Fiber-to-chip light coupling using a graded-index (GRIN) fiber collimator is investigated. Our experiments with grating couplers and strip waveguides fabricated in a photonic integrated circuit technology reveal that the peak coupling efficiency of a GRIN fiber collimator is 7.8 dB lower than that of a single-mode fiber. However, the 3-dB alignment tolerance is improved by a factor of about 5.7 giving rise to pluggable sensor solutions. This work opens a path toward a cost-effective and portable sensor platform based on pluggable photonic biosensors using GRIN fiber collimators.