Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Mangalore Campus

Work during study

A foreigner on a Student Visa has no work rights at all. The Bureau of Immigration's own guidance for foreign students states this as a direct prohibition rather than an hours-based limit of the kind several other countries on StudyPath publish: a Student visa holder must not take up any employment or business activity in India, full stop. Foreigners intending an internship instead use a separate, dedicated visa (Student (S-5) Visa) for that specific purpose, rather than a general work permission attached to the ordinary Student (S-1) visa.

Route to permanent residence

India does not publish a distinct post-study job-search visa or a general permanent-residence status for a foreign graduate; the Bureau of Immigration's own materials describe only the ordinary Employment Visa route, open to any qualified professional (not graduates specifically) with a confirmed engagement from an Indian company, organisation, industry or undertaking, or a foreign firm executing a project in India. As a general rule the employed foreigner must draw a gross salary above Rs. 16.25 lakh a year, though the Government periodically notifies specific sectors exempt from that floor. The visa is tied to the sponsoring employer: no change of employer is permitted while the visa is current — someone who wants to switch jobs must leave India and apply for a fresh Employment Visa — and a person may not hold an Employment Visa for more than one employer at a time. Employment Visas are issued and renewed on a case-by-case, typically annual, basis rather than converting into a fixed permanent-resident status after a stated number of years the way several other countries on StudyPath describe; StudyPath found no published route from repeated Employment Visa renewal into any form of Indian permanent residence for a person with no Indian family or ancestral connection.

Route to citizenship

Indian citizenship by naturalisation is governed by Section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, published by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Central Government may grant a certificate of naturalisation to an applicant of full age and capacity if satisfied they are qualified under the Act's Third Schedule (a distinguished contribution to science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress lets the Government waive some or all of those conditions instead). The Third Schedule's qualifications include: residence in India (or service under an Indian government) throughout the 12 months immediately before applying; residence or government service in India for at least 11 of the preceding 14 years in aggregate (reduced to 5 years for a Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian applicant from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, under a 2019 amendment); good character; adequate knowledge of a language listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution (one of India's own scheduled languages, not necessarily English); and an intention to reside in India, or to continue in government, international-organisation or Indian-body service, after naturalising. On dual nationality: India does not recognise it. Section 9(1) of the same Act states that an Indian citizen who voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country automatically ceases to be an Indian citizen — the same principle applies in reverse to naturalisation, and in practice an applicant must not hold another country's citizenship at the point Indian citizenship is granted.