About Foreigners buying land/properties in Goa - II
In general, it seems there are only.. Two Simple Rules: 1. You have to be in Goa at least for 6 months (182 days) in the previous/preceding financial year (April 1 to March 30). 2. You intention to live in Goa for a long period or uncertain period. That all you have to show/prove to legally buy or own any property (except agricultural) in Goa. And how would you do/prove that ? Thats a tricky question. Well, lets take the above Rules one by one: Rule 1: You are treated resident of India/Goa if you lived there for at least 182 days in the preceding year. If you do stay in Goa for the above minimum required period, dont think you would get one Residence Certificate from local Panchayat or RBI (Reserve Bank of India) automatically. No such documents available to prove your stay in Goa but the following should help: A. Your Passport showing Immigration rubber Stamps both landing and departure at the airport e.g. Dabolim. B. All foreigners with VISA validity for more than 180 days are required to register with the Police (Foreign Dept) within 14 days of arrival in India. If you have registered yourself, then here you have another proof. Regn. No. usually starts like this.. and may be stamped/endorsed on your passport Pananji Goa, RC/RP No.101/ PORT/2005 (PORT if Portuguese; GBR, GER/ITA etc) Dated 15/04/2005 IMP: (I) Foreigners of Indian Origin with long term VISA are also required to register with the police if their continuous stay in Goa likely to exceed 180 days (unless you are a holder of PIO card or OCI -dual citizenship) (II). Tourist Visas are usually of 6 months duration and are not extendable in India. You cannot buy land during your first visit on Tourist VISA Rule 2: You have to comply with the condition of the purpose/intention of stay so as to establish your Indian residency. It is nothing but the Habitual Residency Test that exists in UK. Even tourists from other European countries used to claim UKs Income Support and other State benefits and hence the above HRT test was introduced in UK around 1996. Your purpose or intention to stay in Goa for uncertain period could be any thing from Employment, Business, Vocation or for any other purpose, that would indicate your intention to stay in India for an uncertain period (This is not very clear so, it should also include settlement, retirement, permanent home etc). Again, as said above, your passport stamp details and documents from Police- Foreigners Registration Dept should serve as proof of residency in Goa. Now, all these proofs may not be required to submit to the Sub-Registrar at the time of registration of Sales Deeds, instead, the sub-registrar may insist on an Affidavit stating that you comply with the section 2 (v)(i) (B) under FEMA. Affidavit= a legal document on a stamped paper where you state that you comply with all the requirement under the act (e.g. Rule 1 & 2 above). You may have to sign this document before the Commissioner of Oath. FEMA = Foreign Exchange Management Act. There was another regulation where.. All foreigners, including Indian Origin, resident outside India, were required to complete a declaration in duplicate and submit to RBI within 90 days from the date of Acquisition of the immovable property (ref .FEMA 42 of 1999) . With details like (1) Full name and address of the acquirer who has acquired the immovable property (2) Description of immovable property, Details of its exact location (3) stating the name of the state, town and municipal/survey number, etc., Purpose for which the immovable property has been acquired (4) Date of acquisition of the immovable property (5) How the immovable property was acquired i.e, whether by way of purchase or lease (6) Name, citizenship and address of the seller, Amount of purchase price and sources of funds. It seems, this is no longer a requirement now. Your most frequently questions asked, are answered here: Now, what may happen to those who already purchased properties in Goa ? If you have submitted an affidavit and if you have proof (as above), then I would say not to worry too much. Just relax. On the other hand, if you have no proof, or you have signed the affidavit furnishing false statements, then I would say there could be a trouble ahead Goa Chief Minister has disclosed in the Assembly that the process in underway to detect the violations and necessary action as per the law will be taken on the detected violations. ...but, remember this is Goa (India), anything is possible Besides Goa, are there any other states in India where foreigners bought properties ? I know there are many in Karnataka Bangalore and sure there would in Kerala too. Can one Foreigner and one Indian Citizen or NRI jointly purchase a