I have earlier written on my experience on converting my tourist Visa for India to an India entry visa in FRRO Delhi/Gurgaon, as a foreigner married to an Indian citizen. This article is about how to extend Indian visa online through the e-FRRO portal(for Entry visa).

Since then I have tried to apply for an Aadhar unsuccessfully twice. Didn’t get it. I don’t think I will apply for it anymore. Got a bank account and a PAN card. So there is that.

The thing is sometimes you might think that you know the system, but then the system throws a curveball or two your way.

But I have received two India visa extensions by far: the first one from FRRO Delhi/Gurgaon and the second one from FRRO Bangalore. So I can presume with some confidence that, I know the process to extend Entry visa for India.

In this article, I will recount the experience for both the FRROS since they were quite different. The first time, it took me 3 weeks to extend Indian visa online and the second time, only 5 days.

What is Indian Entry Visa & Who can Get it?

An Entry Visa to India is granted to:

• A person of Indian origin
• Spouse or a child of a person of Indian origin.

Some other names for this visa are India X Visa and India Entry X Visa.

My experience is based on getting the India X visa extension from FRRO while being inside India. If you are doing it through an Indian embassy outside, the process will be different.

How to Extend Indian Visa Online through FRRO?

An FRRO or foreign regional registration office is where your visa application is processed. Although I extended a spouse visa, you can also apply to extend a work visa, student visa etc.

What is e-FRRO?

The e-FRRO or FRRO online is nothing but a web-based application for all FRROS in India. It is a centralized online platform to cater to visa related services for foreigners.

The idea is that foreigners would not be required to visit the FRRO/FRO office to get a visa. However, there are chances that you would need to on a scheduled date and time for an interview. So there is that.

I know I did.

Where are the FRRO Offices in India

There are many FRRO offices in India, so no matter which part of India you are, you won’t be too far from one. But some of them are main offices which have more authority over a sub-office.

For example, the Gurgaon FRRO is actually an extension or subsidiary of the Delhi FRRO. You need to choose the FRRO based on where you live. If you love in Gurgaon, your application will be processed through Gurgaon FRRO. But if you live in Delhi, it will be Delhi FRRO.

Here is map with address and contact details to help you out.

India Visa Extension Requirements for Spouse Visa

Here are all the documents you need to extend Indian visa for spouse in FRRO. Have the scanned copies of all these ready before you start the application process online.

During the process, they might ask you for an extra document or two, especially during police verification. But these are the ones that you would need to upload to the FRRO portal.

Except for the photo, all the other documents must be uploaded in PDF format only.

1. Valid India X Visa for Spouse

You need to upload the valid X-1 visa for India. This is the one which you would have received in your email from FRRO in the past.

2. Proof of Residence in India

All these proofs of residence can work.

• Utility bill
• Rent agreement
• Bank statement
• Form C, if you are staying in a hotel or Airbnb.

I uploaded the rent agreement.

3. Undertaking Letters from Spouse & Applicant

For Spouse to take Financial Responsibility

My husband wrote an undertaking letter where he mentioned that he was my husband and he would take all the financial responsibility for me.

For Applicant to not Work

The foreigner applicant has to write an undertaking letter that says you will not get employed or do business while in India, and that you want to convert your visa to a spouse visa.

4. Request Letter from Indian Spouse

When I got my X1 visa the first time and extended it, I did those in Gurgaon/Delhi FRRO, and a request letter was never asked.

This was something new for me that Bangalore FRRO asked for. So my husband had to write a letter where he talked about being my husband and requested them to give me a visa.

5. Passport Bio Page along with Entry Stamp in India

The bio page of your passport, the one with your name and pic along with the page that has the immigration stamp when you entered India the last time. There are many websites like iLovePDF or smallPDF where you can join them and upload them as one document.

6. ID or Passport Page of Spouse

Your Indian spouse can join the bio page and address page of the Indian passport, and upload it as an ID proof.

7. Marriage Certificate

A scanned copy of your marriage certificate, received through the special marriage act.

