FEMA asks why you left and what you intend. Income tax asks a blunter question: how many days were you in India? The two answers often differ in the same year, and both are right, because they are answers to different questions.
On the income-tax side there are three statuses, not two, and everybody shortens them to their initials:
- NRI — non-resident. The Act's own word for the status is simply “non-resident”; NRI is what everyone else says, your bank included.
- RNOR — resident but not ordinarily resident. The middle one, and the one that does most of the work for people coming home.
- ROR — resident and ordinarily resident. The full Indian taxpayer, taxed here on income from anywhere in the world.
Nobody chooses between them. The day count below decides, year by year, which one you are.
The day count: NRI or resident
You are resident for a year if you were in India for 182 days or more in that year, or for 60 days or more in the year together with 365 days or more across the four preceding years.
Two adjustments matter to Indians abroad. For an Indian citizen who leaves India for employment, that 60-day limb is relaxed to 182 days. For an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin visiting India whose Indian income is more than ₹15 lakh, it tightens to 120 days. There is also deemed residency: an Indian citizen with Indian income above ₹15 lakh who is not liable to tax in any other country is treated as resident — and as RNOR, not ROR.
Fail the day count and you are an NRI for that year. Pass it and you are a resident — and the next question is which kind.
RNOR or ROR: the second test
A resident is RNOR — resident but not ordinarily resident — if either of two things is true: they were non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years, or they were in India for 729 days or fewer across the preceding seven. The 120-day visitor above, and the deemed resident above, are RNOR as well. Everyone else who is resident is ROR.
Why the distinction is the whole article: an ROR is taxed in India on worldwide income. An RNOR is taxed on Indian income, and on foreign income only where the business is controlled from, or the profession set up in, India. An NRI is taxed on Indian income alone.
| Status | Indian income | Foreign income |
|---|---|---|
| NRI — non-resident | Taxed | Not taxed |
| RNOR — resident, not ordinarily resident | Taxed | Generally not taxed |
| ROR — resident and ordinarily resident | Taxed | Taxed |
NRI to RNOR to ROR: what coming home looks like
Someone who spent a decade abroad and lands in, say, October is usually an NRI for that year on the day count, RNOR for the next year or two on the nine-of-ten test, and only then ROR. That RNOR stretch is a real window, and it is the reason the timing of selling a foreign house, closing an overseas pension or exercising stock options is worth thinking about before the flight, not after.
Two things that catch people out. Your FEMA status changes the day you arrive with the intention of staying, while NRI, RNOR and ROR wait for the day count — so your bank accounts must be redesignated long before your tax status settles. RNOR is not a scheme you elect: it either applies on the facts or it does not.
What to keep
- Every entry and exit stamp, or a printed travel history. The count is yours to prove.
- A note of the years you were an NRI — the nine-of-ten test looks back a decade.
- Statements for foreign accounts and assets; once you are ROR, foreign assets have to be reported in your Indian return.
One group counts its days differently from everybody above: merchant navy crew, whose voyage days are left out of the count altogether.
Residential status for seafarers
This article is general information, current as at the date shown. It is not legal or tax advice. The residence tests sit in the Income-tax Act; the Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act with effect from 1 April 2026, so check the section numbering in the new Act before quoting it. Checked 16 September 2026.
