Moving to India

A country that admits foreigners readily as visitors and workers, and almost never as settlers.

India issues a large number of long-stay visas and almost no permanent status. The system is built around purpose-specific categories — employment, business, project, student, research, medical treatment, and the broad entry or X visa for people of Indian origin and their families — each renewable, each tied to the reason for which it was granted. What it does not contain is an ordinary settlement route. There is no points system, no general residence permit that matures into permanence, and no timeline at the end of which an ordinary foreign worker becomes a permanent resident.

The central design decision is that India does not permit dual citizenship. A person who acquires another nationality ceases to be an Indian citizen. Because the diaspora is very large, the state created a substitute: the Overseas Citizen of India card, which grants lifelong visa-free entry and the right to live and work in India indefinitely, while explicitly not being citizenship. For most people with an Indian family connection, the OCI card, and not any visa, is the realistic goal.

The other thing that dominates daily life is registration. Most long-stay visa holders must register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office within a set period after arrival, and must return to it for extensions, changes of address, changes of employer, and in some cases for permission to leave. Newcomers commonly report that the visa was the straightforward part and the FRRO was not.

Region	South Asia
Capital	New Delhi
Population	roughly 1.43 billion
Foreign-born residents	well under 1% of residents
Official language(s)	Hindi, English and 20 further scheduled languages
Currency	Indian rupee (INR)

Why people move to India

• Employment, business, project, intern and student visas are issued for clearly defined purposes, so the rules are readable in advance.
• The Overseas Citizen of India card gives people of Indian origin lifelong visa-free entry and an unlimited right to live and work.
• The entry or X visa covers spouses and children of Indian citizens and OCI holders, and is the most common long-stay category in practice.
• Private healthcare in the major cities is of a high standard at costs far below western Europe or North America.
• English is a working language of government, higher education, the courts and most multinational employment.
• The cost of living is very low against foreign income, which is why many postings are financially comfortable.

What to know before you commit

• FRRO registration, extensions and address changes dominate the practical experience of living in India, and errors carry penalties.
• There is no ordinary permanent residence route; apart from a narrow scheme for very large investors, long-stay status is renewal without end.
• Dual citizenship is not permitted, so naturalisation would require renouncing an existing nationality, and it is in any case rarely granted.
• The employment visa carries a salary floor designed to keep ordinary jobs for Indian workers, which closes most junior and mid-level roles to foreigners.
• Air quality in Delhi and much of the northern plain is a genuine health consideration for several months of the year.
• Local salaries are low, so a role paid on Indian terms rather than an expatriate package changes the arithmetic sharply.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Indian Visa Online — Bureau of Immigration
• Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs
• Ministry of Home Affairs

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.