Where can Indian citizens move to?
Ranked by what the move actually takes on an Indian passport specifically, not in general. Every rating below comes from the same verified data as the full guide it links to.
Naturalising in any of these 12 means giving up your Indian passport.
One route is open to you: Australia. Usually age-capped, so it closes quietly.
Easiest to keep driving on in Costa Rica, Portugal and Thailand. Each guide has the exact terms. Elsewhere expect more steps, often a full local test.
An apostille is accepted in 11 of these 12. Thailand still needs the full consular legalisation chain, so start earlier.
Moderate 6 of 12
- AustraliaIndians arrive mostly via the Skilled Independent (189), state-nominated (190), and employer-sponsored Skills in Demand (482) visas, plus a large student-to-PR pipeline through Australian universities — India has been Australia’s top or near-top source of permanent migrants and international students for several years running.Moderate
- Costa RicaMost Indians who relocate come via the Digital Nomad visa (with a foreign remote-work income) or as Rentista/Inversionista residents; a smaller number arrive through the Pensionado route after retiring abroad first.Moderate
- JapanMost Indians arrive on the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa through Japan's IT and automotive sectors, or via intra-company transfers from Indian IT firms with Japanese offices.Moderate
- PortugalIndians typically move on the D3 highly-qualified-activity visa (tech and engineering hires) or the D7 passive-income visa, with a smaller but growing student-to-residence pipeline through Portuguese universities.Moderate
- SpainMost Indians relocate via the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa for remote tech workers, or a student-visa-to-work path through Spanish universities, with a smaller but growing EU Blue Card / sponsored-work-visa route in IT and engineering.Moderate
- ThailandMost Indians move via a Thai employer sponsoring a Non-Immigrant B work permit, or via the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) for remote workers/freelancers; a smaller but growing group uses the LTR visa for wealthy professionals.Moderate
Complex 6 of 12
- CanadaIndia is Canada's largest source of immigrants by a wide margin — 98,830 permanent residents in 2025, about a quarter of the total.Complex
- IrelandIndians arrive mainly through the Critical Skills Employment Permit — IT, engineering and healthcare roles dominate — with a smaller but fast-growing student-to-work-permit pipeline via Irish master's programmes.Complex
- ItalyIndians moving to Italy mostly go through the Decreto Flussi work-permit quota — India is one of 38 nationalities with a dedicated allocation — or family reunification, with a smaller pipeline of students converting study permits into work visas in IT and healthcare.Complex
- NetherlandsMost Indians arrive on the Kennismigrant (Highly Skilled Migrant) visa through Dutch tech, engineering and finance employers, with a smaller stream via the EU Blue Card and intra-company transfers.Complex
- New ZealandMost Indians reach NZ via the Skilled Migrant Category (IT, engineering, healthcare) or the Accredited Employer Work Visa, often after study at an NZ institution on a student-to-work pipeline.Complex
- United StatesMost Indians arrive on H-1B (subject to the annual lottery) or as F-1 students transitioning to OPT/H-1B, with family-based petitions and employment-based green cards (EB-2/EB-3) following — though the EB category wait for India-born applicants is now measured in decades due to per-country caps.Complex
Ratings weigh entry class, working-holiday access, licence exchange, dual citizenship and document legalisation. Each is checked against the issuing government. Open any destination for the full guide written for Indian citizens.