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 in Nagpur you can evidence, before the fourteen days run out

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
Note the arrival stamp date — that is when the clock starts
The fourteen-day registration window runs from the immigration stamp, not from the day you find somewhere to live. This is the sequencing problem that catches almost everyone, and it is harder here because you cannot walk into the office and sort it out.
In personWho: YouDay 0
4
File the registration on e-FRRO against FRRO Mumbai
Create an account at indianfrro.gov.in and file a Registration application. FRRO Mumbai covers all of Maharashtra; entering your Nagpur address routes the file correctly. You upload passport, visa, photo, employment letter and proof of address, and it is designed to be decided online.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 14 days of arrival
5
Have a bridging address ready
Registration needs evidence of where you live, and a registered leave-and-licence agreement inside a fortnight is difficult — Maharashtra requires registration, which adds a step other states do not have. An employer guest-house letter, a company-leased flat or a serviced-apartment letter will do, followed by an address-change application on e-FRRO once the real tenancy exists.
Via employerWho: You and your employerBefore 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 Nagpur address — a registered leave-and-licence 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

Nagpur registers through an office 800 km away, and Pune's arrangement is not the same.

FRRO Mumbai has jurisdiction over the whole of Maharashtra. For a Pune address that is a two-hour drive; for a Nagpur address it is the width of the state. The normal case is entirely online and the distance never comes up, and local Foreigners Registration Officer duties are performed by the police here for anything needing a physical signature. It matters the moment something is queried — and it is the single practical difference between doing this in Nagpur and doing it in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow or Chandigarh, all of which have a full FRRO in the city.

Source: Bureau of Immigration — FRRO jurisdictions

Maharashtra's registered-tenancy requirement makes the address proof slower here than in most states.

Section 55 of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act requires every leave-and-licence agreement to be registered, whatever its length — unlike Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh, where an eleven-month agreement is simply notarised. That is one more step between landing and having the document e-FRRO wants, inside a fourteen-day window. It is not difficult, and it can be done online, but it needs to be started immediately rather than treated as an afterthought.

Source: Maharashtra Rent Control Act 1999, section 55

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

Aadhaar unlocks at 182 days and is worth diarising.

Foreign nationals resident in India for 182 days or more in the preceding twelve months may enrol for Aadhaar. It is not compulsory, but a large amount of Indian daily infrastructure assumes you have one, and life gets noticeably smoother the day you do. Nobody reminds you when you become eligible.

Source: UIDAI — enrolment for resident foreign nationals

Common mistakes to avoid

Counting the fourteen days from when you moved into a flat rather than from the arrival stamp.
Assuming a city this size has its own FRRO — Maharashtra has one, and it is in Mumbai.
Leaving the leave-and-licence registration until after you need the address proof.
Entering on a business visa intending to convert to employment inside India, which is generally not possible.
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.