Tools · Tool 01
Residential status under FEMA
Section 2(v) of FEMA, 1999 counts days — and then lets purpose and intention override the count. This walks through both.
How many days were you physically in India during the preceding financial year?
That is . Count every day you were on Indian soil, including the day you arrived and the day you left.
Where are you living now?
Where you actually are today, not where you are registered.
Why — and for how long?
This is the question the Act actually turns on.
Which passport do you hold?
This does not change your residence under FEMA. It changes what you are called, and which accounts and property rules follow.
Where this comes from.
Section 2(v) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, read with the
Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2016 and the Foreign Exchange
Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019. This tool answers one question —
your residential status under FEMA — and nothing beyond it. It gives an indication
for general information only; it is not legal advice, and unusual facts deserve a
real conversation.
Not sure the answer fits your facts?
Unusual cases are exactly the ones worth talking through.