[ads11]

So this stems from a question I asked in the very popular Emigration thread.

Some context:
My partner (UK national) and I were just musing about moving back to India in a few years time (I'd personally like to do something back home in India). While it's not a problem for me, I realised I hadn't ever really thought about the prospects of foreigners working in India. The little I do know is that provided my partner gets an OCI card, that should seemingly make it easier for them wrt right to work in India, not to mention travelling in and out. I was wondering who to ask when it struck me that folks on T-BHP discuss and dole out advice on pretty much everything. So why not ask here?

For reference, my partner is a chartered accountant (ACA accreditation I think?).

1. Their primary concerns have mostly been about just how much of their UK accountancy qualifications translate locally to India. Would they have to re-qualify to the Indian standard? (Assume so given Indian accountants at their previous firm were made to sit all the relevant exams here in the UK).
2. Secondly they'd like to have an idea of what the pay scales are like in India? (Again I've been able to offer little because I myself have mostly been safely ensconced in research and academia without an adult job till just recently).

I'd be interested to hear any advice members had to offer, even anecdotal evidence of friends and acquaintances in a similar boat.

Thanks!

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by ads11

My partner (UK national) and I were just musing about moving back to India in a few years time (I'd personally like to do something back home in India). While it's not a problem for me, I realised I hadn't ever really thought about the prospects of foreigners working in India. The little I do know is that provided my partner gets an OCI card, that should seemingly make it easier for them wrt right to work in India, not to mention travelling in and out.

Only the spouse of a Indian Citizen qualifies for an OCI. This can be applied for, after 2 years of marriage. The OCI itself takes 3 months or so.
Once your spouse has the OCI, they can work any job, start a business, or invest in one. They cant vote, or buy agricultural land. For most other things they are good to go. I have several friends who have returned to India with OCI, and are running startups and such, this is very common, and convenient.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

Only the spouse of a Indian Citizen qualifies for an OCI.

Go to the source Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder (BOI)

(a) The following categories of persons (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) are eligible to apply under OCI scheme:

Who is a citizen of another country, but was a citizen of India at the time of, or at any time after, the commencement of the constitution; or
Who is a citizen of another country, but was eligible to become a citizen of India at the time of the commencement of the constitution; or
Who is a citizen of another country, but belonged to a territory that became part of India after the 15th day of August, 1947; or
Who is a child or a grand-child or a great grandchild of such a citizen; or

(b) A person, who is minor child of a person mentioned in clause (a); or (c) A person, who is a minor child, and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India; or (d) Spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of india Cardholder registered under section 7A, Citizenship Act 1955 and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application under this section: Provided that no person, who is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, shall be eligible for the registration as Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder.

After the above resume of entitlement, that page gives a number of PDFs to download and read.

[ike]

Originally Posted by ads11

So this stems from a question I asked in the very popular Emigration thread.

Some context:

1. Their primary concerns have mostly been about just how much of their UK accountancy qualifications translate locally to India. Would they have to re-qualify to the Indian standard? (Assume so given Indian accountants at their previous firm were made to sit all the relevant exams here in the UK).
2. Secondly they'd like to have an idea of what the pay scales are like in India? (Again I've been able to offer little because I myself have mostly been safely ensconced in research and academia without an adult job till just recently).

I have a UK accountancy qualification in India and the prospects look good. You can requalify to the Indian standards if you wish to but not a mandatory requirement for employment with MNCs. The pay scale depends on the experience and skills.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

Only the spouse of a Indian Citizen qualifies for an OCI. This can be applied for, after 2 years of marriage. The OCI itself takes 3 months or so.

Thanks! Was aware about the marriage aspect, don't need further ammo for aunts and other relatives to get on my back about it (*chuckles nervously*) but we don't plan on moving anytime soon so should be covered by that eventually..

Originally Posted by ike

I have a UK accountancy qualification in India and the prospects look good. You can requalify to the Indian standards if you wish to but not a mandatory requirement for employment with MNCs. The pay scale depends on the experience and skills.

Thanks ike, this is very reassuring to know!

[V.Narayan]

UK CA can get you a decent job in any corporate finance function or MNC/Indian Private Bank. Only thing you can't do is work and sign as an auditor.

[Jeroen]

When we moved to India due to my job, we looked into this for my wife, who is also a British national as well. I can’t quite remember the type of visa I had.

But I think it was something similar as to what I had in the USA. An L1, petitioned visa. I.e. your employer backs up your application.

Whereas in the USA my wife was not allowed, we seem to recall she was allowed to work in India. In the end, she never did, nor did she setup her own practice. Way too much hassle and red tape.

My wife is a Speech and Language Therapist graduated from Edinburgh university. Her qualifications were recognised in India without any problem. In the USA it was much more difficult, she had to take an exam, endless paperwork and the approval took years. Came through about 6 month before we were due to leave the USA to move to India.

Her professional S&L body back in the UK helped out on both occasions and had dealt with similar requests before. So that might be a good place to start and of course contact the local professional body of accountancy in India as well.

Good luck
Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Employment visas for India are tied to one employer, if not even one job. There is no general employment visa, and loss of the job would mean loss of the right to remain in India.

This is something to be noted carefully by foreign spouses of Indian citizens/OCIs. If they find a job and choose to take the E-visa route, their right to remain here is based on the job, not on their relationship.

This is only a problem in those first two years during which they cannot get their own OCI status. During that time they must settle for the X visa, which does not allow work or even study.

Having said that, if they have a source of income in the mother country, which they can maintain remotely, I don't think anybody notices. Watch out for becoming "resident" according to India Tax regulations, which will result in overseas income becoming taxable here.

