‘90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way’: Jen’s 30-Day Single Entry Visa to India Explained
On 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4, Jen Boecher discovers her tourist visa won’t allow her to stay in India longer than 30 days. Is this true? Let’s take a look at what type of visa Jen has and why she must return home to America.
Jen finds out her visa is single-entry
The 46-year-old American planned to move to India on her tourist visa, where she would marry her fiancé, Rishi Singh, and stay in the country forever. On the March 19 episode of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, Jen visits an Indian immigration lawyer, where she receives devastating news about her visa.
Jen knew her tourist visa was only valid for 120 days. However, she was under the impression that 30 days meant she could leave and come back within 120 days and planned to travel to a nearby country to restart the 30 days in India.
“From what I understand, I have to leave the country every 30 days,” she told the lawyer, Nipun Khanna. After showing him the fine print on Jen’s visa, Khanna explains that the situation is more complicated than she expected. “Once when you leave this country, you have to apply for the tourist visa again,” he explains to Jen.
Jen was confident her tourist visa was “multiple-entry,” meaning she could leave India and return on the same visa since it’s valid for 120 days. The lawyer states that the visa was a single entry and only valid for 30 days.
“When you step out of this country, this visa is invalid,” the lawyer tells Jen. “It was pretty much written up front on the visa that it’s a single entry 30 days visa. She didn’t have any clue. I feel like this is crazy American behavior,” he tells the cameras.
The lawyer says reapplying for a tourist visa could take time since there was a backup of pending applications during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. He advises her that the safest option would be to return to the United States and reapply for a new visa.
Jen’s 30-day visa explained
The immigration lawyer is right. At the time of filming, which was two years after India shut down its borders due to coronavirus pandemic. India opened its borders to foreigners in December 2021, but with limited access.
The consulate website explained they only offered “a single entry Tourist Visa” with “a validity for 120 days and a maximum stay permitted of 30 days within this 120-day period.”
At the beginning of her stay, Rishi and Jen celebrated Kite Day, which is a traditional Indian holiday celebrated each year on January 14. Jen’s likely filmed her segments of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4 in January 2021.
It wasn’t until March 2022 that the Indian government restored long-stay visas for US citizens. They also began offering tourist visas for “one month, one year, and five years.” But when Jen was in India, the only option for her was the single-entry 30-day visa.
Jen must return to the US
After two years of separation, Jen has no choice but to return to the United States after just 30 days with her fiancé. Had Rishi and Jen set a date for their expected wedding, the immigration lawyer said things would have been different.
With Rishi unwilling to come clean to his parents about his relationship with Jen, she has no choice but to go home. “I have to go back to the US and get a new visa,” she said. “This situation just feels hopeless.”
Rishi’s family actively seeks a suitable Indian woman for an arranged marriage. With so many obstacles, Jen wonders if the visa is a sign from the universe that their relationship isn’t meant to be.
Jen worries that if she goes home, she won’t find the motivation to move to India a second time. “I hope we will make it. I don’t want to lose you because of that f***ing visa,” Rishi told her.
Rishi is heartbroken that they will have to become long-distance again. Will their relationship survive after becoming separate again? Viewers will have to watch 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way to find out if Jen and Rishi will make it or not.
New episodes of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4 air Sundays at 8 pm EST on TLC.
