The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on 1 February published a list of 811 postgraduate medical candidates whose status has been converted from ‘Indian’ to ‘Non-Resident Indian’ for Round 3 of the 2025-26 counselling cycle. Of these, only 113 hold foreign passports or are children of NRIs; a massive 698 qualified as wards of first- or second-degree NRI relatives after recent court rulings liberalised the quota’s scope.
The NRI quota carries annual fees of ₹45 lakh-₹95 lakh—several times the subsidised rate—but guarantees seats in private colleges that would otherwise remain vacant. Colleges had petitioned courts to allow broader eligibility to offset revenue losses when genuine NRIs did not fill seats. The Kerala High Court and later the Supreme Court upheld the expanded definition, and MCC has now operationalised it nationwide.
Families scrambling to assemble the proof of overseas residency needed for NRI categorisation often find that passports, visas and consular attestations must be updated in a hurry. VisaHQ’s India team (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can fast-track such documentation, arrange apostille services and coordinate courier pickup across more than 6,000 global cities, helping applicants avoid costly delays as counselling deadlines loom.
![Over 800 NEET-PG aspirants switch to NRI quota as courts widen definition]()
For global mobility professionals, the development reveals a growing trend: families are using overseas relatives’ status to secure professional education in India, effectively back-channeling diaspora resources. Financial planners say remittances under LRS for high-value education payments could cross USD 2 billion this fiscal.
Critics argue the practice widens inequality and forces meritorious domestic candidates to compete at even higher cut-offs. A policy review is expected in the National Medical Commission’s seat-allocation guidelines slated for March.
Employers that sponsor medical education as part of retention programmes should monitor fee structures closely; some colleges differentiate between NRI and management quotas in internship bonding clauses.
The NRI quota carries annual fees of ₹45 lakh-₹95 lakh—several times the subsidised rate—but guarantees seats in private colleges that would otherwise remain vacant. Colleges had petitioned courts to allow broader eligibility to offset revenue losses when genuine NRIs did not fill seats. The Kerala High Court and later the Supreme Court upheld the expanded definition, and MCC has now operationalised it nationwide.
Families scrambling to assemble the proof of overseas residency needed for NRI categorisation often find that passports, visas and consular attestations must be updated in a hurry. VisaHQ’s India team (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can fast-track such documentation, arrange apostille services and coordinate courier pickup across more than 6,000 global cities, helping applicants avoid costly delays as counselling deadlines loom.
For global mobility professionals, the development reveals a growing trend: families are using overseas relatives’ status to secure professional education in India, effectively back-channeling diaspora resources. Financial planners say remittances under LRS for high-value education payments could cross USD 2 billion this fiscal.
Critics argue the practice widens inequality and forces meritorious domestic candidates to compete at even higher cut-offs. A policy review is expected in the National Medical Commission’s seat-allocation guidelines slated for March.
Employers that sponsor medical education as part of retention programmes should monitor fee structures closely; some colleges differentiate between NRI and management quotas in internship bonding clauses.
