The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) issued an urgent advisory on 2 December 2025 instructing NEET-PG 2026 candidates who wish to switch their category from ‘Indian’ to ‘Non-Resident Indian’ to submit consolidated documentation between 1 and 3 December. The directive follows the Supreme Court’s 2017 CODEUNIK ruling that governs fee structures and seat quotas for NRI applicants.
Candidates must email a single PDF packet—including copies of foreign passport or visa, residential proof abroad, birth certificates establishing parental relation and an executed affidavit—within the tight 48-hour window. Partial or late submissions will be “summarily rejected,” the MCC warned. The notice is part of a broader effort to curb category fraud that inflates tuition costs and distorts merit lists in India’s postgraduate medical system.
![Medical Counselling Committee Sets 48-Hour Window for NEET-PG 2026 NRI Status Change]()
For Indian doctors currently working overseas, the clarification provides a predictable mechanism to access the 15 percent NRI quota without risking disqualification. Hospitals sponsoring employees for higher specialisations should ensure HR teams collate notarised documents in advance; failure to meet the deadline means waiting another year.
The advisory also signals increasing regulatory scrutiny of overseas Indians seeking preferential seats in domestic professional programmes. Education consultants expect similar crack-downs in engineering and management entrance processes next cycle. Meanwhile, the MCC has urged state counselling bodies to align their own NRI documentation rules to avoid forum shopping.
Institutions have welcomed the move, noting that clearer timelines reduce counselling-round chaos and litigation. However, candidate groups argue that a 48-hour notice period is too short for those residing in time zones where consulates are shut for the weekend, and have requested a brief extension.
Candidates must email a single PDF packet—including copies of foreign passport or visa, residential proof abroad, birth certificates establishing parental relation and an executed affidavit—within the tight 48-hour window. Partial or late submissions will be “summarily rejected,” the MCC warned. The notice is part of a broader effort to curb category fraud that inflates tuition costs and distorts merit lists in India’s postgraduate medical system.
For Indian doctors currently working overseas, the clarification provides a predictable mechanism to access the 15 percent NRI quota without risking disqualification. Hospitals sponsoring employees for higher specialisations should ensure HR teams collate notarised documents in advance; failure to meet the deadline means waiting another year.
The advisory also signals increasing regulatory scrutiny of overseas Indians seeking preferential seats in domestic professional programmes. Education consultants expect similar crack-downs in engineering and management entrance processes next cycle. Meanwhile, the MCC has urged state counselling bodies to align their own NRI documentation rules to avoid forum shopping.
Institutions have welcomed the move, noting that clearer timelines reduce counselling-round chaos and litigation. However, candidate groups argue that a 48-hour notice period is too short for those residing in time zones where consulates are shut for the weekend, and have requested a brief extension.
