[Indian Immigration] Enforce consistent interpretation of tourist visa rules

TLDR: My girlfriend and I (Chinese 28 y.o. and Korean 30 y.o.) went to India for a week in September 2025, our visa was issued for a window of 30 days. On our visa mentioned Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur with a detailed itinerary for 7 days in total with hotel bookings, but we also visited Varanasi additionally for one night outside my itinerary. Everything else was exactly as planned, and we planned to exit on the same flight as planned. When leaving, Delhi airport immigration detained us for 30 minutes, accused us of breaking visa rules, and said we’d never get another visa. It was humiliating and completely unnecessary. We had been so excited for this trip. I’ve always been curious about India’s history and culture, and Varanasi looked like such a meaningful place to visit. We had no issues during the trip itself; people were friendly, very different, and an interesting experience for us, and we wanted to end on a good note. But everything changed at the airport. When we were leaving, one of the immigration officers started questioning why we went to Varanasi since it wasn’t in the cities listed on the visa application. It was because I did not check in with the hotel in Delhi that night, and instead checked in at Varanasi. Seems like they have a tracking system to see where foreign passport holders travel. At first, I laughed, thinking he was just curious. Then his tone changed. He said we violated our visa and we should pay a fine. After some questioning, I was told on my face, we will be banned from visiting India again. He also took our cellphones and checked all our photos, and treated us like some criminals. Then he took our passports and kept us waiting for about half an hour without explanation. It was embarrassing and stressful. We weren’t doing anything wrong, and we had all our bookings and return tickets. I tried to stay calm, but it honestly felt like they were just enjoying the power. My girlfriend was getting anxious, and people in line were staring. When he finally returned, he said again that we’d “never be allowed back.” No warning letter, no paperwork, just words meant to scare. I’ve traveled to around thirty countries across four continents, small deviations from trips are very normal and never faced anything like this. Immigration in other countries can be strict, but not cruel. Later, we found online posts from other travelers who had similar problems, especially from East Asia. Apparently, some officers treat the “itinerary” as fixed, even though there’s no such rule for tourist visas. It’s just random enforcement and a bad attitude. India is interesting, but that moment erased all the good memories. I don’t care if it was just one officer or systematic harassment because of my nationality; all I wanted to do was explore. When someone in uniform treats you like a criminal for visiting a normal city, it stays with you. I don’t think I’ll ever go back. Outside of this, getting an Indian visa is a tedious process; it took me 3 months during with I am locked and unable to travel anywhere else, because they held my passport all this time, The embassy did not even mention anything about any updates or tracking. Who takes 3 months in this day and age to issue a visa? Never heard that before. Overall, not a pleasant experience. Update 1: Thanks for all the support guys. We have contacted the Indian embassy in Guangzhou. They acknowledged that we have not broken any visa law, because the visa is issued for 30 days! (As expected) not just 7 days. Although following the itinerary is recommended, it's still acceptable to use any number of days within our visa. About the permanent ban, they said they will investigate the issue and contact us back. Let's see how it goes. Final Update: Got a reply from the embassy, apparently there is no such ban placed on us, if we want we can apply for a tourism visa again as usual. But I'm still so confused why the immigration officer at the airport said so. Either way, it's solved. Thanks everyone! _________________________________________ Update 2: Thanks for nice comments by Indians, but for that small group of Indians who are rude. I wish your mom taught you better manners. Update 3: Overall we enjoyed travelling in India, we might visit again. With this post we want to be clear about it, it's just a caution (mainly to Chinese nationals as suggested by many in the comments section) to be more vigilant so that you don't get into any issues.