The admission process, step by step
What happens, in what order, how long each stage really takes, and where students most often get stuck. Read this before you talk to any consultant — including us.
The NMC rules you must satisfy
These come from the National Medical Commission's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations. They are not negotiable and no consultant can waive them. If your case fails one of these, the degree will not give you a licence to practise in India.
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| NEET-UG qualified | You must have a qualifying NEET score before you join the course abroad. The score does not need to be high — it needs to exist. Without it, FMGE/NExT is closed to you permanently. |
| Class 12 PCB | Minimum 50% aggregate in Physics, Chemistry and Biology; 40% for SC/ST/OBC candidates. |
| Age | At least 17 years old on 31 December of the year of admission. |
| Course duration | At least 54 months (4.5 years) of medical education. Russian MD/MBBS programmes are normally six years, which satisfies this comfortably. |
| Medium of instruction | The entire course — lectures, clinical training and examinations — must be in English. "Bilingual" programmes are a risk. |
| Internship | A 12-month internship at the same foreign medical institution, after the coursework. It cannot be shortened or moved elsewhere without official approval. |
| Clinical subjects | Hands-on training in general medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics & gynaecology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, emergency medicine, ENT, ophthalmology and anaesthesia. Online-only teaching is not accepted. |
| Local licensing eligibility | The degree must make you eligible to register and practise in the country where you studied. |
| After you return | Clear FMGE (being replaced by NExT), then complete the required internship in India before NMC registration. |
Joining a course abroad without a qualifying NEET score, on an agent's assurance that "it can be managed later". It cannot. Six years and thirty lakh rupees later, the FMGE application is refused and there is no appeal.
The seven stages, with real timelines
Work backwards from the September intake. If you are starting in June, you are already tight — not impossible, but tight.
- 1Day 1 · free
Eligibility review
NEET status, Class 12 marks, age, passport status and budget checked against the NMC rules. Output: a yes, a no, or a "yes, but fix this first". This costs you nothing and carries no obligation.
- 2Week 1 · free
University shortlist
Three universities matched to budget, climate tolerance, city size and travel cost, with the full six-year figure for each. We also tell you which ones we ruled out and why.
- 33–4 weeks
Application & admission letter
Scanned documents go to the university's international office. The university issues an official admission letter in the student's name. Watch for: letters that are not on university letterhead, or that come from an agency rather than the university.
- 44–6 weeks
Ministry invitation letter
The Russian Ministry of Education issues the invitation (приглашение) that the student visa is issued against. This is a government process and it cannot be accelerated by anyone, at any price.
- 5≈3 weeks · runs in parallel
Visa, medicals, apostille
Student visa application at the Russian consulate; HIV/AIDS certificate; apostilled Class 10 and Class 12 certificates; medical insurance; passport valid well beyond the course start. Start the apostille early — it is the step that most often delays departure.
- 6Arrival week
Landing and settling in
Airport pickup, hostel allocation, migration registration within the legal deadline, medical check at the university clinic, SIM card, bank card, and the first shopping trip. This is the week where being on the ground actually matters.
- 7Years 1–6
The part nobody talks about
Annual visa renewal, hostel changes, fee receipts kept safely for the FMGE file, transcripts, and structured FMGE/NExT preparation started early rather than in the final year. Keep every receipt and every stamped document from day one — you will need them.
Document checklist
Tick these off as you collect them. Nothing here is unusual — but the apostille and the passport are slow, so start with those.
Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P) on this page — it prints cleanly as a checklist. Or ask us and we will send it with your own dates filled in.
Six warning signs of a bad consultant
Apply these to us as well. If we ever do one of these, walk away.
They say NEET can be arranged later
It cannot. This one sentence should end the meeting.
They want the tuition paid to the agency
Tuition belongs to the university's account. An agency holding your tuition is a risk with no upside for you.
They quote one "package price" and will not itemise it
Ask for the university fee, the hostel fee and the consultant's fee as three separate numbers. Refusal is your answer.
They pressure you with a deadline that keeps moving
"Only two seats left, decide today" is a sales technique, not a fact about a state university.
They will not put the university's name and fee in writing
Anything said on a phone call that is not repeated in writing did not happen.
They promise a guaranteed FMGE pass or a guaranteed seat
Nobody can guarantee either. A guarantee is a confession that they are willing to lie to you.
Still deciding? Ask us one hard question.
No form-filling marathon, no sales script. Tell us your situation and we will tell you what we would tell our own family.