Residential status for NRIs

Tax year 2026-27

Residential status calculator, NRI or resident

For anyone who lives abroad and keeps a link to India: your residential status for the year from your days in India, your citizenship and why you are abroad, with your likely FEMA status beside it and a list to take to your CA.

Your figures

Start from a situationfills every box below

What this case shows. A student who left in August is resident and ordinarily resident for tax, because study is not employment, while under FEMA a student who was in India for more than 182 days in the year before can be treated as a person resident outside India, which is for the student and the bank to settle: the two statuses can differ.

The answer, on these figures

  • Income-tax status, Tax year 2026-27: Resident and ordinarily resident
  • FEMA status: Not settled for this year
See the full result and why

Which situation fits you, what to choose and what to type

Tax yearIncome-tax Act, 2025
Citizenship
Your situation this year
1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027

Count every date you were in India for any part of the day, both the arrival day and the departure day, from your passport stamps or your travel history.

Your stays in India, to count the days

Optional. Enter each stay in India from its first date to its last. Both dates count, a date two stays share counts once, and a stay that starts before 1 April 2026 or ends after 31 March 2027 is cut at the year. A stay that starts after 1 April is an arrival, and one that starts before it runs on from the year before and is not. The page also counts without the arrival days, as tribunals have (as reported). A stay entered from 1 April itself may be either, so that count takes it as one, the most the dates allow: if you were already in India before then, enter the date you arrived.

These dates hold 132 days in India in 2026-27 (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027).

empty if not known

Your income from India for the year, after exemptions and deductions: rent after the 30 percent deduction, NRO interest, gains on Indian property and shares, and income from a business controlled or a profession set up in India. Leave out NRE and FCNR(B) interest, which is usually exempt, and salary earned abroad. Your AIS on the e-filing portal, or the bank's interest certificate, lists most of it.

Liable to tax in another countryIndian citizens only

Are you liable to tax in any country other than India by residence, domicile or a similar test? A US green card counts wherever you live. The UAE levies no personal income tax, so living there alone usually means no, and a UAE tax residency certificate is not by itself proof of being liable to tax. Most other Gulf states are reported to levy none either, but only the UAE was checked for this page.

Your years before this one

Leave a box empty if you do not know the figure: the page names what it decides rather than assume it.

2022-23 to 2025-26

Count the same way, across all four of those tax years.

optional

Optional. Tribunals have left the arrival day out (as reported), so each arrival is a day less on that count; with this the page checks whether that changes your status.

The next two matter only once you are resident: they decide whether you are not ordinarily resident.

2016-17 to 2025-26

Your past returns state your residential status for each year. If you did not file, work each year out on this page, or leave the box empty and the page names what it decides.

2019-20 to 2025-26

Your days in India across all seven of those tax years.

optional

Optional. Tribunals have left the arrival day out (as reported), so each arrival is a day less on that count; with this the page checks whether that changes your status.

For FEMA, a separate test

FEMA, the foreign exchange law that governs your NRE and NRO accounts, has a test of its own.

Why you are outside India, for FEMA
2025-26

FEMA counts 2025-26, the financial year before this one, not this one.

Income-tax status, Tax year 2026-27

Resident and ordinarily resident

FEMA status

Not settled for this year

Resident and ordinarily resident: resident by the 60 day test (s.6(2)(b), was s.6(1)(c) of the 1961 Act), and none of the tests for not ordinarily resident holds (s.6(13), was s.6(6) of the 1961 Act).

Computed in this browser tab. Your figures are not sent anywhere, and there is nothing to sign up for.

Points to check on your figures

  • A student who leaves India during the year is usually resident for that year, as you are here. The relief for leaving India for employment (s.6(3), was Explanation 1(a) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act) does not cover study, so the 60 day test applies. Under FEMA a student studying abroad who was in India for more than 182 days in the preceding financial year can be treated as a non-resident Indian (RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 of 2003), so the two statuses can differ in the same year.
  • An ordinarily resident person who holds any asset outside India, or can sign on an account outside India, must file a return and report those assets whatever their income (s.263(1)(a)(ix), was the fourth proviso to s.139(1) of the 1961 Act).

01 / Each test, under the Income-tax Act, 2025

The tests, on your figures

Every test for residence and for resident but not ordinarily resident (RNOR), the line it sets, and the figure you entered against that line.

