E-1 vs E-2 vs E-3 Employment Visa India 2026: Which Are You?
Employment Visa India · 2026 Update E-1, E-2, E-3 Employment Visa India (2026): Which Category Do You Fall Under? By Devendra Kumar Arya, Director, Fargo Worldwide · Last verified: 25 August 2026 · 9 min read In June 2026 the Ministry of Home Affairs quietly reshuffled India’s employment visa categories. If you were hired directly by an Indian company, transferred from a parent company abroad, or posted to India by an NGO or religious body, the letter on your visa sticker may no longer mean what it did last year. Here is what changed, who goes where, and what you and your employer need to do about it. Key facts at a glance What changed Employment visa sub-categories collapsed from four (E-1 to E-4) to three (E-1, E-2, E-3) Effective from 1 June 2026, Immigration and Foreigners (Amendment) Rules, 2026 E-1 All standard employment, including direct hires, consultants and intra-company transferees E-2 Personnel employed by registered NGOs E-3 Missionaries, religious workers and approved organisations E-4 (old project visa) Removed as a separate category Salary floor Gross ₹16.25 lakh per year for most E-1 roles (exemptions exist) FRRO registration Must be completed before the 180th day of stay; the old 14-day grace window no longer exists Official source mha.gov.in · indianfrro.gov.in What actually changed in June 2026? For years India ran four employment visa sub-types. E-1 covered ordinary employment and consultants, E-2 was for intra-company transferees, E-3 was for NGO staff and E-4 was for project workers, mostly in power and steel. In practice the lines blurred. We regularly saw an engineer seconded from a Korean parent company arrive on an E-1 while his colleague on the same project held an E-2, and both of them needed the same documents at FRRO anyway. The Immigration and Foreigners (Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified in the Gazette on 1 June 2026 under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, simplified this. The E-4 category was dropped. Intra-company transferees moved into E-1 alongside everyone else in regular employment. E-2 was narrowed to NGO personnel, and E-3 to missionaries, religious workers and organisations the government has specifically approved. The same amendment also removed the 14-day grace period for FRRO registration, which affects every employment visa holder regardless of category. We cover that below because in our experience it is the change most likely to catch people out. Old vs new India employment visa categories, 2026 Before June 2026 there were four categories E-1 to E-4. After, three: E-1 for all standard employment including intra-company transfers, E-2 for NGO staff, E-3 for missionaries and approved organisations. Employment visa categories: before and after 1 June 2026 BEFORE E-1Direct employment & consultants E-2Intra-company transferees E-3NGO personnel E-4Project workers (power, steel) AFTER E-1All employment incl. intra-company transfers E-2Registered NGO personnel E-3Missionaries, religious & approved organisations E-4 removed — project roles now handled under E-1 or the Project Visa Source: Immigration and Foreigners (Amendment) Rules, 2026 · fargoworldwide.com Figure 1: How the four old employment visa categories map to the three new ones. E-1 vs E-2 vs E-3: side-by-side comparison Category E-1 E-2 E-3 Who it is for Skilled professionals employed by an Indian company, consultants on contract, and staff transferred from a foreign parent, subsidiary or group company Foreign nationals employed by a registered NGO in India Missionaries, religious workers and personnel of organisations specifically approved by the Government of India Sponsor in India The Indian employer or host company The registered NGO (FCRA compliance usually checked) The religious body or approved organisation; often needs MHA clearance Salary requirement Gross ₹16.25 lakh/year, including quantified perquisites. Exemptions for ethnic cooks, language teachers (not English), embassy staff and some others Lower threshold applies; verify the current figure with the mission at the time of application Typically no commercial salary test, but proof of support and purpose is required Validity Up to the contract period, typically 1–2 years initially, extendable at FRRO to 5 years in total Usually 1 year, extendable Usually 1 year, extendable; missionary stays are closely monitored FRRO registration Mandatory. Complete before day 180 of stay (no grace period since June 2026) Mandatory, same deadline Mandatory, same deadline; some jurisdictions call applicants in person Core documents Appointment letter, employment contract, employer’s undertaking, company incorporation/GST/PAN, proof of qualifications, salary proof NGO registration, FCRA certificate, appointment letter, undertaking Invitation from the religious body or approved organisation, purpose letter, MHA approval where required Change of employer Allowed within group companies in some cases; otherwise prior MHA approval Prior approval needed Prior approval needed Dependents Spouse and children on X-1 (Entry) visa, co-terminus with the principal Same Same A note on the salary figure. The ₹16.25 lakh threshold is the figure currently published by Indian missions abroad. Older articles, including some on our own site, still quote USD 25,000. Use the rupee figure and confirm with the mission where you are applying, because it is revised from time to time and some consulates round it differently. Which category applies to me? Five real-world scenarios These are drawn from the kind of cases we handle every week for corporate clients in Gurugram, Noida, Pune and Chennai. Names are changed; the situations are not. E-1Hired directly by an Indian company. Kim, a Korean process engineer, receives an offer letter from an Indian manufacturing firm in Haryana at ₹22 lakh a year. Nothing has changed for him: he applies for an E-1 at the Indian Embassy in Seoul, with the appointment letter, contract and employer’s undertaking. On arrival he must register at FRRO Gurugram before his 180th day, which in practice means starting the file in month four. E-1Transferred from a parent company abroad. Marie is seconded from a French headquarters to its Indian subsidiary for three years. Before June 2026 this was a textbook E-2. Now it is E-1. The documents are almost identical — secondment letter, group structure, Indian entity’s incorporation papers — but the visa sticker will say E-1. If you already hold an E-2 for an intra-company transfer, do not panic; existing visas
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