Visa Overstay in India: The 2025 Penalty and Way Out

If your visa expired while you were still in India, the law that decides what happens next changed on 1 September 2025. The Foreigners Act, 1946 is gone. The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 replaced it, the numbers went up sharply, and the single most useful provision in the whole statute is one almost nobody mentions: an overstay can be compounded, which ends the prosecution.

Read the row that matches what actually happened. The gap between row two and row three is the difference between a fine and a mandatory jail term.

Section 22 is the one to take seriously. It is the only offence in this group with a floor rather than just a ceiling, it uses and rather than or so the fine is not an alternative to prison, and section 25 deliberately leaves it out of the compounding route. Its proviso also makes an attempt to use such a document an offence in itself.

Section 24 adds that whoever abets an offence under sections 21, 22 or 23 is punishable with the same punishment, if the act abetted is committed. Abetment carries the meaning given in section 45 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

This is the part worth reading twice.

Section 25(1) says that notwithstanding anything in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, any offence punishable under section 21, section 23 or section 24 may be compounded, either before the institution of prosecution or during trial, by such officers or authorities and for such sums as the Central Government may notify. The proviso caps the sum: it shall not exceed the maximum fine that could be imposed under section 21 or section 23 for that offence.

What compounding actually achieves depends on when it happens:

1. Before prosecution is instituted, or before trial begins. Section 25(4): no prosecution shall be instituted in relation to that offence against that offender.
2. After prosecution has begun, or during trial. Section 25(5): the compounding authority must bring it in writing to the notice of the court where the trial is pending, and on that notice being given, the person shall be discharged.

Two practical limits. The officers, authorities and the sums are all fixed by a Central Government notification under section 25(1), and section 25(3) makes those officers exercise the power subject to the directions, control and supervision of the Central Government. The statute gives you the mechanism, not the amount. Ask the Foreigners Regional Registration Office which notification under section 25 applies and what sum it specifies, rather than accepting a figure quoted across a counter.

The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 is Act No. 13 of 2025. It came into force on 1 September 2025 by notification No. S.O. 3981(E) dated 31 August 2025.

Section 36(1) repealed four statutes outright:

• The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
• The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
• The Foreigners Act, 1946
• The Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000

If a notice, advice or older article you are relying on cites the Foreigners Act, 1946, it is citing a repealed law. Section 36(2) saves anything already done or any action already taken under the repealed Acts, so past proceedings do not evaporate, but the current rules are in the 2025 Act.

Section 3(1) is wider than most travellers assume. It requires a valid passport or travel document to enter, and for a foreigner also a valid visa. Then it adds that any foreigner while present in India shall also be required to possess valid passport or other valid travel document and valid visa, unless exempted under section 33 or through intergovernmental agreements.

That second limb is what makes an overstay a continuing contravention rather than a single missed date. It is also why section 23(a) reaches three different situations: remaining beyond the visa period, staying without a valid passport or travel document, and doing any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa. Working on a tourist visa, or studying on a visa that does not permit it, sits in that third bucket even if the expiry date has not arrived.

Two further parts of section 3 are worth knowing. The first proviso lets entry or stay be refused where a foreigner is found inadmissible on grounds of threat to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, relations with a foreign State, or public health, or on other grounds the Central Government specifies. The second proviso makes the decision of the Immigration Officer final and binding. Section 3(2) then applies the passport requirement to departure as well, notwithstanding section 3 of the Passports Act, 1967.

This is the provision that quietly changes how a dispute plays out. The Act places the onus of proving that a person is not a foreigner, or is not a foreigner of a particular class or description, on that person, notwithstanding anything in the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

The practical consequence is documentary. You are the one who has to produce the record. Keep your passport pages, every visa grant and extension, arrival and departure stamps, FRRO registration and any e-FRRO acknowledgement, and any exemption you rely on under section 33. A missing stamp is not a neutral fact in a proceeding where you carry the onus.

Section 26 separately provides a power to arrest, so this is not a purely administrative area.

