Work Visas in India
How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist
India grants an employment visa only where the role is judged to be one an Indian worker could not readily fill, and it enforces that judgement with a salary floor rather than a labour market test. Business visitors, project engineers and interns have their own categories, and the business visa in particular carries an explicit prohibition on taking employment.
| Main route | Employment visa, sponsored by the Indian employer or client source |
| Salary floor | Commonly described as around 1.625 million rupees a year source |
| Exemptions from the floor | Teachers, chefs of ethnic cuisine, language specialists and certain others |
| Registration | FRRO registration commonly required within roughly 14 days of arrival source |
| Typical validity | Commonly up to one year at a time, extendable in India |
The salary floor and what it is for
The employment visa is not granted for ordinary work. Policy requires that the applicant be a skilled or qualified professional, or a person engaged at a senior level, and the mechanism used to enforce this is a minimum annual remuneration threshold rather than a case-by-case advertising test. The threshold is commonly described as roughly 1.625 million rupees a year, counted inclusive of salary and allowances.
The stated purpose is to reserve ordinary jobs for Indian workers. The practical effect is that most junior and mid-level positions are simply outside the category, and the visa is concentrated in senior management, specialised engineering, and roles inside multinational groups.
Who is exempt from the salary floor
- Teachers employed by recognised educational institutions, including those on approved exchange or aid programmes.
- Chefs of ethnic cuisine, a category created because the threshold would otherwise have closed the restaurant sector entirely.
- Language teachers and translators, other than English language teachers in certain circumstances.
- Staff of embassies and high commissions, and personnel working for approved non-governmental organisations on a non-profit basis.
- Certain honorary and voluntary roles where no commercial salary is paid.
The other work-adjacent categories
The business visa is for meetings, negotiation, purchase and sale, trade fairs and the setting up of ventures. It expressly does not permit taking employment in India or drawing a salary from an Indian source, and using it as a substitute for an employment visa is treated as a breach rather than a technicality.
The project visa is a narrower instrument, granted to foreign technical personnel working on specified power and steel sector projects, tied to that project and expiring with it.
The intern visa covers structured internships with companies, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations, generally for a limited period following or during study, and is not convertible into an employment visa on its own.
Employer changes and the FRRO
The employment visa is tied to the sponsoring employer. Changing employer is not a private arrangement between the worker and the new company: it requires approval, and in many cases a fresh visa obtained outside India rather than a conversion inside it.
Registration with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office is required for most long-stay holders, commonly within around fourteen days of arrival, and the same office handles extensions, address changes and exit formalities. Missing a registration deadline commonly attracts a penalty and can complicate later applications.
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Official sources
Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.