I have a 5-year tourist visa for India, with the usual specification "each stay not to exceed 180 days". During the past 3 1/2 years I have spent most of my time in India, but always for less than 180 days at the time. A couple of times I left for 1-2 month to my home country, the other times I went to Sri Lanka for a few days and then returned to India. I'm visiting an ashram in India and attending programmes there.
On my last return to India I was refused entry and told that I have been using my tourist visa for the wrong purpose. The airline official asked me to book a return flight to my home country, which I did and I left within a few hours.
I'm not sure what my position is now. Can I return to India on the same visa, or would I be refused entry again? Can I re-apply for a different visa? Would my name be on some kind of banned list, how can I find out about this?
Does anyone here have any kind of knowledge or experience of this kind of situation?
