Foreign guests in your home: the 24-hour reporting rule

When a foreign national stays at your rental, India expects the accommodation to report it online within a day. For an owner abroad, this is the compliance task most likely to slip.

Many NRI owners assume guest reporting is the platform's job, or that it only concerns hotels. Neither is true. The Bureau of Immigration lists rented accommodation and paying guest houses alongside hotels and hostels among the places that must submit Form C.

The rule in one line

According to the Bureau of Immigration, Form C must be submitted within 24 hours of the arrival of the foreigner at the premises. It is filed online through the Bureau's Form C portal once the accommodation itself has been registered there.

The legal basis today

The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 replaced the older foreigners legislation. Its section 8 places a duty on the keeper of accommodation to submit information about foreigners accommodated to the Registration Officer. The section exempts non-commercial residential premises, unless the authorities direct otherwise for a particular area. A home let to paying guests is, by definition, commercial accommodation, so owners of short-stay rentals should plan on filing.

The Bureau now refers to the report as Form III (earlier Form C) and states that it covers all foreign nationals, including OCI cardholders. That last point surprises many hosts, because OCI cardholders are exempt from registering themselves with the FRRO. The accommodation's reporting duty is separate from the guest's own registration.

Who is and is not a foreign guest

• A guest travelling on a foreign passport: report.
• An OCI cardholder, who holds a foreign passport: report.
• An Indian citizen, including an NRI with an Indian passport: not a foreign national, no Form C.

When a booking includes several foreign travellers, each person is covered by the report. Collect passport and visa details at check-in, not afterwards.

Setting it up

• Register the accommodation on the Form C portal, with the property's details and the responsible person's identity.
• Decide who files. The duty belongs to the keeper of the accommodation; in practice the person checking guests in must do it the same day.
• Keep evidence. Store the acknowledgement for each submission alongside the booking.
• Report departures as the portal requires.

Why distance makes it harder

If you live in Singapore and a German couple checks in at midnight in Assagao, the 24-hour clock may run out before you have even read the message. Filing must sit with someone present and trained. The same applies to late arrivals, extended stays and guests who bring an extra traveller: the record must match who actually slept at the property. A reminder on your phone abroad is not a system; a check-in routine that ends with the submission is.

Details worth collecting at every check-in

• Passport photo page and the visa or OCI card, for each foreign guest.
• Arrival date and time, and the expected departure date.
• A contact number in India, if the guest has one.

How Hexuvium handles it

Under our management mandate, our check-in team collects the documents, files the report within the required time, keeps the acknowledgement and records it in your monthly statement. The accommodation remains registered in your name. If a guest refuses to provide passport details, the stay does not start; that is written into our house rules.

Rules and forms are updated from time to time. Check the Bureau of Immigration's current guidance, or ask us, before your first international guest.