Can you buy property in India if you are not a citizen ?

Yes

1. Foreign national resident in India can purchase any immovable property in India. This is because once he is a resident in India, he gets the rights like any other resident. This freedom is however not available to citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal, and Bhutan.

2. A foreign company that has established a Branch Office in India, in accordance with FERA / FEMA regulations, can also acquire immovable property in India. However, it must be necessary to carry on his/her business hence the whip is being cracked on those using this as a loophole to acquire residential property to live in or rent.

3. Non-Resident Indians (NRI), whether Indian citizens or foreign citizens of Indian origin can own any number of property in India other than agricultural land/plantation property/farmhouse

4. A foreign national of Indian origin is "any person who or either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents was born in India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935" or any person who held an Indian passport at any given time can own any number of property in India.

Foreigners are not eligible to purchase immovable property under the following category

1. Foreign nationals of non-Indian origin resident outside India cannot buy any immovable property in India. Unless they satisfy the residency requirement of 183 days in a financial year (a tourist visa lasts for 180 days). It is also illegal to buy property on a tourist visa.

Property cannot purchase jointly in the name of one eligible person with one non-eligible person. That means a non-resident Indian (NRI) or foreign national of Indian origin (PIO) cannot buy a property jointly with a foreigner

Lease is other possible option for ineligible person (foreign nationals of non-Indian origin and citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal and Bhutan) can acquire residential (not commercial) accommodation on lease not exceeding five years. However, such property has been sold to foreigners, particularly in Goa and Bangalore, where prices are cheap and developers are plentiful, on 5 year leases. The buyers won´t get title to the property until they can obtain residency, which is what most of them intend to do eventually.

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