NEET Eligibility Criteria 2026 – Age, Qualification, Attempts

NEET 2026 Eligibility Criteria: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has laid down the age criteria for NEET UG eligibility for NEET exam, vide the official Notification No. U-14021-8-2023-UGMEB dated 2nd June, 2023. The criteria for NEET eligibility include the requirement of the minimum age limit, the maximum age limit, the required qualifications, the pass percentage in the qualifying exam, nationality and the limit on the number of attempts in NEET UG.

If you wish to appear for NEET 2026 exam, you should thoroughly read these eligibility requirements for NEET UG 2026 exam before starting to prepare NEET syllabus. NMC/NTA provides a set of basic eligibility rules that you should check to ascertain if you are eligible to appear in NEET 2026 examination. The eligibility criteria include pass percentage in the qualifying exam, age limits, nationality, limit on the number of NEET attempts.

You should read the complete information regarding the NEET 2026 eligibility conditions provided below. This information also includes eligibility codes for NEET UG that you should fill out, the scores in qualifying exams & more.

Check your Eligibility for NEET 2026

Ensuring that you meet the NEET 2026 eligibility criteria is very important before you start preparing for NEET. You must be aware that NEET UG exam is the only gateway to admission to the under-graduate medical courses. These include MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses.

You must meet the applicable eligibility criteria set by NMC/NTA for NEET 2026, as mentioned below:

• All NEET aspirants, including Indian Citizens, NRIs, PIOs, OCIs and foreign nationals are eligible to appear in NEET.
• NEET eligibility criteria states that you should have passed or appeared in 12th boards or other qualifying exams by the time you appear for NEET 2026.
• If you wish to study medicine outside India, you still need to qualify the NEET UG exam. If you study medicine abroad without qualifying NEET UG, you would not be eligible to practice medicine in India.
• There is no maximum age limit for appearing in the NEET-UG exam.

Complete Eligibility Criteria for NEET 2026

Before filling the exam form, you should read the below mentioned NEET eligibility criteria and be sure that you are eligible to write the NEET exam. Otherwise, you will not be eligible to appear in NEET UG 2026 exam.

The eligibility criteria for NEET 2026 is mentioned below:

NEET 2026 Eligibility Criteria for Indians, NRIs and Foreign Students

If you are an Indian citizen and wish to pursue medical courses in Indian colleges, then appearing in NEET UG exam is mandatory.

All NRIs, OCIs, PIOs and Foreign Nationals are eligible to appear in NEET 2026. However, they should meet all the other eligibility criteria set by NTA for NEET 2026.

All candidates should have studied English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology and passed exams in each of the four subjects.

If you are an Indian citizen and wish to study medicine outside India but want to practice medicine in India after doing MBBS, then you should have pursued MBBS abroad only after qualifying in the NEET UG exam.

NEET Eligibility – Number of Attempts

There is no limit on the number of attempts in NEET UG. NTA has removed the eligibility criteria related to the attempt limit in the NEET UG exam. You can appear for NEET UG 2026 exam even if you have already appeared multiple times in NEET or AIPMT exam. So, if you already appeared in the NEET exam multiple times and have not been able to achieve the desired score in NEET, you are still eligible to appear again in NEET 2026.

However, you should fulfill all the other eligibility criteria provided by NTA to appear in NEET.

NEET 2026 Eligibility – Age Limit Criteria

The eligibility requirements to write NEET UG 2026, also specify the age limits for the NEET candidates. Mostly, students and parents are not clear as to the correct interpretation of the age limit for NEET UG.

Minimum age limit criteria for NEET eligibility: The minimum age limit for NEET 2026 is 17 years of age. You should either have completed or be completing 17 years of age as of 31st December 2026, to be eligible to write the NEET UG 2026 exam. That means, to be eligible for NEET-UG 2026, you should have been born on or before 31/12/2009.  In other words, if your date of birth is on or after 1st January 2010, you are not eligible to write the NEET UG 2026 entrance exam. The change in the minimum age criteria was introduced by NMC through official notification no. U-14021-8-2023-UGMEB dated 2nd June, 2023. 

Maximum age limit criteria for NEET eligibility: The maximum age limit for NEET UG has been removed a few years ago. The restrictions capping the upper age limit do not exist now. The requirement of a maximum age limit for NEET UG was removed vide Letter No. U-11022/2/2022-UGMEB, dated 09 March 2022 of the Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) set up by the National Medical Commission (NMC). As such, there is no maximum age limit for NEET UG 2026.