Each test of residential status, its provision, its line, your figures against the line, and the outcome
TestProvisionThe lineYour figuresOutcome
In India for 182 days or more in the years.6(2)(a), was s.6(1)(a) of the 1961 Act182 days or more
  • Days in India this year: 132 days (the line: 182 days or more)
Not met
In India for 60 days or more in the year, and 365 days or more in the four years befores.6(2)(b), was s.6(1)(c) of the 1961 Act60 days this year, and 365 days in the four years before
  • Days in India this year: 132 days (the line: 60 days or more)
  • Days in India in the four years before: 1,461 days (the line: 365 days or more)
Met
Deemed resident: an Indian citizen not liable to tax in any other country, with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000s.6(7), was s.6(1A) of the 1961 ActIndian income over ₹ 15,00,000, and not liable to tax in any other country by residence, domicile or a similar test
  • Indian income: ₹ 0 (the line: over ₹ 15,00,000)
Does not apply
You are already resident by days, and deemed residence does not apply to a person who is (s.6(8), was the Explanation to s.6(1A) of the 1961 Act).
Non-resident in 9 or more of the 10 years befores.6(13)(a)(i), was s.6(6)(a) of the 1961 Act9 of the 10 years or more
  • Non-resident years of the ten before: 0 years (the line: 9 years or more)
Not met
In India for 729 days or less in the 7 years befores.6(13)(a)(ii), was s.6(6)(a) of the 1961 Act729 days or less
  • Days in India in the seven years before: 2,557 days (the line: 729 days or less)
Not met
A citizen or person of Indian origin on a visit, with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000, in India for 120 days or more but under 182s.6(13)(b), was s.6(6)(c) of the 1961 ActIncome over ₹ 15,00,000, and 120 to 181 days
  • Indian income: ₹ 0 (the line: over ₹ 15,00,000)
  • Days in India this year: 132 days (the line: 120 days or more)
  • Days in India this year: 132 days (the line: under 182 days)
Not met
Applies to a visitor resident through the 120 day test, which you are not.
Deemed resident, which is always not ordinarily residents.6(13)(c), was s.6(6)(d) of the 1961 ActDeemed resident this yearFollows from the deemed residence test aboveDoes not apply
You are resident by days, so deemed residence does not apply.
How the day tests work

Being in India for 182 days or more in the tax year makes you resident on its own (s.6(2)(a), was s.6(1)(a) of the 1961 Act), whatever your past years, your citizenship or why you came.

The second day test needs 60 days or more in the year and 365 days or more in the four tax years before it (s.6(2)(b), was s.6(1)(c) of the 1961 Act).

That test is switched off in the year an Indian citizen leaves India for employment abroad, or as crew of an Indian ship (s.6(3), was Explanation 1(a) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act), and for an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin who lives abroad and comes on a visit (s.6(4), was Explanation 1(b) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act).

For that visitor, Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000 brings it back with 120 days in place of 60 (s.6(5), was Explanation 1(b) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act).

Nobody else gets either relief. A return to settle is not a visit, leaving to study is not leaving for employment, and a foreign citizen not of Indian origin gets the plain 60 day test in every situation.

How deemed residence works

An Indian citizen is deemed resident where their total income other than income from foreign sources is over ₹ 15,00,000 and they are not liable to tax in any country other than India by residence, domicile or a similar test (s.6(7), was s.6(1A) of the 1961 Act).

The test is any other country, not only the one you live in: a US green card holder is liable to tax in the United States wherever they live.

Income from foreign sources is income that arises outside India and is not treated as arising in India; income from a business controlled in India or a profession set up in India is never foreign, wherever it arises (s.6(14), was the Explanation at the end of s.6 of the 1961 Act). A gain on Indian property counts toward the line.

Deemed residence does not apply to a person already resident by the day tests (s.6(8), was the Explanation to s.6(1A) of the 1961 Act), and it never reaches a foreign citizen, of Indian origin or not.

How not ordinarily resident works

Once you are resident, you are not ordinarily resident if any one of these holds (s.6(13), was s.6(6) of the 1961 Act), and ordinarily resident only where none does.

You were non-resident in 9 or more of the 10 tax years before (s.6(13)(a)(i), was s.6(6)(a) of the 1961 Act), or you were in India for 729 days or less in total over the 7 tax years before (s.6(13)(a)(ii), was s.6(6)(a) of the 1961 Act).

You are an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000, in India for 120 days or more but under 182 (s.6(13)(b), was s.6(6)(c) of the 1961 Act). That clause speaks of the income "as mentioned in" the visitor rule, so this page applies it to visitors only.

