The entry threshold is $25,000 a year, you cannot change employer, and permanent status does not exist.
medium confidenceIndia has almost no immigration policy for people who move by choice. The single work route is narrow: a high salary bar by local standards, a hard tie to one employer and role, a labour market closed by default, and an employer who must explain why no local was hired. Permanent residence does not exist, there is no nomad visa, and citizenship takes 12 years and requires giving up your own.
Timelines and decisions are opaque: the state publishes no statistics on refusals or processing times. The Immigration and Foreigners Act, in force since 1 September 2025, toughened penalties: up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to INR 3 lakh for overstaying, arrests without a warrant, mandatory reporting by hotels, universities and employers. Rules in force since 1 June 2026 abolished the grace days for registration and redrew the employment visa categories.
There is pressure on people living in the country legally. In 2025, according to Human Rights Watch, raids against undocumented migrants detained and expelled people with legal status and even Indian citizens. Lifelong OCI status for the diaspora and spouses of citizens has been revoked from government critics: 57 cancellations in 2024, almost half of all in ten years; courts restored the status twice. Foreign journalists have been refused permit renewals.
Status is as fragile as it gets. The employment visa loses force from the date of dismissal or resignation, the employer must report it to the FRRO, and the office issues an exit visa for a number of days it decides. You can change employer only within the same group of companies; otherwise you must leave and apply for a new visa from abroad. A spouse on a dependent visa cannot work.
Day to day, a bank account opens after the visa and FRRO registration, with strict customer checks and requirements that differ by bank. There are no mandatory language or integration tests, and degrees need no recognition for an employment visa except in regulated professions. State schools admit foreign children with conditions; in practice they attend private and international schools.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
The United States is on the list of countries eligible for the e-Visa for short trips. Working requires a regular employment visa through a consulate, with the same salary threshold.
Pakistani citizens are not issued employment visas. For citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh, visa length, extensions and number of entries follow separate Home Ministry rules, and OCI status is unavailable to people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin.
Ukraine is on the list of countries eligible for the e-Visa (tourist, business and other types) for short trips. The e-Visa is not issued for employment: the employment visa goes through a consulate in the regular way, and its fee depends on nationality.
When we checked on 9 August 2026 we found no specific nationality restrictions on the employment visa. Both countries are on the e-Visa list for short trips; it is not issued for work.
The place interval 87-95 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
Medium confidenceSome scores rest on second-class sources. The score and the place stand, but read them with that caveat.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Settling in: 72 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 69.5. The weakest is Status security: 31 against 57.9. Above the world average: 1 out of 7.
The work visa requires a salary of at least $25,000 a year, is tied to a named employer and a named position, and the employer has to explain why an Indian citizen was not hired for the job. Changing employer during the visa term is generally forbidden. There is one exception: a move between a holding company and a subsidiary with prior approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. In every other case you have to leave and obtain a new visa abroad.
There is no permanent status for an ordinary specialist: the visa is extended for up to five years, no rights accumulate along the way, and the investor status effectively does not work. Citizenship takes 12 years of residence and mandatory renunciation of the previous citizenship; dual citizenship is strictly forbidden. A spouse on a dependant visa may not engage in any economic activity at all.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
Consulates state 1-2 weeks, and a renewal through the e-FRRO portal 12-15 working days. In practice there are repeated document requests and call-ins, and there are no official statistics on processing times.
Not for work: there is no self-employed or nomad visa, and remote work for a foreign employer has no legal status. The e-Visa is not issued for employment.
The visa fee is $110-560 depending on nationality and term, according to consular tariffs; there is no single official table. Yearly FRRO renewals come on top.
The visa loses force from the date of dismissal or resignation, with no grace period to find work. The office issues an exit visa for a number of days it sets, and a new employment visa must be obtained from abroad.
There is no permanent residence for an ordinary foreigner: the employment visa runs for 5 years at most, and investor residence is suspended. Citizenship after 12 years of residence; dual citizenship is banned.
The job market is closed by default, status is fragile, and since 2025 immigration violations carry criminal penalties. Raids and status revocations have also hit people with legal status, especially journalists and government critics.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.