Before you start

A signed appointment letter from an entity registered and operating in India
Gross annual salary meeting the employment visa threshold — the Bureau of Immigration sets this above ₹16.25 lakh for most applicants and at ₹3.60 lakh for people of Indian origin and the spouse or children of an Indian citizen, PIO or OCI cardholder
A passport valid well beyond the intended stay, with blank pages
An address you can evidence, and clarity about which of the three tricity jurisdictions it sits in

Step-by-step

1
Establish that the employment visa is your route
A business visa does not permit taking up employment and a tourist visa permits nothing. There is no nomad category. If you have Indian ancestry or an Indian spouse, check the OCI card first — it removes visa renewals and FRRO registration entirely and is a materially better position.
Via employerWho: You and your Indian employer
2
Apply from your country of residence
Apply through the Indian Visa Online portal and submit at the Indian mission or its outsourced centre where you live. Your employer supplies the appointment letter, company registration proof and salary commitment. Expect an initial grant of one year, extendable inside India.
OnlineWho: You, with employer documentsStart 4–8 weeks before travel
3
Establish which jurisdiction your address is in before anything else
Chandigarh UT, Mohali (Punjab) and Panchkula (Haryana) look like one city and are three. FRRO Chandigarh covers the UT and, on current information, Haryana; Punjab is administered from Amritsar. Get this right before you file, because filing against the wrong office wastes days of a fourteen-day window.
OnlineWho: YouBefore you sign a lease
4
Note the arrival stamp date — that is when the clock starts
The fourteen-day registration window runs from the immigration stamp at the airport, not from the day you find somewhere to live. This is the sequencing problem that catches almost everyone.
In personWho: YouDay 0
5
File the registration application on e-FRRO
Create an account at indianfrro.gov.in and file a Registration application, uploading passport, visa, photograph, employment letter and proof of address. It is normally decided online; the Sector 9 office is where you go if you are called in.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 14 days of arrival
6
Apply for PAN on Form 49AA in parallel
Do not wait for registration to finish. Foreign nationals use Form 49AA through Protean or UTIITSL — the free instant e-PAN needs an Aadhaar you will not have for months. Without a PAN, tax is withheld from your salary at a penal rate.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the employment visa and the arrival stamp
Appointment letter, employment contract and the employer's registration proof
Proof of address — a stamped rent agreement, plus the landlord's Form C where applicable
Passport photographs to Indian specification
Proof of annual income meeting the visa threshold

Things most newcomers don’t know

Moving flat within the tricity can change your registering office, which is not true of any other Indian metro in this app.

Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula are one continuous urban area across three jurisdictions. On current information FRRO Chandigarh covers the UT and Haryana while Punjab, and therefore Mohali, is administered from FRRO Amritsar — around 230 km away. In Mumbai or Delhi, moving suburb changes nothing; here it may change the office that holds your file and the address you must update. This is worth confirming on e-FRRO for your specific address, because jurisdictions have been reorganised recently and secondary sources disagree.

Source: Bureau of Immigration — FRRO jurisdictions; confirm on e-FRRO

Chandigarh has a full FRRO, which most Indian cities do not.

India has only about fifteen full Foreigners Regional Registration Offices. Outside those cities the district Superintendent of Police performs registration as an additional duty, with less familiarity with foreign cases and slower turnarounds. Chandigarh's office at the Police Headquarters in Sector 9 does this as its job, so if you are called in you are dealing with people who see foreign nationals every day.

Source: Bureau of Immigration — registration of foreign nationals

The fourteen-day clock starts before you can plausibly have a lease.

Registration requires proof of address, and finding, agreeing and stamping a flat inside two weeks is difficult even when it goes well. The standard fix is an employer guest-house or serviced-apartment letter to register against, followed by an address-change application on e-FRRO once you move. Ask for that letter before you fly.

Source: Bureau of Immigration — registration requirements

The salary floor drops sharply if you are of Indian origin or married into an Indian family.

The Bureau of Immigration requires a gross salary above ₹16.25 lakh a year for most employment visa applicants, but people of Indian origin and the spouse or children of an Indian citizen, PIO or OCI cardholder need only ₹3.60 lakh — roughly a fifth as much. A great many applicants never check whether they qualify and rule themselves out of roles that would in fact have worked.

Source: Bureau of Immigration — work in India

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the whole tricity registers in one place — a Mohali address may not.
Counting the fourteen days from when you moved into a flat rather than from the arrival stamp.
Entering on a business visa intending to convert to employment inside India, which is generally not possible.
Moving between Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula without filing an address change.
Delaying the PAN application and taking a penal withholding rate on your first pay packets.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.