You are deemed resident (s.6(13)(c), was s.6(6)(d) of the 1961 Act).

It matters because India then taxes your income from abroad only where it comes from a business controlled in India or a profession set up in India.

02 / What India taxes, and FEMA

What your status means

What India taxes on this status, and what FEMA, a separate law that governs your bank accounts and investments, likely makes of you.

What India taxes

Resident and ordinarily resident

  • India taxes your income from everywhere, in India and abroad (s.5(1), was s.5(1) of the 1961 Act).
  • Rent, interest on an NRO account and gains on property or shares in India arise in India, so India taxes them whatever your status.

FEMA status, likely and never certain

Not settled for this year

You were in India for more than 182 days in the preceding financial year, so FEMA s.2(v)(i) turns on why you are abroad. A student studying abroad can be treated as a non-resident Indian (RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 of 8 December 2003). The circular permits this rather than requiring it, and it does not plainly say the status starts on the day you leave. RBI's deposit directions also provide for a person resident in India who has gone abroad for studies (RBI Master Direction on deposits and accounts), so a student can be treated as still resident in India. Which applies, and from when, is for you and your bank to settle.

FEMA s.2(v)(i) and s.2(w); RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 of 2003; RBI Master Direction on deposits and accounts

What FEMA status changes for your bank accounts
  • NRE and FCNR(B) accounts are for non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin resident outside India; an NRO account is open to any person resident outside India.
  • Interest on an NRE account is exempt while you are a person resident outside India under FEMA, or hold RBI's permission to keep the account (Schedule IV, Sl. No. 1, read with s.11, was s.10(4)(ii) of the 1961 Act), whatever your income-tax status.
  • On becoming resident in India, NRE accounts are redesignated as resident accounts, or the money moved to an RFC account (RBI Master Direction on deposits and accounts, para 4.9).
  • A resident leaving India redesignates resident accounts as NRO accounts (RBI Master Direction on deposits and accounts, para 6.10).

03 / A short list for your CA

Take this to your CA

Who you are and the situation you chose, your status and what made it, the figures it used and the years each covers, your FEMA status, and the points worth talking through.

Income-tax status
Resident and ordinarily resident, Tax year 2026-27, under the Income-tax Act, 2025
Decided by
In India for 60 days or more in the year, and 365 days or more in the four years before (s.6(2)(b), was s.6(1)(c) of the 1961 Act)
Citizenship
Indian citizen
Situation
I left India this year to study, for family or another reason
Why you are outside India, for FEMA
Studying abroad
Days in India this year
132 days, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027
Your stays in India
  • 1 April 2025 to 10 August 2026
Indian income for the year
₹ 0
Liable to tax in another country
No
Days in India in the four years before
1,461 days, 2022-23 to 2025-26
Non-resident years of the ten before
0 of 10, 2016-17 to 2025-26
Days in India in the seven years before
2,557 days, 2019-20 to 2025-26
Days in India in 2025-26, for FEMA
365 days
FEMA status
Not settled for this year (FEMA s.2(v)(i) and s.2(w); RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 of 2003; RBI Master Direction on deposits and accounts)
To talk through
  • A student's tax status and FEMA status can differ
  • Filing a return and reporting assets held outside India (s.263(1)(a)(ix), was the fourth proviso to s.139(1) of the 1961 Act)

Selling property in India

The NRI property sale calculator works out a sale by a non-resident only, and on this result you are resident. A resident seller, and that includes one who is resident but not ordinarily resident, has TDS at 1 percent of the higher of the amount agreed and the stamp duty value where either is ₹ 50,00,000 or more (s.393(1) (Table: Sl. No. 3(i)); s.194-IA of the 1961 Act), the indexation option for land or buildings acquired before 23 July 2024 (s.197(3); the proviso to s.112(1)(a) of the 1961 Act), the rebate (s.156; s.87A of the 1961 Act) and the unused basic exemption.

04 / Use cases

Which situation fits you

Each case says who it fits, what to choose, what to type and the result it gives. Load the one closest to you, then change any figure to your own.

  • Student who left for the US

    Loaded above

    An Indian citizen who lived in India and left during the year to study abroad, here at a university in the US.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I left India this year to study, for family or another reason
    Liable to tax in another country
    No
    Why you are outside India, for FEMA
    Studying abroad

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    132
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 April 2025 to 10 August 2026
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 0
    Days in India in the four years before
    1,461
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    0
    Days in India in the seven years before
    2,557
    Days in India in the preceding financial year
    365

    The result

    Resident and ordinarily resident

    FEMA: Not settled for this year

    A student who left in August is resident and ordinarily resident for tax, because study is not employment, while under FEMA a student who was in India for more than 182 days in the year before can be treated as a person resident outside India, which is for the student and the bank to settle: the two statuses can differ.

