Before you start

Passport and valid Indian visa
Proof of a local address — a hotel or serviced-apartment letter is accepted early on
Passport photographs
An unlocked handset; confirm eSIM support at the store before relying on it

Step-by-step

1
Use a travel eSIM for the first days
A data-only eSIM bought before you fly removes the pressure of arriving without connectivity while KYC and verification run their course. It will not give you an Indian number, so it is a bridge and not a solution.
Mobile appWho: YouDay 0
2
Go to a company-owned Jio or Airtel store
The branded stores in Sector 17, Sector 35 and the Elante mall process foreign passport KYC as a matter of routine. Small mobile shops frequently cannot, and a SIM sold incorrectly surfaces weeks later as a deactivation.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
3
Use the address you will actually live at
Your KYC address determines which telecom circle the number belongs to. Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana are administered as different licence areas, and while national roaming is free, a number issued against a temporary hotel address in one and then used from a home in another can create avoidable verification friction. Update the KYC address once you have a lease.
In personWho: You
4
Complete tele-verification promptly
After KYC the SIM usually receives calls before it can make them. An automated verification call confirms your details, and only then do outgoing calls and data activate. This can clear in half an hour or take a day or two.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Register the number with your bank and link UPI
The number registered with your bank is the one UPI will use. Get it right the first time — changing the registered mobile number later is its own branch process.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 2
6
Diarise the SIM's validity alongside your visa
Connections issued to foreign nationals are commonly capped to visa duration and must be re-verified when the visa is extended. People discover this when the number simply stops, taking UPI and banking one-time passwords with it.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Original passport and visa page
Proof of local address
Passport photograph
Employer letter, and FRRO registration where available

Things most newcomers don’t know

The tricity spans more than one telecom licence area, which nothing on the shopfront tells you.

India's mobile networks are licensed by circle, and Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana are not the same circle. National roaming is free so calls and data work everywhere, but the circle your number belongs to is set by the address on your KYC, and it can matter for local plan pricing, for some verification steps and for how a store treats a request months later. Register against the address you will actually live at, and update it when you move.

Source: TRAI — Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

The friction is not the paperwork, it is the gap between buying and having a working number.

Incoming calls typically work first while outgoing calls and mobile data wait on an automated verification call. That gap can be thirty minutes or two days. Since your bank, your ride-hailing app and your food delivery all send one-time passwords to that number, the gap is genuinely disabling. Buy early in the day, at a branded store, in your first week.

Source: community-reported

Losing the number is losing your money, not just your calls.

Indian financial services are built on the mobile number: UPI is bound to it, bank one-time passwords go to it, and account alerts arrive on it. A SIM deactivated because a verification call was missed or a visa-linked validity lapsed locks you out of payments entirely.

Source: community-reported

A local eSIM gives you no shortcut around KYC.

People assume eSIM means remote activation. A Jio or Airtel eSIM still requires the same in-person passport verification; the eSIM only removes the plastic. International travel eSIMs do work on day one but cost far more per gigabyte and never give you an Indian number.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying from a small shop that cannot process a foreign passport correctly.
Registering the SIM against a temporary address in a different tricity jurisdiction from where you will live.
Expecting instant activation and being unreachable for two days.
Registering one number with the bank and then switching to another.
Letting the SIM lapse with the visa and losing UPI access with it.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.