a_f_d

I was going to say that but I thought Douglas would accuse me of being techy <vbg>

AndyD 8-)#

rob50

This information was from my advocate, so I can't answer this without getting my mental chhoppers around The Registration Act 1908 . Nevertheless, I will ask her next time we meet.

Remy-Ireland

Hi all,

Investigations into Foreign Nationals purchasing property in Goa begins.
Read the following link for yourselves,

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/06...fia-43383.html

Goodluck,

Remy

noni

Hi,
Have a look at www.hindu.com/2007/06.2414hdline.

To-day's The Hindu newspaper.

Noni

Douglas M

Hi Noni,

My link wouldnt work, interesting article once i found it. For the benefit of others who cannot access , i paste the article below.

regards
douglas



Date:23/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/23/s...2352630300.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Karnataka - Others

FEMA cases: Goa decides to expand scope of probe

Prakash Kamat


They involve land and property deals entered into by foreigners with local people since 1999





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
73 such cases are under Enforcement Directorate investigation
Foreign Registration Office has confirmed the violations

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


PANAJI: Even as the Enforcement Directorate is probing 73 cases of prima facie violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in land and property deals by foreigners in Goa during the last three years, the State Government ha s now decided to expand the scope of its probe into such cases beyond the past three years — right up to 1999 — when FEMA, which triggered the violations, became operational.

The 73 cases in question have been forwarded to the Enforcement Directorate by a State Government committee probing the violations of land and property deals by foreigners in Goa.

The cases with prima facie proof of violations in the matter of land and property purchase deals by foreigners in the State have been confirmed by Foreign Registration Office (FRO), Anupam Kishore, Joint Secretary, Debt Management, who is heading the State Government Committee, told The Hindu on Friday.

79 more to be sent

He said that while the committee was probing 480 cases initially and forwarded 73 cases to the Enforcement Directorate, 79 more cases with prima facie evidence of violations as confirmed by the FRO will soon be sent to the directora te.

Realising the seriousness of the problem, the State Government has now asked the committee to probe cases beyond the three-year period, and as such, more cases dating back to the introduction of FEMA itself are going to be probed, Mr. Kishore said.

Sources in the State Government said that Chief Secretary J.P. Singh has sought a review of the work of the committee in the next 10 days after Chief Minister Digambar Kamat sought to know the position of the probe.

The sources said that based on the report in each case, it was decided whether it should be handed over to the Enforcement Directorate or the Reserve Bank of India or in some cases, to Registrar of Companies for further investigation. The FRO has been actively associated with the probe.

The issue of alleged violations of laws by foreigners in purchasing property in the State was taken up seriously by the State Government after it was raised by various political parties and citizens last year. Following a preliminary inquiry by the State Home Department, it was found that a majority of the cases of clandestine land and property deals by foreigners on tourist visa and without proper documents have predominantly taken place in the State’s tourist coastal belt. As for instance, 351 cases were found in Bardez taluk of north Goa alone.

The possibility of the Russian drug mafia also associated with the illegal land deals in Goa added to the concern when the mention to this effect was found in the last report of the National Security Council.

However, Mr. Kishore said that this aspect was not part of the committee’s investigation.

As a preventive step, then Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane had banned registration of land deals based on mere affidavits and instead directed them to route all applications of foreigners for registration to the Home Department, which, in turn, sent them for obtaining a clearance from the State Police.

In the aftermath of the Government action, several cases of overstaying foreigners and also those doing businesses such as running liquor outlets and restaurants without following legal procedures had come to light.

The Police Department also stepped up its vigilance against the diverse illegal actions of over-staying foreigners on tourist visas. A number of foreigners and history-sheeters were sought to be deported by the police.

The State also witnessed protests by activist groups and farmers against purchase of agricultural land by foreigners in alleged clandestine deals.





© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

Douglas M

Hi All,

On the subject of lock in , i have just found a 2004 Q and A session by an accountant that refers to the three year lock in. Pasted below for reference.

Since then i have found a 2006 FEMA amendment that refers to an easing of this lock in for pios and nris. No mention of FNs in the easing though, so i presume it still stands for FNs.

douglas

Repatriation under FEMA

Type of property which can be transferred: A person resident outside India may hold, own, transfer or invest in Indian currency, security or any immovable property situated in India if such currency, security or property was acquired, held or owned by such person when he was resident in India or inherited from a person who was resident in India. (Section 6 (5) of FEMA)

Prior permission of RBI required: A person referred above or his successor would need prior permission of the Reserve Bank to repatriate outside India the sale proceeds of any immovable property.