  • Left for a job in Canada

    An Indian citizen who left India during the year to take up a job abroad, here in Canada.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I left India this year for a job abroad, or as crew of an Indian ship
    Liable to tax in another country
    Yes

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    106
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 April 2025 to 15 July 2026
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 3,00,000
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    0
    Days in India in the seven years before
    2,557

    The result

    Non-resident

    FEMA: Likely a person resident outside India

    Leaving India for a job switches off the 60 day test for that year, so 106 days leaves you non-resident: only the 182 day test applies.

  • Living abroad, visiting family

    An Indian citizen who lives and works abroad and spends long visits with family in India, with modest rent and interest in India.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I live abroad and visit India
    Liable to tax in another country
    Yes
    Why you are outside India, for FEMA
    A job, business or vocation abroad

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    150
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 June 2026 to 15 July 2026; 1 December 2026 to 15 March 2027
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 6,00,000
    Days in India in the four years before
    500
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    10
    Days in India in the seven years before
    900

    The result

    Non-resident

    FEMA: Likely a person resident outside India

    A citizen who lives abroad and visits, with Indian income of ₹ 15,00,000 or less, is resident only at 182 days, so 150 days leaves them non-resident even with 500 days in the four years before.

  • Green card holder visiting

    An Indian citizen who lives in the US on a green card and visits India, with rent, interest or gains in India.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I live abroad and visit India
    Liable to tax in another country
    Yes
    Why you are outside India, for FEMA
    A job, business or vocation abroad

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    100
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 May 2026 to 19 June 2026; 10 December 2026 to 28 January 2027
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 18,00,000
    Days in India in the four years before
    400
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    10
    Days in India in the seven years before
    700

    The result

    Non-resident

    FEMA: Likely a person resident outside India

    With Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000 and 365 days in the four years before, a visitor is resident from 120 days, so 100 days is non-resident; at 130 days the same person would be resident but not ordinarily resident. A green card keeps them liable to tax in the United States, so deemed residence cannot reach them.

  • Working in the UAE with Indian rent

    An Indian citizen who works in the UAE, where there is no personal income tax, and has rent and other income in India.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I live abroad and visit India
    Liable to tax in another country
    No
    Why you are outside India, for FEMA
    A job, business or vocation abroad

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    40
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    20 October 2026 to 28 November 2026
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 16,00,000
    Days in India in the four years before
    160
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    10
    Days in India in the seven years before
    280

    The result

    Resident but not ordinarily resident

    FEMA: Likely a person resident outside India

    An Indian citizen living in a country with no personal income tax, and not liable to tax in any other country, with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000 is deemed resident however few days they spend in India, and a deemed resident is not ordinarily resident.

  • OCI holder visiting

    A foreign citizen whose parent or grandparent was born in undivided India, often an OCI card holder, who lives abroad and spends long visits in India.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Foreign citizen of Indian origin (you, a parent or a grandparent born in undivided India)
    Your situation this year
    I live abroad and visit India
    Why you are outside India, for FEMA
    A job, business or vocation abroad

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    150
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 June 2026 to 30 July 2026; 1 December 2026 to 28 February 2027
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 20,00,000
    Days in India in the four years before
    500
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    7
    Days in India in the seven years before
    875

    The result

    Resident but not ordinarily resident

    FEMA: Likely a person resident outside India

    A foreign citizen of Indian origin with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000 is resident at 150 days through the 120 day test, and not ordinarily resident for that reason alone; deemed residence cannot reach a foreign citizen.

  • Coming back to India to live

    An Indian citizen who lived abroad for years and came back during the year to settle in India.

    What to choose

    Tax year
    Tax year 2026-27
    Citizenship
    Indian citizen
    Your situation this year
    I came back to India this year to live
    Liable to tax in another country
    Yes

    What to type

    Days in India this year
    182
    Your stays in India, to count the days (optional)
    1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027
    Indian income for the year
    ₹ 6,00,000
    Days in India in the four years before
    120
    Years you were non-resident, of the ten before
    10
    Days in India in the seven years before
    210
    Days in India in the preceding financial year
    30
    Years abroad before you came back
    12
    Days a year in India while abroad
    30

    The result

    Resident but not ordinarily resident

    FEMA: Not settled for this year

    Coming back to settle on 1 October gives exactly 182 days, so resident, though leaving out the day of arrival gives 181 and non-resident; after 12 years abroad the years not ordinarily resident run to 2028-29, and 2029-30 is the first ordinarily resident year.

