The Medical Counselling Committee has taken a significant step to address the issue of vacant postgraduate medical seats. They have reopened the option for NEET-PG 2025 candidates to change their nationality status from Indian to Non-Resident Indian. This move comes just before the third and final round of counselling begins.
Strict Regulations Govern the Conversion Process
Converting from Indian to NRI status involves following strict rules. Only blood relatives within second-degree relations can sponsor a candidate. These sponsors must provide mandatory affidavits, proof of their relationship with the candidate, and evidence of financial capacity through NRI bank accounts.
Third-party agencies carefully review all applications. Officials report that many applications get rejected because of incomplete documentation or invalid papers. Even with expanded eligibility, numerous NRI seats continue to remain unfilled each year.
Unfilled Seats Return to General Category
When NRI seats stay vacant, they eventually convert back to non-NRI seats. The system then offers these seats to general category candidates. This process ensures that valuable postgraduate medical seats do not go to waste.
Officials Clarify the Purpose of This Move
Medical officials emphasize that this decision does not create any new seats. It does not expand existing quotas or alter merit lists in any way. One official explained the reasoning clearly.
"This initiative simply widens eligibility to fill seats that already exist," the official stated. "Our aim is to prevent wastage of postgraduate seats, not to change rankings or increase numbers."
The provision activates every year before specific counselling rounds. It represents a recurring effort to maximize seat utilization in medical postgraduate programs across India.
