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India: visas, tax & cost of living

Moving to India as a remote worker: cost of living, the visa reality, tax residency and the 182 day rule, healthcare and banking basics.

India: visas, tax & cost of living
Your passport

United KingdomIndia

Your move to India on a United Kingdom passport

  • VisitFairly easyVisa on arrival, e-visa or travel authorization (ETA)
  • NomadMediumNo nomad visa, other route
  • RelocateMediumResidence with conditions

Visiting

You need an e-visa. Apply online before you travel and carry the approval. It is usually quick, but leave a few days of buffer.

Passport validity: Passport valid for at least six months on the date you apply for the e-Visa, with at least two blank pages for the immigration stamp.

Heads-up: Since 1 October 2025 all foreign nationals, OCI cardholders included, must complete the online e-Arrival Card (indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival or the Su-Swagatam app) before entering India; it replaces the paper disembarkation card.

At the border: e-Visa or visa, passport, the e-Arrival Card, and a return or onward ticket with sufficient money for your stay.

Working remotely

No dedicated nomad visa; the usual route is a standard residence permit.

Tax and residency

From 1 April 2026 residence is set by section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (India's tax year runs April to March): you are resident if you spend 182 days or more in India in the tax year, or 60 days or more in it plus 365 days or more over the four preceding tax years. Even then you are 'not ordinarily resident' if you were non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years or spent 729 days or less in India over the preceding seven. Ordinarily resident individuals are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents, and broadly also not-ordinarily-residents, on income received or arising in India. (estimate)

The UK decides residence with its Statutory Residence Test (days in the UK plus your ties). As a non-resident you are usually taxed only on UK income; where one exists, a double-tax treaty with the destination decides who taxes what.

Practical

Currency: INR. Cost of living: low.

Healthcare: Foreigners normally pay out of pocket or use private or international health insurance, as most hospitals expect payment or proof of cover before treatment.

Driving: An International Driving Permit alongside your home licence is strongly recommended, and many travellers prefer hiring a driver given dense, unpredictable traffic.

Sources: Indian e-Visa official portal (e-Tourist purposes, passport validity, onward ticket) · Income Tax Department - Non Resident FAQs (section 6, Income-tax Act, 2025) · Consulate General of India, San Francisco - mandatory e-Arrival Card from 1 Oct 2025 · Consulate General of India, San Francisco e-Visa · GOV.UK India entry requirements · GOV.UK: tax on foreign income · HMRC: double-taxation treaties

Estimates, not advice. Confirm with the official sources before you act.

Should you move to India?

Let me be the friend who has already unpacked the suitcase: India is not a place you dip a toe into, it is a place you dive into. The upside is enormous. Fast, cheap internet, a real coworking culture in Bengaluru, Goa, Pune and Hyderabad, English spoken almost everywhere in the cities, and a monthly budget that can stretch further than almost anywhere else you have considered. The trade-off is intensity. Bureaucracy is slow, the heat and monsoon are non-negotiable, and the visa situation for remote workers is genuinely awkward (more on that below).

India suits you if you want a long, immersive, low-cost base and you are comfortable improvising. It suits you less if you need a tidy, purpose-built nomad framework where everything is spelled out. Go in with patience and a sense of humour and it rewards you. Go in expecting Lisbon-style convenience and you will be frustrated by week two.

Cost of living in India

This is India’s headline act. A single remote worker’s all-in monthly cost commonly lands somewhere around 40,000 to 140,000 rupees, very roughly 480 to 1,680 US dollars, depending entirely on the city and how you live. Those are broad estimates from 2026 cost-of-living roundups, not a quote, so treat them as a starting sketch and confirm current rents locally before you commit.

The spread between cities is huge. Goa often works out around 600 to 1,000 dollars a month for a comfortable life. Bengaluru, with the best coworking and startup scene, tends to sit around 800 to 1,400. Mumbai is the outlier and India’s priciest city, roughly 1,200 to 2,000 a month once you factor in rent in desirable areas. Groceries for one person often run 6,000 to 10,000 rupees monthly, a mid-range restaurant meal maybe 600 to 1,200 rupees, and home internet is famously cheap at around 5 to 10 dollars a month. Reported figures vary by source and by neighbourhood, so use them to rank cities, then verify on the ground.