Assumptions and basis

What this calculator applied

Law applied
Tax year 2026-27, Income-tax Act, 2025
Law checked
Checked on 1 November 2026
15 notes on how the law was applied
  • Tax year 2026-27 is decided under s.6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. The Finance Act, 2026 made no amendment to s.6. The look back years before 2026-27 were decided under the 1961 Act, whose tests have been the same in substance since 2020-21, so a status you worked out for those years still counts.
  • The 120 day test for a visitor and deemed residence entered the 1961 Act with the Finance Act, 2020, so a look back year before 2020-21 was decided without them. The ten years before 2026-27 run from 2016-17 and the seven from 2019-20, so both reach back past that change.
  • The definitions are numbered as read in the Gazette text of the 2025 Act: liable to tax s.2(66), non-resident s.2(72), person of Indian origin s.2(78). A secondary reproduction numbers them s.2(82), s.2(88) and s.2(95), which in the Gazette text are other definitions; the Gazette numbering is used here.
  • The day count is a convention. The Act has no rule on part days. This page counts every calendar day on which you were in India for any part of the day, both the day you arrived and the day you left, which is the cautious reading because it can only add days. Tribunals have left the arrival day out (Manoj Kumar Reddy, ITAT Bangalore, 2009; Pradeep Kumar Joshi, ITAT Ahmedabad; as reported, the orders were not read for this page), which gives one day fewer for each arrival. Where you enter your stays or your arrivals, the page also counts without the arrival days and flags any status that changes. A stay entered from 1 April may or may not be an arrival, so that count takes it as one, the most the dates allow. Where the arrivals are not known, a figure within 2 days of a line is flagged and tried with one day fewer, and a frequent traveller can be affected from further away than that.
  • Deemed residence turns on being liable to tax in any country other than India by residence, domicile or a similar test. The test is any other country, not only the one you live in, so a US green card holder is liable to tax in the United States wherever they live. Liable to tax (s.2(66), was s.2(29A) of the 1961 Act) means an income-tax liability under the law of the other country, and includes a person later exempted from it. A resident of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada is liable to tax there by residence. The UAE levies no personal income tax on salary, investment or property income, and its tax residency certificate shows residence, not a liability to tax. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were not checked one by one for this page.
  • Whether a stay is a visit decides the visitor relaxation (s.6(4), was Explanation 1(b) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act). A return to settle is not a visit (Manoj Kumar Reddy, as reported). A tribunal held that the relaxation is for people already non-resident and refused it in the first year after a move abroad (Binny Bansal, ITAT Bangalore, January 2026, as reported; the date and citation were not confirmed for this page). Manoj Kumar Reddy was reported as upheld by the Karnataka High Court in 2011; Binny Bansal is a single tribunal order that may be appealed. This page flags the risk rather than deciding it.
  • A person of Indian origin, for these tests, is one who, or either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents, was born in undivided India (s.2(78), was the Explanation to s.115C(e) of the 1961 Act). An OCI card is not the test: a card held through marriage does not make you one, and a grandparent born in what is now Pakistan or Bangladesh does.
  • The ₹ 15,00,000 line is on total income other than income from foreign sources (s.6(14), was the Explanation at the end of s.6 of the 1961 Act), after exemptions and deductions. A gain on Indian property counts toward it, so a sale can move a visiting citizen or person of Indian origin from non-resident to resident but not ordinarily resident.
  • The ₹ 15,00,000 line is tested on the figure you enter, exactly, and is not rounded. Total income is rounded to the nearest ten rupees (s.516, was s.288A of the 1961 Act), and whether that rounding reaches this test was not confirmed for this page: rounded, an income less than ₹ 5 over ₹ 15,00,000 would not be over the line, so check such a figure with your CA.
  • The 120 day clause for not ordinarily resident (s.6(13)(b), was s.6(6)(c) of the 1961 Act) speaks of income "as mentioned in" the visitor rule, so this page applies it to visitors only. Where a citizen who came back to settle has 120 to 181 days and Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000, the wider reading is flagged.
  • An ordinarily resident person with assets outside India must file a return whatever their income (s.263(1)(a)(ix), was the fourth proviso to s.139(1) of the 1961 Act). The 1961 provision reaches a resident other than not ordinarily resident. Whether the 2025 Act text also leaves out a person who is not ordinarily resident was not confirmed for this page, so the flag speaks of an ordinarily resident person only.
  • FEMA status is a judgment on the purpose and intended length of your stay, it can change on the day you leave or come back, and it has no category of not ordinarily resident. This page shows it as likely, never as certain. FEMA s.2(v) and s.2(w) were not read in the India Code text for this page; the wording relied on is as quoted in RBI's circular of 2003 and the reported Karnataka High Court judgment of June 2026. In a year of return the statute counts the preceding financial year while RBI's deposit directions require NRE accounts to be redesignated immediately, and the page names that tension rather than settling it.
  • The RNOR window for a person who came back to live is projected from the years abroad you enter, on the assumption, printed beside it, that you live in India for the whole of every later year. That gives the earliest year you could become ordinarily resident; fewer days in India can only push it later.
  • Not covered: crew of a foreign bound ship, whose days are counted under a prescribed rule (s.6(6), was Explanation 2 to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act); a person resident in India and another country at once, which a treaty tie breaker settles for treaty purposes; the circulars that excluded certain days in 2019-20 for people stranded in India, whose reach into the seven year count is untested; and Hindu undivided families.
  • Nothing here is a return, a certificate or advice. It is a working you can tick against your own.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 (No. 30 of 2025), Gazette of India Extraordinary, ss.2, 5 and 6Income Tax Department, e-filing help, non-resident FAQThe Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, s.2(v) and s.2(w)RBI Master Direction, Deposits and Accounts (FED Master Direction No. 14/2015-16, updated 2 September 2026), paras 4.9 and 6.10RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 of 8 December 2003, Indian students studying abroad

