. For day-to-day money and phones during a long stay, see money and SIM cards for NRI visitors, and for the rest of the family's questions our NRI planning hub.