Qualifying marks for NEET 2026 Eligibility

All NEET aspirants who have passed class 12 with Physics, Chemistry, Biology (PCB) and English meet the eligibility criteria. You should have studied all the three subjects, i.e Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Bio-technology as core subjects. Along with it, you should have appeared and passed in the English language exam as well. However, the minimum qualifying marks for each of the categories of students i.e. General, SC, ST and OBC are different.

You should make sure that you achieve the minimum aggregate marks in PCB to be eligible for NEET 2026.

Minimum marks for General/EWS/OBC (CL) Candidates

If you belong to the General category, EWS category or OBC (Creamy Layer), you should have scored a minimum of 50% qualifying marks in aggregate in the three subjects (PCB). The minimum aggregate score will ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria for NEET 2026.

Minimum marks for SC/ST/OBC(NCL) Candidates

Candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC(NCL) category should pass each of the three subjects with a minimum of 40% marks. This minimum qualifying marks criterion will cover candidates with or without physical disability in this category.

Minimum marks for PwBD Candidates

Candidates belonging to PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) are required to have scored a minimum of 40% marks in aggregate in the three subjects, i.e., PCB. The qualifying marks for this category have been set lower to help candidates meet the eligibility for NEET 2026.

Minimum marks for candidates having studied abroad

Candidates having studied abroad must have passed in Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology, and English with 50% marks in Class 12, and their equivalency as determined by AIU (Association of Indian Universities).

Minimum marks for eligibility for admission to MBBS in AIIMS and JIPMER

Minimum qualifying marks to be eligible for admission to MBBS courses in AIIMS and JIPMER would be governed by the rules applicable to AIIMS and JIPMER. You need to refer to the official websites of AIIMS/JIPMER.

Please note:

If you are planning to appear in class 12 examinations in 2026, you can still appear for NEET-UG provisionally. You would need to meet the minimum score requirements in the qualifying exam later to be eligible to apply for admission to undergraduate medical courses.

Additional Eligibility Criteria for NEET UG

You should have studied for a continuous period of two years as a regular school student. During your school, you should have prepared Physics, Chemistry, and Biology/Bio-technology as core subjects at the 10+2 level. 

If you have studied Biology/Biotechnology as an additional subject, you are entitled to appear in the NEET UG 2026 exam, subject to the decision of the courts in the pending cases.

If you are a student from Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, you are also eligible for 15% All India Quota seats and you can participate like any other state.

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Eligibility of Private Candidates or Open School candidates for NEET

Open Schools or Private candidates are eligible to appear for NEET UG 2026 exam, subject to the decision of the courts.

Qualifying Codes for NEET 2026 Eligibility

At the time of filling out the NEET application form, you will be required to provide qualifying codes to determine your eligibility for NEET. Our experts have simplified the list of available qualification codes based on the NEET exam eligibility criteria, making it easy for you to fill in the right code.

In case you fill in the wrong code, you will not be eligible to appear in the NEET exam.

• Code 01 – If you are appearing/have appeared in class 12 exams in 2026 and are awaiting results. To fill in this code, you should have qualified in the class 12 boards this year.
• Code 02 – If you have passed class 12 exams before 2026.
• Code 03 – If you have passed a pre-degree exam in science from an Indian University/Board with any additional subject. In such cases, you should have studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and English. The exams should include practical tests in the three science subjects. This code can also be used by students who have completed their class 12 from a state board.
• Code 04 – In case you have passed any pre-professional/pre-medical exam after completing class 12. The pre-professional/pre-medical exam should also include practical tests.
• Code 05 – if you are in the first year of a three-year degree course.
• Code 06 – if you have completed your B. Sc. with at least two subjects i.e. Physics, Chemistry & Biology. You should also ensure that you have passed the class 12 qualifying exam with PCB and English as the core subjects.
• Code 07 – if you have appeared for any other exam instead of class 12 (such as Pre-University College) where you appeared for practical exams as well. NEET aspirants who have appeared in the qualifying exam in a foreign country are eligible to fill this eligibility code.

FAQs on NEET Eligibility Criteria

Also read:

• Updated NEET 2026 & 2027 Syllabus
• NEET Important exam dates