NEET UG 2026 Eligibility: Age Limit & Qualification

From the official National Testing Agency (NTA), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India documents · last checked 18 October 2026

Age limit

You must be at least 17 years old on or before 31 December 2026. This means you must be born on or before 31 December 2009 (Graduate Medical Education Regulations amendment of 16 June 2023). There is no upper age limit.

Educational qualification

Nationality & other conditions

• Indian nationals, NRIs, OCI cardholders, Persons of Indian Origin and foreign nationals can apply. NRI and OCI candidates must upload a certificate from the Indian embassy or mission in their country of residence. Foreign nationals must upload proof of nationality, such as pages of a valid passport. Admission of NRIs, OCIs and foreign nationals depends on the rules of the states, institutions and the Government of India. Indian citizens and OCI cardholders who want to study medicine or dentistry abroad must also qualify NEET UG.
• Number of attempts: the 2026 bulletin does not set any limit.
• Application fee for centres in India: General ₹1,700; Gen-EWS and OBC-NCL ₹1,600; SC, ST, PwBD/PwD and third gender ₹1,000. For centres outside India: ₹9,500. Processing charges and GST are extra. No fee was charged for the 21 June re-exam. NTA is refunding the fee paid for the cancelled 3 May exam into the bank accounts candidates submitted (refunds started by 14 July 2026).
• Apply only online at neet.nta.nic.in. You choose three exam cities in the state of your permanent or present address.
• Reservation in seats filled by MCC (15% All India Quota, AIIMS, JIPMER, central institutions and central universities): Gen-EWS 10%, OBC-NCL 27% (central list only), SC 15% and ST 7.5%. PwBD candidates get 5% horizontal reservation, which means 5% of seats within each category. State quota seats follow each state's reservation rules.
• BAMS, BSMS, BUMS and BHMS: you need 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology/Biotechnology, and must be 17 years old by 31 December of the year of admission. BUMS needs Urdu, Arabic or Persian in Class 10 (or an Urdu test). BSMS needs Tamil in Class 10 or Class 12, or you must study Tamil in the first year.
• NTA only gives the All India Rank. MCC runs counselling for 15% All India Quota seats; 100% of seats in AIIMS, JIPMER, deemed universities and central universities (DU, BHU, AMU); the ESIC Insured Persons quota; and central institutes such as VMMC-Safdarjung and ABVIMS-RML. For AFMC, MCC only registers candidates. AACCC runs All India Quota counselling for AYUSH courses. States run counselling for state quota seats.
• Military Nursing Service (MNS) B.Sc. Nursing aspirants must qualify NEET UG. The NEET score is used for shortlisting.