📷 What the photo must look like

If you don't have it:

1.

Check whether you must register. On a Student, Employment or Medical visa, or a work visa (E3) for missionary work, valid for more than 180 days, register within 14 days of arriving in India. On a Business or any other visa, register if you stay more than 180 days in a calendar year in all, or in one stretch (also follow any conditions written on your e-Visa). Pakistani nationals register within 24 hours of arrival; Bangladeshi nationals staying over six months, within 14 days. Children under 12, OCI cardholders and citizens of Nepal and Bhutan need not register.

✋ You do this yourself

⏱️ within 14 days · Within 14 days of arrival on a Student, Employment, Medical or missionary visa (Pakistani nationals within 24 hours)

2.

Ask for a visa extension or conversion before your present visa expires, leaving enough time for processing; it is only for those in India. If it is not granted within the visa's validity, you must leave India; otherwise it is treated as a wilful illegal overstay.

💻 Online

3.

If you renew your passport while in India, apply for the "Change of Passport" service within 14 days. If you move house, apply for "Change of Address"; if the new address is under another FRRO, apply for "Transfer RC/RP".

💻 Online

⏱️ within 14 days · Within 14 days of renewing the passport

4.

If you have overstayed your visa or broken its conditions, you need an exit permit before you leave. If your passport is lost: report it at once to the nearest police station and to FRRO Hyderabad; get a new travel document from your country's embassy; then apply for the visa service you need on e-FRRO. Foreigners adopting an Indian child through CARA (OCI cardholders too) need exit permits.

💻 Online

📎 The report of the lost passport made at the police station (only if your passport was lost), The new passport or travel document from your country's embassy (only if your passport was lost)

💰 Fee: Overstay penalty (for most foreign nationals): 1–30 days ₹10,000; 31–90 days ₹20,000; 91–180 days ₹50,000; 181 days to a year ₹1,00,000; over a year ₹2,00,000 plus ₹50,000 for each further year or part. Some groups, such as Tibetans and Afghan nationals, have lower amounts.

5.

If one or both parents are foreign, tell the FRRO through e-FRRO within 30 days of the birth. If both parents are foreign, apply for a new visa or exit permit for the child within 90 days of the birth. If one parent is Indian and the child keeps Indian citizenship, no FRRO registration is needed; but if the child later takes another country's citizenship, tell the FRRO within 30 days.

💻 Online

⏱️ within 30 days · Tell within 30 days of the birth; if both parents are foreign, visa or exit permit within 90 days

6.

On the e-FRRO portal click "REGISTER" and create a user ID and password with your own e-mail and an Indian mobile number. OTPs and alerts all go to these. You can apply for family members from the same ID, but fill a separate form for each. Telangana is under FRRO Hyderabad.

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7.

Log in, choose the service (Registration, Visa Extension, Visa Conversion, Exit Permit and so on) and fill in the application carefully. Upload the photo and documents and submit; note the Application ID. The application counts as submitted only when the uploads are done. Apply at least 2 weeks ahead.

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📎 Scans of your passport and visa pages, The documents the portal asks for the service you choose, A recent photo of you (digital file)

8.

After the visa officers check the application, they tell you by e-mail or SMS the fee to pay, if any. Pay it online through the bank payment gateway on the portal. The fee is not refunded, and the payment cannot be cancelled or changed. Without the fee, the application is not submitted.

💻 Online

💰 Fee: Depends on the service; told by e-mail or SMS

9.

Check your e-mail every day. If you are asked to re-upload documents or called for an interview, do it by the date given: delays can bring fines or prosecution. You need not go to the office unless the FRRO calls you. When granted, the RC/RP, exit permit and so on come by e-mail, or you can download them after logging in.

💻 Online

10.

The keeper of your hotel, rented home, hostel or home stay must send your details to the FRRO online in Form III (formerly Form C) within 24 hours of your arrival and of your departure. If you rent a home, tell the owner and give them your details.

💻 Online

11.

In an emergency you can go straight to the FRRO Hyderabad office (phone 040-29880374, 040-29880375; e-mail frrohyd@nic.in). Make sure the service given there is recorded electronically: a manual permission can cause trouble at airport immigration.

🏛️ FRRO Hyderabad (Foreigners Regional Registration Office), Shamshabad

12.

Look at the list of protected and restricted areas. The Bureau of Immigration's list has: the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland; the whole of Sikkim (partly protected, partly restricted); the whole of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand; and other places the government notifies from time to time. Telangana is not in this list. "Prohibited places", such as defence areas and vital installations, need a separate permission.

💻 Online

13.

If you are in India, apply to FRRO Hyderabad for the Protected or Restricted Area Permit (PAP/RAP) at least 15 days before you want to go. For a prohibited place, apply electronically on the web portal. Even with the permit, an installation, national park or island in the area may need its own permission.

🏛️ FRRO Hyderabad (Foreigners Regional Registration Office), Shamshabad

14.

If you are abroad, apply for the PAP/RAP through the Indian Embassy or Consulate in your country at least 30 days ahead. Each office's practice can differ: see that office's website.

🏛️ The Indian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate in your country

15.

OCI cardholders need no FRRO registration, however long they stay. But if you normally live in India, tell FRRO Hyderabad by e-mail (frrohyd@nic.in) every time your permanent address or occupation changes. Keep a valid passport and your OCI card with you while in India. The keeper of the place you stay must send Form III.

🏛️ FRRO Hyderabad (Foreigners Regional Registration Office), Shamshabad

16.

Research; missionary, Tabligh, mountaineering or journalistic work; an internship or job in a foreign diplomatic mission; or visiting a Protected, Restricted or Prohibited area: OCI cardholders too need special permission first. Apply for it online on ociservices.gov.in. Telangana is not in the Bureau of Immigration's list of protected and restricted areas.

💻 Online