Not every overstay is the traveller's doing. Extension and exit permit applications do get stuck, and a pending application does not by itself stop the clock. Two things are worth doing in parallel.

First, keep written proof of what you filed and when. An acknowledgement with a date is the single most useful document you can hold if the question later becomes who caused the delay.

Second, if the file has simply stopped moving, a Right to Information application to the Public Information Officer of the concerned office will produce the file movement. Ask for facts and documents rather than for a decision.

1. The date on which application no. ......... dated ......... for
   visa extension / exit permit was received in your office.
2. The present stage of the said application and the name and
   designation of the officer with whom it is pending.
3. A copy of the file noting sheet recording action taken on the said
   application from the date of receipt till date.
4. The prescribed time limit, if any, within which such applications
   are to be disposed of, and a copy of the order or circular fixing it.
5. A copy of the notification issued under section 25 of the
   Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 specifying the officers
   authorised to compound offences and the sums so specified.

Point 5 is the one that pays for the application. It asks for the compounding notification in writing, which is far more reliable than an oral quote. The AI RTI Drafter will format the application, the RTI Timeline Calculator tracks the thirty day limit under section 7 of the RTI Act, and if the reply does not come the First Appeal Builder drafts the appeal. The RTI Playbook sets out the full escalation route.

A caution worth stating plainly: RTI is a tool for getting records out of an office. It is not a substitute for immigration advice, and where a prosecution is in prospect the sensible step is a lawyer alongside, not instead of, the paperwork.

It is a criminal offence. Section 23(a) makes it punishable with imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to three lakh rupees or both. There is no minimum, so a fine alone is possible, but the offence is not merely administrative. Section 25 allows it to be compounded, which is the route that avoids or ends a prosecution.

Section 21 punishes the entry itself, where a foreigner enters India without a valid passport, travel document or visa, and carries up to five years or five lakh rupees or both. Section 23(a) punishes what happens afterwards: remaining beyond the visa period, staying without a valid document, or breaching a visa condition, with up to three years or three lakh rupees or both.

No. Section 25(1) lists only sections 21, 23 and 24 as compoundable. Section 22, which covers knowingly using or supplying a forged or fraudulently obtained passport, travel document or visa, is excluded. It also carries a minimum of two years imprisonment and a minimum fine of one lakh rupees, and its proviso treats an attempt as an offence in itself.

No. Section 36(1) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 repealed it, along with the Passport Entry into India Act 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act 1939 and the Immigration Carriers Liability Act 2000. Section 36(2) saves things already done under those Acts, but new matters fall under the 2025 Act.

It is not an overstay, but section 23(a) also covers doing any act in violation of the conditions of the visa issued for entry and stay. Working on a visa that does not permit employment falls within that limb, and it carries the same maximum of three years or three lakh rupees or both, whatever the expiry date on the visa says.

The Act does not fix it. Section 25(1) leaves the sums, and the officers who may compound, to a Central Government notification, and the proviso only caps it at the maximum fine available under section 21 or section 23. Ask for the notification in writing rather than relying on a figure quoted verbally.

• The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, Act No. 13 of 2025, in force 1 September 2025 vide notification No. S.O. 3981 dated 31 August 2025. Full text on India Code at indiacode.gov.in
• The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, section 45, referred to in section 24 of the 2025 Act
• The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, both displaced in part by sections 25 and the burden of proof provision
• The Right to Information Act, 2005, sections 6 and 7, full text at RTI Act 2005 on RTI Wiki

• Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025: who must report a foreign guest
• FRRO visa, registration or exit permit delayed
• Visa fraud recovery: embassy, MEA and money back
• Fake immigration consultancy scam: verify and recover
• How to apply for an OCI card

Reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak. This page is general legal information, not legal advice, and it is not immigration advice. Statutory text quoted from Act No. 13 of 2025 as published on India Code. Compounding officers and sums are fixed by notification under section 25 and were not verified at the time of writing, so obtain the current notification before relying on any amount.