India or Pakistan
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| India | Pakistan | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 12 years | — |
| Partner can work | — | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | difficult |
| Pet limit | 2 | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | — |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 782 · estimate | $ 145 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 14,2 | $ 14,8 |
| Life expectancy | 72.23 | 67.8 |
| Homicides/100k | 2.72 | 4.33 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 7.8 | 7.4 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: India — 17, Pakistan — 22. Types present in both: work, study, family, investment and repatriation. The set of types is identical — the difference is in how many routes there are and on what terms, not in the types themselves.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
India: the fee is 100 INR wherever it is published. Routes with a published decision deadline: 1; the shortest is 30 days. Pakistan: fees range from 200 to 400 PKR. Routes with no fee: 1. Routes with a published decision deadline: 9; the shortest is 1 days.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: India with no residence period; the other country publishes no term. Citizenship: India after 12 years; the other country publishes no term. Pakistan allows a second citizenship, India does not.
India in brief
India is the world's second-most-populous labour market, with high demand for skilled IT and engineering professionals and a globally low cost of living: rent and utility payments are several times lower than in Europe, even in the largest cities. The work visa is rigidly tied to the employer — it cannot be changed without leaving the country — and is issued only for an annual salary above 1,625,000 rupees, except for a few exempt categories. There is no general mechanism for permanent residence by length of stay: status is renewed through annual work visas via the FRRO, and Permanent Residency Status (PRS) is granted only to foreign investors who invest at least 10 crore rupees. Naturalisation requires about 12 years of residence in the country, and dual citizenship is not allowed. The northern plain suffers from smog in winter, while the coastal and mountain regions suffer from monsoon flooding and earthquakes. The country's five largest cities differ sharply in character: from the financial capital Mumbai and the technology cluster Bangalore to the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Jaipur and Agra.
Pakistan in brief
Pakistan is the world's fifth most populous country, with English-language official paperwork and a visible IT outsourcing industry in Karachi and Lahore. The work route has two steps: a mission abroad issues an entry work visa for three months — within 48 hours under the service's own rules and without security clearance — while an extension of up to two years with multiple entries is decided by the Ministry of Interior, where clearance is mandatory, as is a recommendation from the Board of Investment. The visa policy sets out a rule rare for the region: if the agencies do not answer within 30 days, the case counts as approved. The visa is issued to the worker and the family at once. The directorate describes no permanent residence for an ordinary foreigner: a long stay rests on renewing the visa. Citizenship is available on a closed list of grounds, and the list is asymmetric by sex — a foreign woman married to a Pakistani man is on it, a foreign man married to a Pakistani woman is not. Bringing in cats and dogs requires a prior permit from the agriculture ministry, while antibody titration is not needed. The background in figures: life expectancy 67.8 years (World Bank, 2024), homicides 4.33 per 100,000 (UNODC, 2024), average PM2.5 concentration 58.4 µg/m³ — almost twelve times the WHO guideline (World Bank, 2023). INFORM rates natural risks at 7.4 out of 10, with floods at 9.5 and earthquakes at 9.2 — among the highest values in the world.
Other comparisons
India or… Taiwan · South Korea · Japan · Thailand · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Uzbekistan · Malaysia
Pakistan or… Azerbaijan · Philippines · Bangladesh · Kuwait · Iraq · Mongolia · Oman · People's Republic of China
More on each: India · Pakistan. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.