Conditions for repatriation: In the event of sale of immovable property other than agricultural land/ farm house/ plantation property in India by a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin, the authorised dealer will allow repatriation of the sale proceeds outside India, only if the following conditions are satisfied:

the immovable property was acquired by the seller in accordance with the provisions of the foreign exchange law in force at the time of acquisition by him or the provisions of these Regulations;

the sale takes place after three years from the date of acquisition of such immovable property or from the date of payment of final instalment of consideration for its acquisition, whichever is later;

the amount to be repatriated does not exceed

(a) the amount paid for acquisition of the immovable property in foreign exchange received through normal banking channels or out of funds held in Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account, or

(b) the foreign currency equivalent, as on the date of payment, of the amount paid where such payment was made from the funds held in Non-Resident External account for acquisition of the property; and

in the case of residential property, the repatriation of sale proceeds is restricted to not more than two such properties.

Douglas M

Hi All,

Just found the original notification ref three year lock in and repatriation.




Date: May 17, 2000
Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India) Regulations, 2000
Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India) Regulations, 2000

Notification No.FEMA 21 /2000-RB dated 3rd May 2000


RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

(EXCHANGE CONTROL DEPARTMENT)

CENTRAL OFFICE

MUMBAI 400 001


In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (i) of sub-section (3) of Section 6, subsection (2) of Section 47 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), the Reserve Bank of India makes the following regulations, namely: -


1.
Short title and commencement :-


i)
These Regulations may be called the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India) Regulations, 2000.


ii)
They shall come into force on 1st day of June 2000.


2.
Definitions :-


In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -


a)
'Act' means the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999);


b)
'An authorised dealer' means a person authorised as an authorised dealer under sub-section (1) of section 10 of the Act;


c)
'a person of Indian origin' means an individual (not being a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Afghanistan or China or Iran or Nepal or Bhutan), who


(i)
at any time, held Indian passport;


or


(ii)
who or either of whose father or whose grandfather was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955);


d)
'repatriation outside India' means the buying or drawing of foreign exchange from an authorised dealer in India and remitting it outside India through normal banking channels or crediting it to an account denominated in foreign currency or to an account in Indian currency maintained with an authorised dealer from which it can be converted in foreign currency;


e)
the words and expressions used but not defined in these Regulations shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.


3.
Acquisition and Transfer of Property in India by an Indian Citizen resident outside India:-


A person resident outside India who is a citizen of India may -


a)
acquire any immovable property in India other than agricultural/plantation/farm house, and


b)
transfer any immovable property in India to a person resident in India.


c)
transfer any immovable property other than agricultural or plantation property or farm house to a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or to a person of Indian origin resident outside India.


4.
Acquisition and Transfer of Property in India by a Person of Indian origin


A person of Indian origin resident outside India may -


(a)
acquire any immovable property other than agricultural land/farm house/ plantation property in India by purchase, from out of (i) funds received in India by way of inward remittance from any place outside India or (ii) funds held in any non-resident account maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the regulations made by the Reserve Bank under the Act;


(b)
acquire any immovable property in India other than agricultural land / farm house / plantation property by way of gift from a person resident in India or from a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or from a person of Indian origin resident outside India;


(c)
acquire any immovable property in India by way of inheritance from a person resident outside India who had acquired such property in accordance with the provisions of the foreign exchange law in force at the time of acquisition by him or the provisions of these Regulations or from a person resident in India;


(d)
transfer any immovable property in India other than agricultural land/farm house/plantation property, by way of sale to a person resident in India;


(e)
transfer agricultural land/farm house/ plantation property in India, by way of gift or sale to a person resident in India who is a citizen of India;


(f)
transfer residential or commercial property in India by way of gift to a person resident in India or to a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or to a person of Indian Origin resident outside India.


5.
Acquisition of Immovable Property for carrying on a permitted activity:-


A person resident outside India who has established in India in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management (Establishment in India of Branch or Office or other Place of Business) Regulations, 2000, a branch, office or other place of business for carrying on in India any activity, excluding a liaison office, may -


a)
acquire any immovable property in India, which is necessary for or incidental to carrying on such activity;


Provided that


i)
all applicable laws, rules, regulations or directions for the time being in force are duly complied with; and


ii)
the person files with the Reserve Bank a declaration in the form IPI annexed to these regulations, not later than ninety days from the date of such acquisition;


b)
transfer by way of mortgage to an authorised dealer as a security for any borrowing, the immovable property acquired in pursuance of clause (a).