India digital nomad visa and entry

Here is the honest part. As of 2026, India does not have a dedicated digital nomad visa or a remote-worker residence permit. You will see blog headlines hinting at “nomad-friendly frameworks”, but there is no specific category you can apply for as a remote worker. Do not build a plan around one that does not exist.

What people actually use is the e-Tourist Visa. It comes in 30-day, 1-year and 5-year variants, and the official e-Visa portal says the 1-year and 5-year versions allow multiple entries but cap your total stay at 180 days per calendar year. Crucially, remote work is not on the portal’s list of e-Tourist purposes (sightseeing, visiting friends and family, short courses, unpaid volunteering of up to a month, medical treatment and business purposes), so the e-Visa rules give you no basis for working from India on it, even for your own foreign clients. Employment is a separate visa category, and the portal states it cannot be done on an e-Visa. Apply with a passport valid for at least six months on the date of your application and with two blank pages, and since 1 October 2025 every foreign national, OCI cardholders included, must also fill in the online e-Arrival Card before landing. Because the rules shift and depend on your passport, run your situation through Voymo’s visa checker and then confirm every detail with the official Indian government visa portal before you book anything.

Tax residency and the 183 day rule

India’s tax residency test is often shorthanded as the 183 day rule, but the real trigger is one day earlier: under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, you are a tax resident if you spend 182 days or more in India in the tax year (which runs April to March). A second test can also catch you: 60 days or more in the year combined with 365 days or more across the four preceding tax years. Become ordinarily resident and your worldwide income falls into scope. You stay “not ordinarily resident”, taxed broadly like a non-resident on income received or arising in India, if you were non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years or spent 729 days or less in India over the preceding seven. So this matters a great deal.

The law itself changed too. From 1 April 2026 the Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act, but the Income Tax Department’s own FAQ says the day tests, the not-ordinarily-resident rules and the special rules for Indian citizens and people of Indian origin carry over unchanged, so older articles on the day counts still hold even when they cite the old section numbers. Because the day-counting and the exceptions get complicated fast, sketch your year with Voymo’s tax residency tool, then take the numbers to a qualified Indian tax adviser and the Income Tax Department’s own pages before you make any filing decision. This is educational, not advice.

Healthcare and insurance

The good news: India’s private hospitals in the big cities are excellent and, by Western standards, remarkably affordable, which is why medical tourism thrives here. The public system exists but is stretched, so as a foreigner you will lean on private care. Indian domestic health policies generally cover treatment inside India only, and many are aimed at citizens and NRIs rather than short-stay foreigners. For a nomad on a tourist visa, the sensible move is comprehensive international health or travel-medical insurance that covers India and, ideally, evacuation. Coverage terms vary widely, so read the policy and confirm what applies to your visa status.

Money, banking and settling in

Day to day, India runs on UPI, the instant phone-based payment system that is genuinely everywhere, from street vendors to airports. The catch is that UPI usually links to an Indian bank account, and opening a standard resident account is difficult without the right visa and local documents. NRE and NRO accounts exist but are designed for Non-Resident Indians, not foreign nationals. Realistically, most nomads on a tourist visa lean on foreign cards, a good multi-currency travel account, and cash, while accepting that some UPI-only situations are awkward. If you settle longer term on an appropriate visa, revisit banking then, and always confirm current account rules with the bank and the RBI directly, since requirements change.

Figures are estimates. Always check the official source.

Frequently asked questions

India: is there a digital nomad visa?
No dedicated digital nomad visa; most people use a standard residence permit instead.
India: when do you become a tax resident?
From 1 April 2026 residence is set by section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (India's tax year runs April to March): you are resident if you spend 182 days or more in India in the tax year, or 60 days or more in it plus 365 days or more over the four preceding tax years. Even then you are 'not ordinarily resident' if you were non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years or spent 729 days or less in India over the preceding seven. Ordinarily resident individuals are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents, and broadly also not-ordinarily-residents, on income received or arising in India.
India: what is the cost of living?
The cost of living is low and the local currency is the INR. Treat any figures as estimates.
India: do you need health insurance?
Foreigners normally pay out of pocket or use private or international health insurance, as most hospitals expect payment or proof of cover before treatment.
India: can you drive on a foreign licence?
An International Driving Permit alongside your home licence is strongly recommended, and many travellers prefer hiring a driver given dense, unpredictable traffic.

Terms worth knowing

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Last verified: 2026-07-25

Voymo gives general information to help you organise your move. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice, always confirm with an official source or a qualified professional before you act.

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