FMGE 2026: Eligibility, Exam Pattern, Sessions and NExT

FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduate Examination) is the screening test that Indian citizens and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) with a medical degree from abroad must pass before they can be registered to practise in India. It is run by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). The path: confirm that your degree meets the rules for your year of admission, pass FMGE, obtain provisional registration from a State Medical Council, complete a supervised internship in India (normally 12 months) and then apply for permanent registration.

Who must take FMGE – and who is exempt

The Screening Test Regulations, 2002 require the test before provisional or permanent registration. NBEMS only conducts it; passing does not register you – registration is decided by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the State Medical Councils.

There is one exemption: an undergraduate medical degree from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States, plus a postgraduate medical qualification from the same country and recognition as a medical practitioner there. The undergraduate degree alone is not enough.

Is your degree eligible?

Admission on or after 18 November 2021: the FMGL Regulations

The NMC’s Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021 apply to everyone who began a medical course abroad on or after 18 November 2021, and NBEMS checks FMGE eligibility against them. Your qualification must meet all of these conditions:

at least 54 months of study, in English, covering the subjects in Schedule I;
at least 12 months of internship in the same institution;
the whole course and internship in that one institution – no part in India or in a third country;
registration with the licensing authority of that country, on the same terms as its citizens – a status that actually allows you to practise there;
only theory taken online – practical and clinical training in person;
the course completed within ten years of joining.

You then need the licensing test – NExT or another test mandated by the NMC, which for now means FMGE – and a supervised internship of at least 12 months in India.

Admission before 18 November 2021

Earlier batches remain under the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 and the NMC’s public notices. Study that moved online during COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine must have been compensated by in-person training. According to the NMC’s FAQ of 8 June 2026, graduates whose recognised internship abroad was done offline, with a valid compensation certificate, may be considered for permanent registration without another internship in India. The State Medical Council decides each case.

Documents and conditions NBEMS checks

The Information Bulletin for each session sets the rules. In 2026 they included:

your final result declared by the session’s cut-off date (30 April 2026 for June, 31 August 2026 for October);
degree documents attested by the Indian Embassy or apostilled;
an Eligibility Certificate from the NMC (formerly MCI) – with exceptions for admissions before 15 March 2002 and between 15 May 2013 and 3 January 2014 – or, for admission from May 2018, a qualifying NEET-UG result;
the admission criteria of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 1997 (age and marks in physics, chemistry, biology and English), with a caste certificate if you claim a relaxation;
a passport or OCI card, and the same name on all documents.

FMGE exam pattern

Feature	FMGE
Format	Computer-based test in English at centres across India
Questions	300 multiple-choice questions with four options
Structure	Two parts of 150 questions, 150 minutes each, on the same day (09:00–11:30 and 14:00–16:30 in June 2026)
Sections	Time-bound: you cannot move on before a section’s time is up or go back once it has ended
Scoring	1 mark per correct answer, no negative marking
Pass mark	150 out of 300 (50%)
Re-evaluation	None – no re-totalling, re-evaluation or grace marks
Fee (incl. 18% GST)	₹6,195 for June 2026; ₹4,650 for October 2026 – check the bulletin for your session

Questions span pre-clinical, para-clinical and clinical subjects, including medicine and its allied subjects and obstetrics and gynaecology; the government has said the syllabus follows the NMC’s competency-based MBBS curriculum. The Information Bulletin for each session is linked from the NBEMS FMGE page.

FMGE 2026: sessions and dates

Session	Exam date	Result
December 2025	17 January 2026	29 January 2026
June 2026	28 June 2026	7 July 2026
October 2026 (additional)	31 October 2026	by 30 November 2026

FMGE used to run twice a year. In a notice of 28 August 2026 NBEMS moved to three sessions a year, added the October sitting and said the session planned for 9 January 2027 would move to January or February 2027; no new date had been published by 28 October 2026. Watch NBEMS notices: application windows lasted only two to three weeks in 2026.