6.
Repatriation of sale proceeds:-


(a)
A person referred to in sub-section (5) of Section 6 of the Act, or his successor shall not, except with the prior permission of the Reserve Bank, repatriate outside India the sale proceeds of any immovable property referred to in that sub-section;


(b)
In the event of sale of immovable property other than agricultural land/farm house /plantation property in India by a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin, the authorised dealer may allow repatriation of the sale proceeds outside India, provided the following conditions are satisfied, namely:


(i)
the immovable property was acquired by the seller in accordance with the provisions of the foreign exchange law in force at the time of acquisition by him or the provisions of these Regulations;


(ii)
the sale takes place after three years from the date of acquisition of such immovable property or from the date of payment of final instalment of consideration for its acquisition, whichever is later; and ;

(iii)
the amount to be repatriated does not exceed (a) the amount paid for acquisition of the immovable property in foreign exchange received through normal banking channels or out of funds held in Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account or (b) the foreign currency equivalent ,as on the date of payment, of the amount paid where such payment was made from the funds held in Non-Resident External account for acquisition of the property;


(iv)
in the case of residential property, the repatriation of sale proceeds is restricted to not more than two such properties.


7.
Prohibition on acquisition or transfer of immovable property in India by citizens of certain countries


No person being a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal or Bhutan without prior permission of the Reserve Bank shall acquire or transfer immovable property in India, other than lease, not exceeding five years.


8.
Prohibition on transfer of immovable property in India :-


Save as otherwise provided in the Act or Regulations, no person resident outside India shall transfer any immovable property in India:-


Provided that the Reserve Bank may, for sufficient reasons, permit the transfer, subject to such conditions as may be considered necessary.


( P.R. GOPALA RAO)

Executive Director




Top


© Reserve Bank of India. All Rights Reserved. Best viewed in 1024x768 resolution in IE 5 and above.

Douglas M

Hi Again,

For those deluded non resident FNs and newbies that didnt get to read down to sec 8 and probably will never even own immovable property in india, locked in or otherwise, i paste it again below. For the newbies "transfer" includes buy

Prohibition on transfer of immovable property in India :-


Save as otherwise provided in the Act or Regulations, no person resident outside India shall transfer any immovable property in India:- Provided that the Reserve Bank may, for sufficient reasons, permit the transfer, subject to such conditions as may be considered necessary.

babu1

Small correction, to avoid further confusion : FormI & XIV is issued upon application to the mamlatdar's office, the talathi of mutation, which in Mapusa"s case is a step beyond the far end of the market at the most stinking part where there is a stagnant nullah which is an open sewer.

Village Panchayat's have no binding authority to mutate, though I know they have done so most likely for cash donations to the Sequera Retirement Fund, now Fernandes Family Mafia PVT. These "mutations" would not stand up as valid if questioned. Mutation takes place both as a one sheet paper document and now on a computer database. This is open to public inspection and can be accessed at computer terminals or on application at the Talathi Office. Anyone can find out if you are properly mutated by researching your survey No. in the Town & Country Planning Office, Panjim and using the number to access the Form I & XIV record.

An advocate has interpreted that where a Deed Of Sale has been registered, but Mutation not completed, failure to mutate would render the properly registered Deed of Sale null and void as would the purchase. However, you can file a petition to ask the mamlatdar to state in writing the reasons for rejection of mutation, and that seems like very shaky ground to me.

By June/July 2006 the Talathi Office started to refuse application by all foreigners to mutate Form I & XIV, similar to the Sub Registrar's Office refusal to register Sale Deeds. Application to mutate files have been forwarded to the Home Department, another piece in the jigsaw of information that is being compiled and demanded, with the FRO at Panjim a major conduit for information gathering.

It was interesting that in August last year while getting the Resident Permit at 14 days arrival at the FRO, the lady was uncharacteristically pleasant, a broad grin on her otherwise surly face as she sent me running around not only for the usual xerox's but every visa to India, entry and exit, even from my last passport which expired 5 years ago.

Last month an elderly foreign couple were given their 15 days notice to leave India. They sold up in the UK 4 years ago, shipped out their furniture to Calangute at a cost of 4,000 pounds, but luckily never bought a property. 7 months ago they had a difficult time doing their annual renewal of their Resident's Permit but, eventually, got it. They have not left India for more than 4 years ; applied through the FRO, Panjim for an extension to their Visa within the due time, and were slapped with a notice to quit India within 14 days. A trip to the Indian Consulate in Bangkok resulted in a refusal to issue more than a 6 month tourist visa. Since they don't fancy the idea of country hopping "visa runs", and are sickened at the way they have been treated they're taking their retirement pensions elsewhere.