If you got married through the Hindu marriage act or any other religious marriage act, you can upload that as well. This might delay the process. Just a heads up.

8. FRRO Registration or RC Certificate

An FRRO registration for foreigner or RC/RP certificate is the document that indicates the FRRO you are registered in with a unique registration number. When you get the India X visa the first time, you receive an email with a RC certificate as a PDF.

You would need to upload that.

How to Get India Visa Extension in Bangalore FRRO

Step 1: Submit Your Application Online on FRRO

I am assuming that since you are applying to extend Indian visa, you already are registered in e-FRRO through your current visa. So you need to head to the FRRO log in page and enter with your user name and password.

Click on “Fresh/New Application Submission”. On the next page, you will need to fill in some information. Here is what you need to check for the X visa extension in India.

You need to choose your nationality as well as the state and the city you live in. Based on this, the FRRO will be assigned to your case.

Then select the following options

• Services desired: Visa Extension
• Visa Type: Entry Visa
• Visa Subtype: X-1
• List of questions: Option 2, Whether the applicant foreign national is seeking visa extension as Spouse/ Dependent of Person of Indian Origin / OCI Cardholders.

All other options are self-explanatory.

Once you submit, you will be taken to the next page where you would have to fill in a lot of personal details like name, profession, passport issuance … blah blah blah.

One important data to fill in the next page is the details of your FRRO registration or RC. This is a document that you should have received when getting your India X visa earlier.

Once you complete this, you would be taken to the document submission page.

So this time when I submitted through Bangalore FRRO, this is what I saw, which didn’t ask me to upload all the documents in one go for some reason. When I did the extension first time in Gurgaon, I was able to see the list of all the documents at once. And there were 10 documents in total.

Here is what I am talking about. When I submitted the application, it only asked me for 6 mandatory documents that didn’t include the marriage certificate and some other stuff.

In any case, I submitted the application, and received the email.

Step 2: Receive More Emails from FRRO to Upload Documents

So as I had mentioned earlier, I was doubtful why I wasn’t asked to upload all the documents. A day after I submitted the application, I received the email to upload more documents.

In case the same happens to you, you would need to log in to e-FRRO portal and click on “Re-upload Missing and Additional Documents”.

And if the remarks in the screenshot are confusing, wait until you get to the page where you would need to upload the documents.

So I upload the RC/RP FRRO registration even though, I had uploaded it earlier in the “others’ section. My husband wrote a request letter which I hadn’t uploaded earlier. No idea why it is required really.

And the undertaking letter that I had uploaded the first time, I simply uploaded in place of the recommendation letter.

Seems like, it worked, coz’ the next day I got another email for more documents and in the e-FRRO portal, I saw that they wanted me to upload the Indian marriage certificate.

Step 3: Indian Visa Extension Fees Payment

You should receive an email from FRRO to pay the Indian visa extension fees. Once you get that, you can log in to the portal and click on the “Payments” option. This will forward you to the page for payment.

It costs 8640 rupees, which might change a little depending on where you are from.

You can choose SBI e-pay or Axis. You can pay using a credit card, debit card, internet banking or UPI gateway like Google Pay.

If the payment goes through, you should see the confirmation page.

Indian Police Clearance for Visa Extension

An important step in extending Indian visa for spouse is the Indian police clearance or verification. Here is how it goes:

1. FRRO sends your details with a form to the police station in the area where you live.
2. An officer or two from the police station visit your place to verify your address.
3. They write a report that basically says they don’t have any issues with your visa extension.
4. They give you the report to get signatures from two people along with their address and ask you to attach the self-attested ID proofs for them.
5. You submit these to the police station and they send the documents to the FRRO

When I extended the Indian visa in Gurgaon/Delhi FRRO, the police verification happened.

But when I did it in Bangalore FRRO, the police verification didn’t take place. It could be because of the COVID. I have various friends who got their extensions in Bangalore and there was no police verification. And sometimes, there was.

How Many India X Visa Extensions Can You Get?

You can get extensions for your entry visa from FRRO in India on a yearly basis up to a maximum period of 5 years.