India: regulation for importing a veichle
 

Hi!
first of all we want to introduce ourselves!
We are Agata and Thomas, two italians travelling on a 21 years old Honda Transalp. We left Italy last july and are travelling so slow that haven't gone more far than Iran...

We are going to Dubai in the next days, there we will have to buy some spare parts (the wish list is getting longer everyday...) and to ship the motorbike to Islamabad (the Pakistan Consulate in Milan didn't want to give us the Visa at all so after a long bargain we managed to obtain it but only if we shipped the bike in order to avoid Balochistan, the Visa says "only villed [!?!] for Islamabad, Lahore and Gilgit").

We still don't have the Visa for India but we plan to obtain it in Pakistan (do any of you know if it is still possible to obtain 6 months single entry turist visas?).

Ok, my question is: I heard the regulation for importing a veichle in India allow you to stay 6 months inside the country and that you can extend it up to 1 year, but after I stayed 6 months in India how long do I have to stay out before beeing able to enter again?

Buona Strada to everyone!

buon giorno, hi guys

i have just been to India and i obtained my 6 month tourist visa without any problems (this allowed me to enter and exit as many times as i wanted - multiple entry- as we crossed into nepal a few times), i think you have to exit the country for 90 days before you can return once this initial visa is expired

we also met a guy who was riding a KTM adventure 990cc and he didnt have any problems getting into India.

as always in India you can use a little persuasion $ ;) and it usually gets the problem solved.

dont forget if you plan to go into Himachal pradesh or any rural regions you need to obtain an INNER LINE PERMIT - this costs about €5 and usually takes about 1 hr. but you need it to gain entry to these regions!! ie spiti valley, Leh, etc

good luck and enjoy!

If he´s just visiting (doesn´t live or work there) then I doubt that the guy had used only persuasion $ to get that KTM to India, he´s probably had to have and use the carnet as well.

I heard you have to stay out 2 months before you can ask another Tourist Visa, but I was concerned was about the motorbike... How long she (yes, is a she ;) ) has to stay out before beeing able to ride in India again? i.e. in Turkey the regulation for veichles is "6 months in and 6 months out". The bike can stay in the country up to 6 months but the 6 months right after has to stay out of the country...

Thanks for the advise! Where do we ask this permit? Do we have to ask it when we ask the Visa?

We have the Carnet, actually we will extend it for other 6 months in India. We already contacted the Indian Touring Club and it looks like it will cost us 14€. Quite a good price compared to the 170€ we had to pay in Italy to get it done... I'm loving India already! :clap:

Pardon me, if I´m asking stupid things... but I thought that the carnet is issued by the AA in your home country, that´s where the bond is placed, and so they are the ones, that handle the possible extension, too...?

Never had to extend it myself though, so I may be wrong on this, and if you can do it that cheap in India, then good for you!

India is great... but the traffic is not :rofl:

The indian touring club has to ask the permission to give the extension to the Italian one, if they say yes then is done!
I already spoke to the ACI lady and she checked the expiring date of our bond and being it in 2021 she said she'll allow us to extend it India.
Still, at the end of the 1year + 6months we will have to give the carnet back to the Italian touring club not to the Indian one.
:)

Here's my thoughts from the last 9 months of overlanding in the sib-continent;

Re the carnet: I've no experience of extending a carnet in India, but have exported a vehicle (a truck) in and out of India several times over the last 6 months. I'm not aware of any rule regarding how long your vehicle must be out of India, and have had no problem at Customs re-entering with the vehicle after only a week out of India (via Nepal). Indian land borders are generally very easy in my experience; don't get me started on the monstrous hassle of importing a vehicle by sea port.

However, immigration officials are quite strict at enforcing the rule that you must have been out of India for 60 days before re-entering, even if you have been given a visa to do so. It makes a nonsense of multiple entry visas. Some immigration guards are bribeable on this, but not all. Indian consular officials in both Nepal and Bangladesh (and probably everywhere else, but these are the only places I have experience of) will NOT process an application for another Indian visa unless you have been out of India for 60 days, nor if you have many Indian visas in your passports. Having 2 passports doesn't get round it, as you can't swap passports at the border (the Indian immigration officials I've come across always look for your exit stamp from the last country).

Sometimes it's possible to get a 're-entry permit' from the Indian embassy in Kathmandu (and elsewhere, I'm sure, but NOT Dhaka) if you have more entries on your visa but have been out for less than 60 days, but it's hard and I wouldn't count on it. It'll last for max 10 days, and you must have evidence of flights into and out of India, though this can be easily forged, and you can then travel in and out overland.