MBBS Abroad —
We Used to Do This. We Stopped.
For years we placed students in foreign medical universities. We do not any more. The reason is one number, and it has not moved in a decade: most Indian students who finish an MBBS abroad cannot clear the exam that lets them work as a doctor in India.
Last verified · 8 August 2026
If you read nothing else. After an MBBS abroad, an Indian student must pass the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) to practise in India. In the most recent session, 43,933 sat it and 32,604 failed — a pass rate of 23.37%. NEET is compulsory for going abroad. NMC no longer publishes a list of approved foreign universities, so checking that a university qualifies is entirely your responsibility. Orchid Education Foundation does not arrange MBBS abroad admissions. We will answer your questions about it honestly, and we will not take your money for it.
Three in Four Fail
the Exam That Matters
One explanation first, because this trips up most parents. A student who does MBBS in India starts working after their degree and internship. A student who does MBBS abroad cannot — they must first pass FMGE, a 300-mark exam run by NBEMS. Pass mark is 150, exactly 50%, no relaxation for any category. Until it is cleared, the foreign degree does not permit practice in India.
| FMGE session | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| Most recent session — 43,933 appeared, 10,264 passed, 32,604 failed | 23.37% |
| June 2025 | 18.61% |
| December 2024 | 29.62% |
| June 2024 | 20.89% |
| December 2023 | 20.57% |
| June 2023 | 10.20% |
There is no year in that table a family should plan around comfortably. The exam can be retaken, and many students do — for two years, three, sometimes longer, living at home and not earning. No brochure prices that period, and it is the real cost of this route.
Six Conditions.
Miss One and the Degree Does Not Count.
The NMC's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, notified on 18 November 2021, set out what a foreign medical degree must look like to be usable in India.
| Condition | What it means in plain terms |
|---|---|
| At least 54 months of study | Four and a half years of actual instruction. NMC counts months, not years, and the 12-month internship does not count towards it. A course advertised as “5-year MBBS” may contain only 48 months of teaching. Ask for the duration in months, on university letterhead. |
| One single institution | The whole course at the same university. Transferring midway generally breaks eligibility. |
| 12-month internship, same university | After the course, not during it, and at the same foreign institution where you studied. |
| No split clinical training | Clinical training cannot be done in parts or across different countries. |
| English throughout | The medium of instruction must be English for the entire course. Note that hospital patients may still speak only the local language, which is a separate and real problem for clinical learning. |
| Schedule-I subjects | The mandatory subjects listed in the regulations must all be covered. |
The part that changed everything. NMC no longer publishes a list of approved foreign medical universities. The burden of proving a university complies sits on the student. So when an agent says “this university is NMC approved”, there is no list they can be pointing at. Old MCI approval lists from 2018 and earlier carry no current weight. If you cannot verify compliance yourself, from university documents, nobody is verifying it.
Tuition Is Not the Number
You Will Actually Pay
| What gets quoted | What gets left out |
|---|---|
| Annual tuition, usually the lowest figure available and often for the first year only | Hostel, food and living costs for five and a half years |
| Flights home, and back again after every break | |
| Visa, documentation, translation and attestation | |
| Health insurance and local registration charges | |
| FMGE coaching after returning — often a year or more | |
| Repeat attempts, during which the student is not earning |
Ask for one document before any money moves: the total cost across the whole period, in writing, on letterhead. Not annual tuition, and not a figure said aloud in a seminar hall. A consultant who will not produce it usually knows the honest total would end the conversation.
The Same Student,
a Route That Ends in a Licence
Almost every family who came to us about MBBS abroad had the same question underneath it: my child qualified NEET but missed a government seat, so what now? That question has answers inside India, and they end with a degree that needs no screening exam.