property? No. Can a foreign national of non-Indian origin acquire residential property on a lease in India ? Yes. A Foreign National of non-Indian origin may acquire only residential accommodation on lease, not exceeding five years for which he / she does not require prior permission of Reserve Bank of India. Can a foreign national of non-Indian origin resident outside India acquire residential / commercial property in India by way of gift ? No., a foreign national of non-Indian origin resident outside India cannot acquire residential / commercial property in India by way of gift. . Can a person resident outside India (i.e. NRI or PIO or foreign national of non-Indian origin) hold any immovable property in India acquired by way of inheritance from a person resident in India? Yes. A person resident outside India can hold immovable property acquired by way of inheritance from a person resident in India Does Reserve Bank of India or Panchayat or Municipality determine the residential status of a person for the purpose of acquisition of immovable property in India ? No. Under FEMA residential status is determined by operation of law. The onus is on an individual to prove his / her residential status if question by any other authority. If a foreign national is a person resident in India as per FEMA, does he require approval of RBI to purchase any immovable property in India ? No, he does not require approval from Reserve Bank from FEMA angle. However, approvals if any, required in terms of regulations prescribed by other authorities such as the concerned State Government etc. will have to be obtained by him / her. Are those all 482 foreigners who bought properties are of non-Indian Origin ? Good question but it is not very clear. But it seems they are all foreigners of Non Indian Origin (as Herald put it saying More than 10 lakhs sq mt property is owned by foreign nationals of non-Indian origin) If Foreigner of Indian Origin are also included in above figure, then the actual foreigners who are of non-Indian Origin could less than100 . Here is some Homework: Detect from the following cases, who is a resident of Goa/India under FEMA act ? Or Identify from the following cases, who is eligible to purchase land or property in Goa ? 1. Mr. Dominique de Virapan (from France) arrived Goa on December 15, 2005 and left Goa on 15th May, 2006. Now he is back in Goa (July) for good 2. Mr. Rom Tony Blare (from UK) arrived Goa on the first Charter flight Oct. 15, 2005 and returned back to UK on the last charter flight of the season 30th April, 2006. He is now come to Goa again (June) and wishes to run a seaside hotel by himself. 3. Mr. Giant Willy Bush (from USA) arrived Goa on April 10. 2005 and left Goa on Nov.30th 2005 He is now in Goa again, arrived July 2006 and wishes to come back here every year for about one month stay each time 4. Mr. & Mrs Bill Finton & Monica Kempsky retired couple (from US) arrived Goa last year September 20 and left Goa this year March 28. They are now back in June and wishes to buy a house for them to live together permanently in Goa. 5. M/s Angela Mackerel (from Germany) arrived Goa May 15, 2005 and left Goa Sept 20 2005. Again, he arrived January 10, 2006 and left on March 12, 2006. Just after 2 months, he is back again . He is single and wishes to spend rest of his life in Goa. 6. Mr. Jacque Xirap (of France), first arrived Goa on May 3rd, 2004 and left Dec 21st 2004. His second visit to Goa is when he arrived on May 5th 2006 and since then he is in Goa and wishes to stay permanently. Please send in your answers in a weeks time. ================================================================== Those of you who wishes to avail of JoeGoaUks professional services (via Email only), may please do so. His nominal fees as follows: All incoming emails Rs.100 per email All outgoing emails ..Just add another zero to abv (incoming Mails). Fixed rate, no matter how big or small outgoing email. It could be just one word/line/sentence/paragraph/page. Mode of payment: Through Pay Pal only (5 hundred pounds to be paid in advance as deposit). Those of you who bought land/properties during your first visit to Goa (on a 6 months tourist visa) and knowingly furnished false statement/declaration on Affidavits etc, they can contact JoeGoaUk too. However, in this type of cases, the fees starts from 2500 pounds (as 75% of the monies will go to Ministers) And those of you who are in Goa now and wishes to buy property for the first time and wishes to know if you are a resident of India/Goa under FEMA act, just write in your details. Flat Rate Rs.1500 but if more than one exchange of emails involves, then the above incoming/outgoing rule/rates apply. 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