Tourist Visa Vs PIO

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sunnyp2008

Registered Users (C)
We recently got our US passports. We have travel plans to visit India in about 6 weeks. I am in the process of applying for Indian Visa or PIO for this trip as OCI would take about 3-4 months as per the current timelines. On returning from India in Jan, we are planning on applying for OCI. I got following queries in this regard:

1. PIO costs $380. OCI is $275. And tourist visa for 6 mos is $60. Anyways I am going to apply for OCI on return, I save in applying for visa over PIO for this trip. So What are the advantages of PIO over Tourist Visa for this trip?

2. I got plans to buy a residential property in India during this trip. Will I able to do so on tourist visa or I need PIO or OCI for the same?

3. What is PAN number? Even NRIs need to obtain it to buy property in India?

I appreciate your responses in this regard. Thank you.
 
sunnyp2008 said:
We recently got our US passports. We have travel plans to visit India in about 6 weeks. I am in the process of applying for Indian Visa or PIO for this trip as OCI would take about 3-4 months as per the current timelines. On returning from India in Jan, we are planning on applying for OCI. I got following queries in this regard:

1. PIO costs $380. OCI is $275. And tourist visa for 6 mos is $60. Anyways I am going to apply for OCI on return, I save in applying for visa over PIO for this trip. So What are the advantages of PIO over Tourist Visa for this trip?

2. I got plans to buy a residential property in India during this trip. Will I able to do so on tourist visa or I need PIO or OCI for the same?

3. What is PAN number? Even NRIs need to obtain it to buy property in India?

I appreciate your responses in this regard. Thank you.
Click to expand...

You can apply for either OCI or PIO after you get back. On tourist visa, I think you cannot buy a residential property or you cannnot work or study. Tourist visa is for visiting india for tourist purposes (including visit relatives, family, etc), not conducting business or work or study. Only PIO or OCI allows you to buy a residential property as opposed to agricultural property, work, study, and conduct business. OCI and PIO have same benefits. Only differences are fees, validity, and police requirement (PIO requires you to register police every month if you stay more than 180 days and OCI doesn't).

and for PAN number, I think it is important for NRI needs it to buy an immovable property worth Rs 5 lakh and above. see http://nrifinanceguide.com/2008/07/...y-you-need-permanent-account-number-in-india/
 
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