I've been working in India for over 7 years. Getting an employment visa issued (and subsequently renewed) is a kafka-eque nightmare. However, it wasn't because of having to pay bribes to every officer up the chain.

Immigration is just a genuinely dysfunctional entity.

(Believe me, if I thought I could at any point have paid petty bribes to get the damn thing over with instead of wasting weeks of my time, I think I may have actually done so out of frustration).