Yes. Your visa doesn't change the count: NRI tax residency counts only days physically in India, so tourist visa days abroad are days outside India. The catch: in the year you leave, the 60-day test switches off only if you left for a job abroad, so a tourist visa can keep you resident.
How India counts your days, whatever visa you hold
If you're about to spend months abroad on a visitor visa, India won't ask which visa is in your passport. It asks how many days you were physically in India between April 1 and March 31.
Your residential status comes from section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. From tax year 2026-27, section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 keeps the same day tests.
You're resident for a year if either test is met:
- 182-day test: you're in India for 182 days or more in the year.
- 60-day test: you're in India for 60 days or more in the year, and 365 days or more across the four years before it.
Fail both and you're a non-resident for that year. Both the arrival day and the departure day count as days in India, and the stay doesn't need to be continuous. The residential status rules then split residents into RNOR and ROR, which is a separate test.
Why a tourist visa can still cost you NRI tax residency
The visa doesn't decide the count, but your reason for leaving decides which test applies. The 1961 Act sets out both exceptions in Explanation 1 to section 6(1), and the 2025 Act carries them into its own section 6.
Leaving for a job abroad switches off the 60-day test
Explanation 1(a) to section 6(1) covers an Indian citizen who leaves India in a year for employment outside India, or as crew of an Indian ship. For that year, 182 days replaces the 60 days, so you stay a non-resident below 182 days in India.
A tourist visa leaves the 60-day test in place
Leave to travel or to stay with family on a visitor visa, and the exception doesn't apply. With 365 or more India days across the previous four years, 60 days in India this year makes you resident, even if you spent ten months abroad.
That's the reasoning the Chennai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal applied in DCIT v. M. Mahadevan (order dated 30 May 2025). His foreign trips were on tourist or social visas and weren't for employment, so the tribunal applied the 60-day test and treated him as resident, with credit for foreign tax paid.
The visit relaxation is for people whose home is abroad
Explanation 1(b) helps the other direction. An Indian citizen or person of Indian origin who lives abroad and comes on a visit gets 182 days instead of 60, or 120 days if India income tops Rs 15 lakh. The 120-day and 182-day rules are what protect a working NRI who spends four months at home.
The returnee question I hear most
It's a question returnees bring to me after they've moved back and left the overseas job: if I spend months abroad with family on a visitor visa, do those days keep me an NRI? Usually they don't, because the person has already rebuilt a large India day count and neither relaxation applies to them.
Worked example: Ravi
Ravi moved back to Pune in June 2024 after 12 years in the US and didn't take a job abroad. In tax year 2026-27 he spends 190 days with his daughter in New Jersey on a B-2 visitor visa and 175 days in India.
- 182-day test: 175 days, so he fails it.
- 60-day test: 175 days this year, and well over 365 days in India across the four years before, so he meets it.
- Employment exception: no, he left on a visitor visa, not for a job.
- Visit relaxation: no, India is where he lives, so he isn't coming on a visit.
Ravi is resident for tax year 2026-27. Whether he's RNOR or ROR depends on his last 10 and 7 years.
Once you live in India again, I'd treat NRI status as closed unless you spend fewer than 60 days in India, or leave for a real job abroad and stay under 182. Your planning time is better spent on the RNOR window, which can shield foreign income.
The same trip counts on the US side too
A B-2 visitor isn't an exempt individual for US tax, so your US days count toward the substantial presence test. You're US resident with 31 days this year and a weighted total of 183: this year's days, a third of last year's, and a sixth of the year before.
A parent who spends 130 days in the US each year gets 130 + 43 + 22 = 195 weighted days, which passes.
With fewer than 183 US days this year, they can usually claim a closer connection to India on Form 8840 by the return due date. The dual tax residency rules cover what happens when both countries claim you.
Who this affects, and who it doesn't
This matters most if you're tax resident in India today and plan long stays abroad on a visitor visa:
- Parents spending months with children in the US or UK.
- Returnees who've moved back and travel for long stretches.
- Business owners who travel abroad on tourist visas for work.
- Anyone leaving India to look for a job on a visitor visa.
On that last one, I wouldn't count on the employment exception until you actually have the job. It doesn't affect an Indian citizen who left for a job abroad on a work visa, or an NRI settled abroad who visits India, because each has its own relaxation.
What to do before a long trip on a visitor visa
- Count your India days for this financial year, including arrival and departure days.
- Add up your India days for the four previous years. Over 365 means 60 days is your real limit.
- Keep proof of why you left: an offer letter, a work visa, passport stamps.
- If you'll be resident, test RNOR before assuming India taxes your worldwide income.
- Track US days too, and file Form 8840 if you rely on a closer connection to India.
The day count comes from your passport, so pull every stamp before you rely on memory. The full text of section 6 on the Income Tax Department site sets out both relaxations.
Before your next long trip, pull your passport stamps and list your India days for this year and the four before it. If the count lands near 60 or 182, I'd get it checked before you file, and InvestMates can run that count with you.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if NRI stays in India for more than 182 days?
An NRI who is in India for 182 days or more in a financial year becomes a resident of India for that year, whatever visa or passport they hold. The next step is the RNOR test, which looks at the previous 10 and 7 years.
Do days on a US B-2 visitor visa count toward US tax residency?
Yes. Days on a B-2 visitor visa count in full toward the US substantial presence test, because B-2 isn't an exempt category. If you're under 183 days in the current year, Form 8840 can keep you a nonresident.
Does an Indian citizen lose NRI status after quitting a job abroad?
No, quitting a job abroad doesn't change an Indian citizen's NRI status by itself, because the day count does. If you then move back mid-year, the first year back is often still a non-resident year on the numbers.
Does an OCI card holder's visa affect Indian tax residency?
No. An OCI card holder is tested on the same day count as anyone else, and one who is a person of Indian origin gets the 182-day or 120-day relaxation when visiting. The deemed residency rule reaches only Indian citizens, so it doesn't apply to a foreign-passport OCI holder.