More Bihar students go abroad for medicine than for any other subject. ETV Bharat estimated in January 2026 that 800 to 1,000 a year go to Russia and another 600 to 800 to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, most of them for MBBS. The ambition is a sound one. The rules around it are strict, and the people selling seats rarely explain them. This guide does.
The rulebook: NMC regulations of 2021
The National Medical Commission’s Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations were notified in the Gazette on 18 November 2021. To be registered to practise in India after a foreign degree, you must meet every one of these conditions.
| Requirement | What the regulation says |
|---|---|
| Course length | A course of at least 54 months leading to the medical degree |
| Internship abroad | At least 12 months of internship at the same foreign institution |
| Language | The degree must be taught in English |
| Content | Subjects equivalent to the Indian MBBS, as listed in Schedule I of the regulations |
| Licence abroad | You must be registered with the medical regulator of the country that awarded the degree, with a licence to practise on the same footing as that country’s own citizens |
| Exam in India | You must pass the exit test mandated by the Commission (the FMGE today) |
| Internship in India | Then complete a further 12 months of supervised internship in India |
Add one rule from before you leave: Indian students need a NEET-UG qualification to study medicine abroad and later register in India. The NMC’s information desk for students sets this out.
Read the table slowly with your parents. A “five-year course with internship included” fails the 54-plus-12 test. A course taught in Russian or Uzbek with an interpreter fails the English test. A university that does not let foreign graduates obtain a licence in its own country fails the licence test. Each of these is common.
FMGE and NExT: where things stand in November 2026
The Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) is run twice a year by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences. As of November 2026 it remains the qualifying exam for foreign graduates. In August 2026 the NMC published a draft amendment to its 2023 registration regulations that keeps the FMGE as the route to provisional registration “until National Exit Test (NExT) comes into force”. No start date for NExT has been notified, and the NMC chairperson has said publicly that it is not expected for a couple of years.
Plan for the FMGE. The pass rates are the most honest number in this whole subject. The health ministry told the Lok Sabha that the overall pass rate in June 2026 was 12.78 per cent, and that first-time candidates passed at 35.74 per cent. Students who studied in English, in a properly run course with real clinical hours, are the ones in the 35 per cent group.
Which countries commonly fit the rules
The NMC does not endorse any list of foreign medical universities. It is the course, not the country, that must meet the regulations. That said, Indian students concentrate in a handful of countries where many universities run English-medium programmes of the right length.
| Country | Why students go | What to check before paying |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | Long history with Indian students, 6-year programmes | English medium for all six years, not just pre-clinical; internship at the same university; licence rules for foreigners |
| Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan | Lower fees, nearer home | Intake capacity, clinical training in English, the NMC’s 2026 advisory (below) |
| Georgia | English-medium 6-year degrees | Registration with the Georgian regulator; whether the hospital attachments are real |
| Philippines | English is widely used in hospitals | Whether the programme is the 54-month MD with the full internship, not a shorter pathway |
| Bangladesh | Curriculum close to India’s, English medium | Seat allocation rules for Indian students; fees in dollars |
Whatever the country, ask the university in writing to confirm each line of the NMC table above, and keep the reply.
Red flags
- Admission offered without a NEET-UG qualification.
- The phrase “NMC approved university”. The NMC approves no one; a course either meets the regulations or it does not.
- Any course shorter than 54 months plus a separate 12-month internship.
- Clinical teaching through a translator, or “English medium” only for the first two years.
- Fees collected in cash, in rupees, by an agent, with no receipt from the university.
- Promises that you can “transfer” to another university or country mid-course. Transfers break the rule that the internship must be at the same institution.
- Online or hybrid classes for any part of the course. The NMC does not accept them.
- Intake far above what the hospitals can teach. Ask how many Indian students were admitted last year and how many beds the teaching hospital has.
The Tashkent case: why checking never stops
On 1 April 2026 the NMC issued an advisory about three Uzbek institutions: Bukhara State Medical Institute, Samarkand State Medical University and Tashkent State Medical University (TSMU), together with TSMU’s Termez branch and its offshore partner in Bengaluru. The concerns, relayed from the Embassy of India in Tashkent, were that students were being admitted beyond intake capacity, that teaching was not in English so hands-on training suffered, and that several criteria of the 2021 regulations were not being met.
In August 2026 the Embassy clarified that the advisory was precautionary and not a ban, and said it was working with the institutions on intake norms and clinical training. The Haryana Medical Council said the same, while noting that its earlier advisory against TSMU’s Chirchik branch still stood.
Thousands of Indian students were already enrolled in these universities when the notice appeared. Some will complete courses that meet the rules. Others may discover, at the FMGE stage, that their training did not. The lesson is not “avoid Uzbekistan”. It is that you must read the NMC’s notices before you apply, after you enrol, and every year until you graduate.
A checklist before any payment
- NEET-UG qualified, with the scorecard saved.
- Written confirmation from the university of course length, internship, language of instruction and licence rules for foreign graduates.
- The university’s name as it appears in the World Directory of Medical Schools, which is a listing, not an approval.
- The latest NMC advisories read, with the date noted.
- Fees paid only to the university’s own account, with receipts.
- A budget for the full six years plus FMGE preparation and the Indian internship year.
What to do next
If you want to study medicine and would like someone to check a specific university against the NMC’s table before your family pays a rupee, Start your application. Bihar Scholars’ guidance is free for students.