The Medical Counselling Committee has issued an urgent notice for the institutes participating in the NEET-UG and NEET-PG 2022 Counselling rounds. The notice clarifies that the OCI (Overseas Citizen Of India) /PIO (Person of Indian Origin)/Foreign National candidates are eligible to apply ONLY for NRI (Non-resident Indian) seats and not for Indian (All India Quota/ Central/ Deemed Paid/ Indian) seats.

The notice states that this information is with respect to “Gazette Notification of Ministry of Home Affairs Gazette Notification No. S.O.1050 (E) dated 04/03/2021”. This is what the notice states:

“(4) Parity with Non-Resident Indians in the matter of- (ii) appearing for the all India entrance tests such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Joint Entrance Examination (Mains), Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) or such other tests to make them eligible for admission only against any Non-Resident Indian seat or any supernumerary seat: Provided that the OCI cardholder shall not be eligible for admission against any seat reserved exclusively for Indian citizens.”

And this is the explanation given: “For the purposes of this notification─ (1) The OCI Cardholder (including a PsIO cardholder) is a foreign national holding passport of a foreign country and is not a citizen of India.”

The notice further advises that, “Deemed Universities/ Institutes where NRI seats are available should verify only citizenship card for OCI/ PIO/ Foreign National candidates at the time of reporting and not other NRI documents which are asked & verified for NRI Sponsored Candidates. Also, the Nationality of all candidates should be checked along with other documents.”