A question regarding online employment and living in India

Greetings,

I apologise if this is considered an incorrect forum to post this question. By all means move it somewhere more appropriately if you have doubts regarding the fittness of my choice.

I would like to ask the following. In the case of a person with a European nationality at present, whose profession is conducted through the internet, how does visiting and living in India affect him in conducting such work? Is it considered legal to continue one's work while on a tourist visa, or is that not allowed? (a tourist visa certainly does not allow "becoming employed in India". I am unclear if it also inhibits transacting buisness with one's employer, who may be physically located in any part of the world if the work is conducted online).

Subsequently, supposing such a mode of conduct is not legally possible, is this due to the visa type being incompatible with allowing any buisness transaction to take place while in the country? And if so, would applying for a different type of visa perhaps allow such a thing to occur?

I would greatly appreciate any feedback regarding this issue. My original intention was to become employed by an Indian employer and thus be granted with a work/buisness visa, which would allow me to live and work in the country without problems. But later on I became employed by a non-Indian company in an online job. I am thus wondering, since my job is essentially possible to be conducted from any physical location, so long as I am provided with an internet connection, how does this new situation have me stand in terms of visiting India in a long-term fashion, and what types of visa would that situation allow liability for?

I suppose it is quite probable that the current situation possibly excludes me from any visa but the tourist one, and also probably prohibits me to work while in India. On the other hand, I am well aware that perhaps I am jumping to conclusions in this regard, and that the situation may be different and provide more options, perhaps allowing the ability to stay in the country for longer than a tourist visa would allow, while still maintaining my current profession.

Like I said, any thoughts would be welcome, and much appreciated. I'd also like to thank the hosting team of this forum for making this very informative site available to everyone, and for providing a space where advice of a legal nature can be asked as well as provided.

If it is all online you can do it without any special visa.

but if you reside there long term then new rules will govern and you eventually must pay taxes etc.

Originally Posted by Unregistered If it is all online you can do it without any special visa. but if you reside there long term then new rules will govern and you eventually must pay taxes etc.

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated.

One requires a visa issued prior to entering the country. The simplest and easiest to procure is a tourist visa. For a stay longer than a consequtive six month duration however, I understand that one requires to be either affiliated with a University or other educational institution as a student (and thus hold a student visa), or be employed by a local employer (and thus hold a work visa). In the case of living more than 6 consequtive months in India as a worker, one's tax status changes due to gained income within the country of India, and paying a certain ammount of taxes ensues.

The above is the general idea I have about how the different visa types function, and how they relate with tax issues etc. . However, what I am unclear about is what you mean by "without any special visa". What visa type do you consider as non-special? Do you mean to say that this can take place without problems while holding a tourist visa (supposing it is the simplest and least special type)? If so, is this the only type of visa that one in my position is apparently liable to apply for? Or could one in my position apply for a type of buisness visa, or something similar? The reason I ask for is that tourist visas (non-American ones) have a maximum of 6-month duration, which means that after a six month period the holder is required to leave the country. But other visa types have longer duration, and function on a partly-renewable basis so long as one maintains a stable state of affairs in terms of financial income, house address, etc. and also checks in with the Foreigners' Registration Office periodically (I think this is required, in order to confirm that one's stay in the country continues normally and in accordance with the issued visa's aggreed regulations).

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you very much in advance for any feedback.