Murphy 4-th edition, additional exercises page 303, ex 2, question 12:
This is a nice restaurant, isn't it? Is this the first time (you are / you've been) here?
It seems I have heard the first variant (with "you are") several times and I have never heard the second. What do you think: is it possible to say "you are"? At least in oral speech? Or this is not correct?
Textbooks for English language learners will state that with a number of times, such as "the first time," you should use the present perfect. This is done for simplicity's sake, it is more consistently correct, and because it is more common in upper-register speech. However, using the simple present here is common and would not be seen as an error in conversational speech.
However, it would be better to answer "I've been here twice" rather than "I am here twice."
