NExT for Foreign Medical Graduates: Where It Stands in November 2026 and What It Means for You

What is the NExT exam?

The National Exit Test (NExT) is a common exam that India's National Medical Commission Act, 2019 created to serve three purposes at once: a final qualifying exam for Indian MBBS students, a licensing exam for everyone who wants to practise modern medicine in India, and the ranking exam for postgraduate admission. Once it is in force, it is meant to replace the final-year MBBS university theory exams, NEET-PG and the FMGE.

For foreign medical graduates, NExT would replace FMGE as the licensing test. The FMGL Regulations, 2021 already anticipate this: Regulation 4(d) requires foreign graduates to clear "the National Exit Test or such other mandated test or tests conducted by the Commission".

Is NExT happening? Status as of November 2026

No. FMGE remains the licensing exam for foreign graduates in 2026–27, and NExT has no confirmed start date. NBEMS held FMGE on 28 June and 31 October 2026 and says it will now hold it three times a year.

Here is how NExT got to this point:

The August 2026 draft is the clearest signal. It amends the Registration of Medical Practitioners and Licence to Practice Medicine Regulations, 2023, which had tied foreign graduates' provisional registration to NExT. According to Medical Dialogues, the draft says foreign graduates "will continue to be required to qualify the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE)" for provisional registration and National Medical Register entry until NExT is implemented.

Why was NExT deferred?

NExT stalled for reasons that have little to do with foreign graduates. NMC first announced it for the MBBS batch admitted in 2019. Students of that batch protested, arguing that their course began on 1 August 2019, before the NMC Act, 2019 was published, so applying NExT to them would breach the Act. After the Health Ministry intervened, NMC deferred the exam until further notice from the Ministry.

Since then, NMC has described several open questions. In August 2025 its chairperson listed three: how to move from state university exams to a central model, what difficulty level to set, and how to build confidence among faculty and students. NMC has also invited views on whether NExT should replace the final-year MBBS exam or run alongside it, and on its timing, pattern, conduct and syllabus. In an RTI reply reported by Medical Dialogues, NMC said a committee constituted by the Directorate General of Health Services is examining implementation and preparedness.

What the August 2026 draft does and does not change

The draft amendment matters because the 2023 registration regulations had linked foreign graduates' provisional registration to NExT. With NExT deferred, that created a legal gap. The draft closes it by naming FMGE as the qualifying test "until the National Exit Test (NEXT) comes into force", both for provisional registration (for internship) and for entry in the National Medical Register.

What the draft does not do is set a date for NExT, change the FMGL 2021 conditions on your foreign course, or remove the 12-month internship in India. Medical Dialogues noted that the timeline for NExT "remains unclear". Until NMC notifies the final amendment and, later, a NExT start date, treat FMGE as the exam you will take.

If an agent tells you that a particular university "prepares you for NExT" or that NExT will make foreign degrees easier to convert, ask for the NMC notification they are relying on. There is none as of November 2026.

What NExT will look like: Step 1 and Step 2

The 2023 regulations describe NExT in two steps. These details could change before the exam starts, but they are the only official design.

Two design features matter for foreign graduates. First, Step 1 has a per-paper pass mark, so a weak subject cannot be offset by a strong one, unlike FMGE's single total of 150/300. Second, Step 2 tests clinical skills face to face, which favours students who had real patient contact in English during their course.

How NExT would work for foreign medical graduates

The 2023 regulations list "all Foreign Medical Graduates fulfilling the requirement of foreign medical graduate Licentiate Regulation" among those who must take NExT. The pathway they describe:

1. Complete a compliant foreign degree under FMGL 2021, including the 12-month internship abroad.
2. Pass all six NExT Step 1 papers. This makes you eligible for provisional registration and the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) in India.
3. Complete the 12-month internship in India. The CRMI Regulations, 2021 say foreign graduates will do the internship "after the National Exit Test Step-1 after NExT becomes operational".
4. Pass NExT Step 2 (practical / clinical).
5. Apply for registration in the National Medical Register or State Medical Register, and a licence to practise.

Your Step 1 score would also count for postgraduate admission, so there would be no separate NEET-PG. For Indian students, the regulations allow unlimited attempts provided both steps are passed within 10 years of joining the MBBS course. How exactly that window will apply to foreign graduates has not been spelt out. Today, NMC's November 2023 notice gives foreign graduates 10 years from completing their course to clear FMGE or NExT.

FMGE vs NExT: key differences

The biggest change in principle is fairness: NExT would put Indian and foreign graduates through the same exam, rather than a separate screening test only for those who studied abroad.

What NExT means for students joining MBBS abroad in 2027

If you join a 6-year programme in autumn 2027, you will graduate around 2033 and sit your licensing exam after that. Nobody can tell you today whether that exam will be FMGE or NExT.

What does not change in any scenario:

• Your course must comply with FMGL 2021: at least 54 months, English medium, a 12-month internship at the same university and a licence in the host country.
• You will do a 12-month internship in India.
• You must hold a qualifying NEET-UG result that is valid when you join.
• Your exam will follow the Indian MBBS curriculum.

So the practical advice is the same either way:

1. Choose a university with genuine English-medium clinical training. NExT Step 2 would test clinical skills directly, and FMGE pass rates already favour strong clinical exposure.
2. Study with Indian textbooks and question banks from your clinical years onwards. When you compare countries, look at English-medium clinical exposure as closely as fees.
3. Do not treat any single subject as optional. NExT's 50%-per-paper rule punishes gaps that FMGE's overall total can hide.
4. Watch nmc.org.in, not social media. The April 2026 fake notice shows how quickly false exam news spreads.

Will NExT help or hurt foreign graduates?

It cuts both ways. On one hand, a single exam for everyone removes the stigma of a separate screening test and could open postgraduate seats on the same terms as Indian graduates. On the other, the per-paper pass rule and a face-to-face clinical exam set a higher bar for graduates of programmes with weak clinical teaching.

For current FMGE pass rates by country and session, see our FMGE guide. If you are also considering practising outside India, our guide to USMLE, PLAB and other licensing routes explains how those systems check your university. And if you are still deciding whether to go abroad at all, read is MBBS abroad worth it.