State quota, read properly
Domicile and nativity rules differ sharply between states, and most families assume they are shut out of quotas they can actually claim. All 19 state deadlines →
Management quota, priced honestly
A legal seat category, allotted through official counselling at fee-committee rates. Expensive, but it produces an Indian MBBS. How it works →
Closer than you think
PA Sangma International Medical College in Ri-Bhoi, Meghalaya has 64 management seats with no domicile bar, about an hour from Guwahati. PIMC 2026 →
BDS, AYUSH, or one more attempt
A BDS or BAMS seat in India is a working qualification. For some students, one more NEET year with a real plan beats six years abroad. We say so when we think it, even though it means no fee for us this year. BDS 2026 →
The Seat Shortage Here
Is Well Known to Agents
Assam has no private medical college and the region has very few. Every agency selling foreign medical admissions knows this, which is why Guwahati fills with seminars in the weeks right after results, when families are anxious and moving fast.
None of that is illegal, and studying medicine abroad is a legitimate choice — some students do it well, come back and pass. Our objection is narrower. The decision is routinely sold without the pass rate, without the six FMGL conditions and without the total cost. A family shown all three who still chooses to go has made a real decision. Most families we met had been shown none of them.
If you are weighing an offer right now, forward it to us before you pay anything. We will read it and tell you plainly what it does and does not deliver. No charge, and no expectation that you use us afterwards — we do not sell this service, so there is nothing for us to sell you.
Questions Parents Ask Us
No. We used to, and we stopped. The reason is in the pass numbers below: most Indian students who complete an MBBS abroad do not clear the licensing exam that lets them practise in India. We were not willing to keep taking a family’s money for a route where the most likely outcome is a degree that cannot be used. If you still want to go abroad, we will tell you honestly what to check — but we will not process the admission for you.
FMGE stands for Foreign Medical Graduate Examination. It is conducted by NBEMS, and it is the exam you must pass to be allowed to practise medicine in India after studying MBBS in another country. Indian medical graduates do not sit it. Foreign ones must. You need 150 out of 300, which is 50%, with no relaxation for any category. Fail it and your foreign degree does not let you work as a doctor in India. You can retake it, and many students spend years doing exactly that.
In the most recent session, 43,933 candidates appeared, 10,264 passed and 32,604 failed — a pass rate of 23.37%. Roughly three out of four did not clear it. That was an improvement on the session before, which was 18.61%. Across the last several years the rate has moved between about 10% and 30%. For comparison, an Indian MBBS graduate has no such exam standing between them and practice.
Yes, everywhere, with no exception. An Indian student must qualify NEET-UG to study MBBS abroad and later practise in India. “Admission without NEET” offers are usually real admissions — the student can genuinely enrol and study. What they cannot do is convert into an Indian medical licence, and that surfaces five or six years later at registration, when nothing can be done.
The Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, 2021, notified on 18 November 2021, set six conditions. The course must run at least 54 months. It must be completed at a single institution. A 12-month internship must follow, at the same foreign university. Clinical training cannot be split across countries or done in parts. The medium of instruction must be English throughout. And the mandatory subjects listed in Schedule-I of the regulations must be covered. Miss any one and the degree may not be accepted for licensing.
No, and this is the part families most often get wrong. NMC no longer maintains a list of approved foreign medical universities. The responsibility for confirming that a university meets the FMGL 2021 conditions rests entirely on the student. Old “MCI approved” lists circulating from 2018 and earlier have no current standing. If an agent shows you one, they are showing you a document that does not mean what they are saying it means.
Start FMGE preparation from the second year, not the final one — students who begin early clear it far more often. Also check one thing: NMC clarified on 5 March 2026 that any part of the course attended online must be made up with in-person training at the same institution, and the study period must genuinely be extended, not compressed. A certificate claiming the time was “compensated” without the period actually being extended will not be accepted.
Send Us the Offer Before You Send Them Money.
We Will Tell You What It Actually Delivers.
Forward the brochure, the fee sheet, the WhatsApp — whatever you were given. We will read it against the FMGL 2021 conditions and tell you plainly what is missing. Free, and there is nothing for us to sell you afterwards.