92. Returning to India - Higher

school fees for NRI children

Q. Hello Sir/Madam I and my family are UK passport holders with OCI. We are planning to move back to India in the next couple of months, after having spent time abroad for over 10 years. I have few questions related to the move. Your help to get this clarified would be appreciated. 1. Can OCI start up own business in India? Is there any restriction to registering company, funding the company etc? 2. As an OCI intending to live in India for the longer term, are there any additional costs that I would incur on a going basis. Am I bound to pay more for schools, hospitals, housing etc? Is there a reason for me to negotiate higher salary? 3. Our kids are 8 & 2 now. In the longer term, if they end up going to university in India, would they be eligible only for NRI quota? Or the fact that they lived in India for many years make them eligible for normal seats? What other practical difficulties could I face? Any info you can provide would be helpful Thanks. Sreeji Gopinathan A. As an OCI holder you can start your own business in India and register your company following the same rules as local Indians. OCI holders are allowed to undertake all activities except mountaineering, missionary and research work. OCI holders cannot setup businesses in areas that are designated as protected areas or restricted areas. OCI holders get Parity with Non resident Indians. I doubt if there is a law in India that NRI students must be charged a higher fee. I think some schools charge extra for NRI students and there may be others that don't. So this would depend on the school you choose. Some schools clearly specify their higher fee structure. For instance here click HERE to see the fee structure for The Doon School which is quite a popular school in India. You will find that NRI students pay almost double. There may be many OCI holders residing in India and sending their children to schools without revealing their citizenship status. However to keep everything legal, if a school requires nationality information at time of admission, OCI holders should not hide their status. As for what other difficulties you may face, all I can say is that there are a number of pros and cons to living in India after a long absence. It all depends on what ones expectations are. Life in India can be quite pleasant if foreigners living in India think like Indians and not like foreigners.