In a continued effort to simplify the current visa policy, India has launched a new Intern Visa category for foreign nationals seeking to intern in corporations, educational institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Eligibility Criteria

The following criteria apply to the Intern Visa:

• It will be granted immediately after the completion of graduate or post-graduate courses as long as the gap between the completion of the courses and the start of the internship does not exceed one year.
• Corporate internships have a minimum annual salary of INR 780,000. Foreign nationals pursuing internships in educational institutions and NGOs are exempt from the minimum salary threshold.

Any remuneration from the internship is subject to applicable Indian income tax regulations.

Duration

The Intern Visa will be issued for the duration of the internship or one year, whichever is shorter. The foreign national will not be able to convert the Intern Visa to any other visa category.

Quotas

A quota of 50 Intern Visas per year has been fixed for each Indian Mission. In countries where the population of foreign nationals of Indian origin is more than 1 million, the quota has been capped at 100 visas per year.

What This Means for Foreign Nationals

The new visa should streamline the process for foreign nationals seeking to intern in India upon the completion of their university courses.

Fragomen India is monitoring the developments and will report on further details and changes, if any, once the official guidelines are available.

We worked closely with Fragomen Immigration Services India (Pvt.) Limited ("Fragomen-India") to prepare this alert. It is provided for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to IndiaQueries_NewPolicy@fragomen.com.

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