So why does FEMA include "retired" as a possible condition for a foreign national to obtain resident status, then the FRO is now telling people in a very racist manner to "retire in your own country - we don't want you retiring here"?

Regarding Affidavits that have been submitted to the Sub Registrar, these have been substantiating documents simply to back up application to register the Deed Of Sale. If your Advocate did it properly, there will also have been notarised xerox's of your passport and visa showing more than 182 days, which at least meets part of FEMA. In my case (freehold), I do not see the Affidavit as an attempt to circumvent due process but infact to reinforce it since all other documents were submitted.

Douglas M

Hi babu1

Nice piece full of info, just one query, i dont think FEMA specifically says that retired is or was a possible condition for residency. Although in my case HCI london issued me an x visa back in 2005 on that basis and the FRO panjim certainly accepted it initially.

The way i am now reading it is that retirement would probably fulfill the FEMA requirement for intention to stay for a undetermined period of time. In addition you would have to have a suitable purpose which is an immigration issue.

Retirement appears to be an unacceptable suitable purpose for immigration purposes, immigration are looking for vocation, profession , marriage connections.

The reason FRO is saying those ( in our eyes ageist and racist) things about retirees is because the home dept is telling them to and the reason the home dept is telling them to is because they dont want long term FNs in goa.

They are quite entitled not to want FNs living in their country and under the visa system it is a simple operation to exclude them

regards
douglas

noni

Hi Babu and welcome

To save me retyping my letter from the Directorate of Enforcement received in February, you will see all we had to supply them with on www.indiamike.com page 11 thread 301.
"If it moved, we had to photocopy it", even blank pages of the passport, residency books, etc.

Hi, Douglas - we were told by the Advocate whilst going through this D of E paperwork that we had to be retired to have bought!! As you say you don't know what to believe. Depends which side of the bed, and whose bed they get out of in the morning.:curse:

A friend is going to Birmingham tomorrow for renewal of her 5 year x visa. She has lived over there the last three years, owns her own property - will be very interesting to see what visa she get.

Remy-Ireland

Yes Noni,
Please let us all know what type of visa she gets.

Cheers,
Remy

noni

:curse::curse:

VERY DISAPPOINTED ONLY ONE YEAR X. AT BIRMINGHAM


Douglas - how will we loose out if we only accept a tourist visa, as this would suit us at the moment? Naturally going for the 5 year x RENEWAL and seeing what we get

Douglas M

Hi Noni,

Second para first, if you only get a tourist visa you will lose all the privileges of residency, such as general permission to buy property, motor vehicles, bottled gas, maintain resident bank account etc.

If you are a six monther and you are happy to leave the country every six months in practice it isnt a great hardship. However your connection with india is obviously less if you have a tourist visa (non resident) rather than a visa that contributes to residency.

As you were resident at the time of purchase of your property, you should be able to sell should you wish, even if you are non resident at the time of sale, but you may need rbi permission to do so.

I am pleased that your friends got a year x visa on the one hand , but surprised on the other hand. I am presuming that they are retired and that is their intention and reason to stay in india and their circumstances have not changed. I wonder if they are operating a kind of reducing plea bargaining system at HCI irrespective of compliance, ie you go in with a 5 and ask for a 5 and they give you a 1. You go in with a 1 and ask for a 1 and they give you tourist. If so, your friends will maybe get a tourist next time?

Faced with this kind of uncertainty, my advice remains to get out if you can.

kind regards
douglas

noni

Thanks
No - my friend is only early 40's and has lived there for 3 years continuously and on and off the other 2 years. She has just sold a house in Goa - cash in bank and "bought" a flat. (Flat of course, not registered yet) Another couple who just holiday there for six months in their Apartment, have on expirey of their 5 year x just got 2 year x from London.

Of course, we will go for the 5 year x and see what they come up with, but will leave it until nearer November. I just wanted to know what difference it would make if we only got a tourist visa. Naturally if they offered us a 1 year x we would take it, and hope that common sense will prevail, in the coming year. If only they would give you a tourist visa from the date you were travelling, that would help. But if there is a hard way of doing things they will find it!

How is Mrs. D.?

Regards Noni.

p.s. We have monsoon weather here flooding, gales, cold.