NEET PG 2026: No First-Year Fee Until Your Seat Is Final, New NBEMS Rule Ahead of Nov 2 Deadline

If you chose float in NEET PG 2026 counselling, you do not have to pay the first-year course fee yet. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has revised its fee payment rule, and the change came as Round 1 reporting opened on October 26. Candidates who want to try for a better seat in a later round can now wait for the outcome without paying a full year’s fee in advance for a seat they may leave.

The revised rule applies to candidates allotted NBEMS seats through the NEET PG 2026 All India Quota round. MCC has published the NEET PG 2026 Round 1 final allotment, and reporting at allotted colleges and hospitals is under way. Until now, the practice during counselling was to deposit the first-year fee into NBEMS accounts. That step is gone.

Freeze means pay now, float means pay later

The new advisory draws a clear line between the two choices every allotted candidate faces.

Candidates who select freeze keep their allotted seat and do not seek an upgrade. They must pay the first-year annual course fee directly to the allotted NBEMS-accredited hospital, and they must complete reporting and joining within the window for that round.

Candidates who select float stay in the running for an upgrade in the next round. They do not pay the first-year course fee while they wait. If their seat is upgraded, they pay the fee directly to the institute they finally join, after freezing that seat. If the seat is not upgraded, they join the seat already allotted to them within the reporting window.

The change is simple: pay the fee only for the seat you finally keep, not for one you might give up in the next round.

Hospitals have been told not to collect the first-year fee from float candidates. Fees will be collected only when a candidate joins permanently by freezing a seat. This matters because the first-year fee at private institutes can run into lakhs, and paying it for a seat you then vacate meant chasing a refund while preparing for the next round.

Nov 2 is still the last day to report

One thing the new rule does not change is the calendar. Round 1 reporting and joining runs from October 26 to November 2, 2026, and NBEMS has said no extension of the reporting or joining deadline will be allowed under the standard process. Candidates who plan to join without seeking an upgrade must report within this window. Institutes will verify the data of joined candidates on November 3.

The fee relief does not remove any other counselling requirement. Reporting, document verification, and joining formalities all stay as MCC has prescribed. Hospitals must also update each candidate’s reporting status on the Intra-MCC portal in time. If that update is missed, the seat can be treated as vacant, so confirm with your institute that it is done after you report.

What to do at the reporting counter

Carry the documents your allotted institute asks for, including the NEET PG admit card and scorecard, the MCC allotment letter, MBBS degree certificate and marksheets, internship completion certificate, medical registration certificate, date-of-birth proof, and a valid photo ID. Category, EWS, disability, and NRI-related documents apply wherever relevant.

At the counter, the sequence is short:

• Confirm your allotted institute, course, and category on the allotment letter before you sign anything.
• Tell the institute clearly whether you are choosing freeze or float, and get that choice recorded.
• If you freeze, pay the first-year course fee to the hospital itself and keep the receipt.
• If you float, do not pay the first-year fee, but complete every other reporting step so your seat stays safe.
• Ask the institute to confirm that your reporting status has been updated on the Intra-MCC portal.

Students tracking the wider NEET PG 2026 counselling process should also note that the rule covers NBEMS seats, which are the DNB seats in accredited hospitals, and not every seat in the MCC rounds. If you are unsure whether your seat is an NBEMS seat, check the allotment letter or ask the institute before you pay.

The full counselling calendar after Round 1

Two more rounds follow after Round 2. Candidates can check the schedule and notices on the MCC PG Medical Counselling portal for any revision.

• Round 2 result: November 14, 2026
• Round 2 reporting and joining: November 16 to 23, 2026
• Round 3 result: December 4, 2026
• Round 3 reporting and joining: December 5 to 12, 2026
• Online stray vacancy round result: December 24, 2026
• Stray vacancy round reporting: December 24 to 31, 2026

The OPJR wait continues

NBEMS has also said its Online Portal for Joining and Registration (OPJR) will stay closed until MCC finishes all rounds of NEET PG 2026 counselling. Only after that will the portal open for candidates and hospitals to submit joining details and documents to NBEMS, through a separate notice. For now, reporting at the institute is the step that counts. The later OPJR submission is a separate process, and candidates should not confuse the two.

Decide freeze or float before you reach the counter, report before November 2, and pay the first-year fee only to the hospital where you finally freeze your seat.