This is a working estimate, not advice, and it will not cover every case. The law and its thresholds change. Check the result against the law as it stands before you rely on it or sign anything. All calculators

Questions this page answers

Six questions, answered from this page's basis

How many days can an NRI stay in India without becoming resident?

You become resident at 182 days in India in the year (s.6(2)(a), was s.6(1)(a) of the 1961 Act), or at 60 days with 365 in the four years before. A citizen or person of Indian origin on a visit, with Indian income of ₹ 15,00,000 or less, has only the 182 day line (s.6(4), was Explanation 1(b) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act), so 181 days leaves them non-resident.

What is the 120 days rule for NRIs?

Visiting with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000, a citizen or person of Indian origin is resident from 120 days, given 365 in the four years before (s.6(5), was Explanation 1(b) to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act), and below 182 days not ordinarily resident (s.6(13)(b), was s.6(6)(c) of the 1961 Act). A green card holder with ₹ 18,00,000 is non-resident at 100 days and not ordinarily resident at 130.

Can an NRI working in the UAE be treated as resident in India?

Yes, if you are an Indian citizen with Indian income over ₹ 15,00,000 and not liable to tax in any other country by residence, domicile or a similar test (s.6(7), was s.6(1A) of the 1961 Act). The UAE levies no personal income tax, so 40 days and ₹ 16,00,000 of Indian rent can make you deemed resident, and so not ordinarily resident (s.6(13)(c), was s.6(6)(d) of the 1961 Act).

Am I an NRI if I study abroad?

Usually not for tax in the year you leave: study is not employment, so the 60 day test applies (s.6(2)(b), was s.6(1)(c) of the 1961 Act). A student raised in India who left after 132 days is resident and ordinarily resident for 2026-27. Under FEMA a student with 182 days or fewer in India the year before is likely an NRI, and with more can be treated as one.

How long does RNOR status last after returning to India?

You stay not ordinarily resident if you were non-resident in 9 or more of the 10 years before, or in India 729 days or less in the 7 years before (s.6(13)(a)(i) and s.6(13)(a)(ii), was s.6(6)(a) of the 1961 Act). After 12 years abroad at 30 days a year, coming back on 15 September 2026 and staying gives 2026-27 to 2028-29 not ordinarily resident, and 2029-30 ordinarily resident.

What does this residential status calculator not do?

It does not count days for crew of a foreign bound ship, which a prescribed rule governs (s.6(6), was Explanation 2 to s.6(1) of the 1961 Act), settle a person resident in two countries under a treaty, or apply the 2019-20 day exclusions for people stranded in India. It does not cover Hindu undivided families, and it shows FEMA status as likely, never as certain.

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