Also, by the way, do not expect the average CA to understand double-taxation allowance stuff. Or even residence. Unless they are already used to having such clients. This is something that is likely to apply to the Returning Indian too. Even if they leave without having any income now, they are likely to have pension stuff etc at a later date.

Personally, I have always thought that being not allowed to work would be an enviable status! Some years back, I knew a couple where the wife was a diplomat, and the husband was very happy with the situation. But then, not all just-one-partner incomes suffice for whole families. And not all jobs come with a luxury house in Delhi's Chanakyapuri!

Back in the day, there were many conversations on working/extended-visiting on Indiamike. I was pretty good on the detail, especially as it applied to spouse-of-Indian. I was researching that even before we got married! But I have long been settled into PIO, then OCI, status and simply not had to bother. So I am very rusty. Anything I say should be checked.

Frankly, anything anyone says should be checked! Always consult the Bureau of Immigration website. Always also check information on the site of the local-country Indian diplomatic mission, because sometimes there are country specifics.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Watch out for becoming "resident" according to India Tax regulations, which will result in overseas income becoming taxable here.
.

Forgot about that rule. It was one of the reasons I had to leave India. At the time our global Expad contracts were based on getting what we called a global salary. What it meant in practice was that 20% of your salary went to the country you were in. The other 80% went to your bank in your home country.

So I paid tax in India over that 20%. But when my time was up I would have to pay tax over my full income and declare all my other income and possessions in India as well. And pay tax over some of that as well no doubt.

My company wanted me to stay and I said fine, but you have to compensate me for the difference. We had our accountants work it all out. Long story short, I left India one or two days prior to the “dreaded tax deadline”.

Just as an aferthought; everything I had in India, such as visa, permits, drivers license expired on that day as well. I could not maintain my bank account either.
Afterward I did have to settle some small amount of tax, which was an incredible complicated. The Indian tax authority had (has?) this special system, and in essence you can’t pay into it from abroad. So I had to get a colleague of mine, pretend online to be me, and settle my tax. I could easily re-imburse him through a normal international banktransfer. I had done the same for colleagues who had left India earlier than I and ran into the same problem.

Jeroen

[84.monsoon]

Last year they introduced a vague and generic provision that you may want to explore more about, since you state that you are in reasearch field. The provision states that an OCI cardholder, will need to seek special permission from the mission/FRRO to undertake research activities in India. I am assuming you are also a UK citizen and India OCI. It is not clear what "research" in this context means. Many jobs in MNC centres in India involve research, being part of the global R&D organization. Even Business Analysts and consultants do market research into market practices, customer sentiments etc. Are these activities included or excluded from the purview of "research" in this context? My guess, you will never get an official answer or clarification.

There were also clauses added last year restricting journalism activities and mountaineering among a few others.

As the above examples show, one thing you have the reckon with is the ever changing and mostly vague rules that get added regarding the OCI status, without proper analysis of the repurcussions and without clear definition of applicability, and non-applicability. It is intentionally kept vague to give the authorities an upper hand in situational interpretation.

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

Only the spouse of a Indian Citizen qualifies for an OCI. This can be applied for, after 2 years of marriage. The OCI itself takes 3 months or so.

The spouse of an OCI cardholder who is a foreign citizen, also qualifies.

[SS80]

Although I have no information on the OCI topic, there is one huge advantage of having an educational background in the UK.

A lot of companies in Bangalore especially banks, run processes that are into core banking, accounting, audits etc for UK clients. The UK graduated person is preferred over an Indian in such cases, as he/she would have in-depth and actual knowledge of that country-specific accounting works. Best examples of this would be Accenture, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, and Barclays - 50% or more of their backend processes are run from here.

All the best.

[kvk]

Please research the tax implications of your move esp. if you will have assets/income/passive income in UK after your move to India. As has been mentioned in this thread, once your tax residency status in India changes to Resident Ordinarily Resident your worldwide income is subject to tax in India using India's brackets/marginal rates. Until then you will pay UK taxes on UK sourced income and India taxes on India sourced income.

I think India might have a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with UK and that will soften the blow a bit. I say a bit because notwithstanding the DTAA, taking US as an example as I am familiar with it, the application of the India tax brackets/marginal rates on the same worldwide income, results in significant addl. tax exposure in India. I am not familiar with UK taxation but I expect it to be closer to US rather than India.

[Samurai]

Tax liability works both ways I think. Aren't US citizens liable to pay tax on assets no matter where they live? My US born son has OCI status, and plans to live in India. Once he starts earning, his tax situation will get complicated. When he inherits property some day in future, US government will demand tax on it. He is a commerce graduate, so I expect him to figure it out.

[OldWays]

A few factors one may consider before becoming a “Resident” of India.

- Taxation (or dual taxation). An unenviable position to be in. In my opinion Indian roads are better designed compared to taxation of dual status residents. For example Indian residents with dividends from listed companies are taxed favorably compared to OCI’s receiving dividends from companies not listed in India. BIG disparities that should not be overlooked.

- High net worth or High income individuals really need to plan and then decide whether the point quoted above works for them. You should also make peace with yourself with the fact that in spite of paying high taxes, the facilities may hardly meet your expectation (This, of course, applies to any country. Each his/her own).

- Work culture in India. There are other threads that might give one glimpse of expectation- reality curve.

[kvk]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Tax liability works both ways I think. Aren't US citizens liable to pay tax on assets no matter where they live? My US born son has OCI status, and plans to live in India. Once he starts earning, his tax situation will get complicated. When he inherits property some day in future, US government will demand tax on it. He is a commerce graduate, so I expect him to figure it out.

Indeed. I know my India PF was not taxed by India but it was by US. Ouch! In my experience, however, impact of India taxation on US source income is far far greater than the other way around.