FMGE for Foreign Medical Graduates: Registration Guide

If you hold an MBBS from a foreign institution and want to practise medicine in India, you must clear the FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduate Examination), the screening test conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). You register online on the NBEMS portal, sit the exam in its June or December session, and on passing you become eligible to register with a State Medical Council and complete your internship.

This page walks through who is eligible, how to register, what the exam looks like, and what you do after you pass. As of June 2026 the FMGE is still the operative licensing test. The proposed National Exit Test (NExT) has been repeatedly deferred by the National Medical Commission and has no firm start date, so foreign medical graduates continue to take the FMGE.

The FMGE applies to you if you are an Indian citizen or an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) who holds a primary medical qualification (an MBBS or equivalent) from a medical institution outside India, and you want that qualification recognised so you can register and practise in India. Graduates of Indian medical colleges do not take the FMGE.

The screening test was introduced under the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, and is now read alongside the National Medical Commission's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, 2021. NBEMS itself describes its role as limited to conducting the test, publishing the result, and handing the result to the National Medical Commission and the State Medical Councils. NBEMS does not handle your final registration; the State Medical Council does.

Broadly, to be eligible you must be an Indian citizen or OCI, hold a recognised primary medical qualification from a foreign institution, and that qualification must let you enrol as a medical practitioner in the country where you studied. You also need to have finished and had your final results declared by the cut-off date in the relevant exam bulletin.

If you joined your course on or after 18 November 2021, the FMGL Regulations, 2021 add further conditions. These are commonly described as a course of at least 54 months at a single institution, an internship of at least 12 months completed at the same institution, and registration to practise as a doctor in the country of training. Because the precise wording matters for your case, confirm the current eligibility text on the NMC site (nmc.org.in) and the eligibility section of the live NBEMS information bulletin before you apply, rather than relying on coaching summaries.

A separate point worth checking: candidates who took admission abroad in recent years have generally needed to qualify NEET (the national entrance test) to be eligible, which has changed how the older “eligibility certificate” route works. Verify which path applies to your year of admission on nmc.org.in.

1. Check eligibility. Confirm your citizenship status, your foreign qualification, and the FMGL conditions for your year of admission on the NMC site before spending on an application.
2. Watch for the notification. NBEMS conducts the FMGE twice a year, in a June session and a December session. The exam bulletin and online application window are announced on the official portal at natboard.edu.in. Do not assume a fixed exam date; read the dates in the current bulletin.
3. Register online and apply. Create or log in to your account on the NBEMS portal, fill the application form, upload the documents listed in the bulletin (qualification certificate, identity proof, photograph and signature, and an eligibility certificate where applicable), and pay the application fee online. NBEMS revises the fee from session to session, so take the exact amount from the live bulletin; the fee is non-refundable.
4. Download the admit card. A few days before the exam, NBEMS releases the admit card on the portal. It carries your test centre, reporting time, and instructions. Print it and carry it with the prescribed photo ID.
5. Sit the exam. The FMGE is a computer-based test of 300 multiple-choice questions, delivered in two parts of 150 questions each, for 300 marks in total. It is reported to carry no negative marking. Confirm the exact timing and section layout in your bulletin.
6. Get your result. NBEMS publishes the result on its portal and hands it to the NMC and State Medical Councils. Qualified candidates receive a Screening Test Pass Certificate after in-person verification of biometric or Face ID data and documents.
7. Register and do your internship. After passing, apply for provisional registration with a State Medical Council, complete the required internship, then apply for permanent registration. These steps are explained in the next section.

The current position, drawn from the Screening Test Regulations and widely reported for recent sessions, is summarised below. Treat these as the standing rules and re-confirm the operative figures in your session's bulletin.

On the pass mark, the Screening Test Regulations require a minimum of 50% to qualify, applied to all categories of candidates without exception. On attempts, the original 2002 rule allowed only three chances, but the current position is that there is no cap on the number of attempts, so a candidate who does not clear the test can reappear in later sessions. Confirm this in the live bulletin, since regulations are amended from time to time.

Passing the FMGE does not by itself let you practise. It makes you eligible to register. The usual sequence is:

1. Provisional registration. Apply to a State Medical Council (for example the Maharashtra Medical Council or Delhi Medical Council) for provisional registration, using your FMGE pass certificate and your foreign degree. This lets you train as a doctor in a recognised hospital.
2. Internship. Complete the required rotating internship, commonly described as a 12-month internship, at an NMC-approved hospital. On completion you receive an internship completion certificate.
3. Permanent registration. With your pass certificate, foreign degree, provisional registration, and internship completion certificate, apply for permanent registration with the State Medical Council. Once granted, you are entered on the register and may practise medicine in India.

Keep clean copies of every certificate. Each stage is a separate application with its own document list, and a missing internship or provisional-registration record is the most common reason permanent registration stalls.

• Relying on coaching websites for fees, dates, and eligibility wording instead of the official NBEMS bulletin and the NMC site. Numbers change between sessions.
• Assuming a fixed exam date. Only the bulletin for your session confirms it.
• Skipping provisional registration and trying to start an internship without it. The internship cannot begin until the State Medical Council issues provisional registration.
• Ignoring the FMGL Regulations, 2021 conditions for those who joined abroad on or after 18 November 2021. Non-compliance can block registration even after you pass.

As of June 2026 the FMGE is still the operative screening test. The National Exit Test (NExT) has been repeatedly deferred by the National Medical Commission and has no confirmed start date, so foreign medical graduates continue to register for and sit the FMGE. Until the NMC formally implements NExT, treat the FMGE as the live exam.

You need a minimum of 50%, which works out to 150 of the 300 marks. The Screening Test Regulations apply this qualifying standard to all categories of candidates without exception. There is no relaxation by category for the pass mark.

Under the current position there is no restriction on the number of attempts, so a candidate who does not clear the test in one session can reappear in a later June or December session. The original 2002 rule limited candidates to three chances, but that cap is no longer the operative position. Confirm the current rule in your session's bulletin.

The FMGE is conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). You register and apply online on the official NBEMS portal at natboard.edu.in during the application window announced for each June and December session. Eligibility and registration rules sit with the National Medical Commission at nmc.org.in.

Passing makes you eligible to register, not to practise immediately. You apply for provisional registration with a State Medical Council, complete the required internship at an NMC-approved hospital, and then apply for permanent registration. Only after permanent registration are you entitled to practise medicine in India.

In recent years candidates taking admission abroad have generally needed to qualify NEET to be eligible to practise in India later, which interacts with the older eligibility-certificate route. The exact requirement depends on your year of admission, so confirm it on the NMC site rather than assuming.

If you are still studying abroad, save the NMC eligibility page and check that your course and institution meet the FMGL Regulations, 2021 conditions for your year of admission. If you have finished, watch natboard.edu.in for the next FMGE notification, prepare your documents in advance, and apply within the window. After you pass, move quickly on provisional registration so your internship is not delayed.

For a plain-language guide to your information rights, including how to use RTI to chase a stuck registration or a delayed certificate from a public authority, see The RTI Playbook. If a State Medical Council or a government hospital sits on your application, a clear, dated RTI can often surface the file status and the reason for the delay.