Results, pass certificate and pass rates

Scorecards can be downloaded for six months only, and State Medical Councils do not accept them in place of the pass certificate.
The pass certificate is handed over in person at the NBEMS office in Dwarka, New Delhi, after checks of your original documents and biometrics or Face ID. Collect it within six months of the result (for June 2026, by 7 January 2027), or NBEMS cancels the result.

Pass rates are low and vary: 10,264 candidates – roughly 23–24% – passed in December 2025, and about 5,100 in June 2026. The Health Ministry told Parliament the June 2026 pass rate was 12.78% overall but over 35% among first-time candidates.

After passing: internship and registration

Apply to a State Medical Council for provisional registration.
Complete the internship under the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) Regulations, 2021 – at least 12 months under the FMGL Regulations.
Apply for permanent registration – without it a foreign graduate may not practise in India.

Internship places have been scarce. On 10 March 2026 the NMC told State Medical Councils to give foreign graduates 7.5% of intern places in established colleges, all CRMI places in new colleges and all places created by seat increases between 2022–23 and 2025–26 – 43,250 slots for 2026–27 in its annexure.

NExT: will it replace FMGE?

Section 15 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 provides for a National Exit Test (NExT) – a common final-year exam for the licence to practise and for postgraduate admission – and Section 15(4) makes it compulsory for anyone with a foreign medical qualification. NExT is therefore meant to replace FMGE.

The NMC issued NExT regulations in June 2023, but a public notice of 13 July 2023 deferred the exam “till further directions” from the Ministry of Health, and no start date had been notified by 28 October 2026. A draft amendment to the registration regulations, reported in August 2026, would keep FMGE as the qualifying test for foreign graduates until NExT comes into force. NEET-PG also continues – NBEMS held it on 30 August 2026.

How to prepare

Sort out the paperwork first – apostille or embassy attestation takes time.
Take the NBEMS demo test to learn the interface; it has included video-based clinical questions.
Sit a diagnostic mock in exam conditions: two blocks of 150 questions, 150 minutes each, without going back.
Plan weekly from the syllabus: clinical subjects every week, pre- and para-clinical subjects in rotation.
Review every mistake – why the right answer is right and why each distractor is wrong.
Treat “previous-year” collections with care: NBEMS does not publish FMGE papers or answer keys, so they are recalled questions – useful for spotting recurring topics, not an official bank.
Sit full mocks in the last month and aim well above 150 – there is no re-evaluation.

Where MedMigrant can help

If you are also considering practice outside India, MedMigrant offers help with the recognition of medical qualifications abroad, including individual consultations and support with the DHA licence in Dubai. A free MedMigrant account gives you question banks built from the public CEM bank for Poland’s LEK and LDEK (also in English), with hints, explanations and a note on every option, a 200-question mock exam in 4 hours and mistake review – clinical MCQ practice, not an FMGE course.

Frequently asked questions

Can OCI cardholders take FMGE?

Yes, provided they meet the eligibility rules for their year of admission.

Is there negative marking in FMGE?

No. A wrong answer costs nothing, so answer every question; you need 150 of 300 to pass.

Is there a deadline for passing FMGE?

According to the NMC’s FAQ of 8 June 2026, graduates admitted to a medical course abroad after 2019 must clear the FMG examination within ten years of admission.

Will NExT replace FMGE in 2027?

Not on any announced timetable. No NExT start date had been notified by 28 October 2026, and NBEMS is still scheduling FMGE sessions.

Does the NMC publish a list of approved foreign universities?

No. What matters is whether your course meets the FMGL Regulations (or the earlier rules) and leads to a licence to practise in that country – check this yourself before you enrol.

Sources

Last updated: 28 October 2026. Rules, dates and fees change – the official pages of NBEMS and the NMC are decisive.

FMGE exam guide 2026: eligibility, pattern, sessions and NExT