PMDC New Policy for MBBS Abroad 2026: FSc 60%, MDCAT 50%, Student Registration and the NRE Explained

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

The PMDC new policy for MBBS abroad is the set of conditions the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has attached to any Pakistani student who wants to study medicine or dentistry outside Pakistan and then come back to practise. The rules were first published as a public alert on policy guidelines, repeated in a students alert dated 23 January 2025, and reinforced through a further public notice reported on 14 May 2026.

The PMDC new policy for MBBS abroad matters because it changes the question families should ask. The old question was “which university is cheapest?” The real question in 2026 is “will PM&DC let my child sit the licensing exam when they come home?” If the answer is no, the fee does not matter.

This guide walks through each condition in the official documents, explains the National Registration Examination, and lists the claims agents make that the policy does not support. It is written for students planning MBBS in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and similar destinations, because those are the countries the policy affects most.

What the PMDC new policy for MBBS abroad actually is

PM&DC describes itself as the apex statutory regulatory authority established under the PM&DC Act, 2022 to regulate medical and dental education and maintain uniform minimum standards across Pakistan, according to the official policy document. The guidelines are stated to be applicable to Pakistani students seeking admission to foreign medical or dental institutions for undergraduate programs, effective from Session 2024-2025 onward.

In plain terms the policy has three layers:

• Before admission: academic thresholds (FSc and MDCAT) and PM&DC student registration
• During study: the university, the program length, the attendance and the language rule
• After graduation: the NRE, and for some students the NEB, before any licence

The Registrar’s office in Islamabad signs the policy, and the same office issues the press releases that explain how it is applied. Both sets of documents are public on pmdc.pk.

Who the policy applies to

The policy applies to Pakistani students seeking admission to foreign undergraduate medical or dental institutions. It does not matter whether the destination is China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey or Georgia. Reporting on the May 2026 notice specifically named China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Azerbaijan as the destinations most affected.

Two groups of students need to read the rules differently:

• Students who completed intermediate in Pakistan. The 60% FSc and 50% MDCAT conditions apply directly, according to the policy text.
• Students who completed secondary education outside Pakistan. The alternative is SAT-II with at least 550 in each subject, or a foreign MCAT or UCAT with at least 50% in Biology, Chemistry and either Mathematics or Physics, under the students alert.

Students who were already enrolled abroad before Session 2024-2025 are dealt with under the transitional wording in the September 2025 press release, which is discussed later in this guide.

The 60% FSc rule

The first academic gate is simple. The student must have passed F.Sc. (Pre-Medical) with a minimum of 60% marks if intermediate education was completed in Pakistan, according to the official guidelines. The The News report on the original 2024 notification confirms the same threshold.

Why this matters in practice: many foreign universities in Central Asia and the Caucasus advertise admission at 50% or even lower. A student can be admitted abroad with 52% and still be locked out of the NRE at home. The foreign university’s admission decision and PM&DC’s eligibility decision are two separate things.

Some agents point to a 2018 High Court direction that once required PM&DC to accept students below 60%. One consultant site describes that history and states that PM&DC issued eligibility certificates to all students until 2018 under earlier arrangements. That history does not change the current published rule for Session 2024-2025 onward.

The 50% MDCAT rule

The second gate is the MDCAT. The student must have obtained at least 50% marks in the MDCAT conducted in Pakistan by the admitting Pakistani universities, applicable to students who completed intermediate education from Pakistan, according to the policy guidelines.

Three practical points follow from this:

• 50% is lower than the domestic MBBS threshold. Public medical colleges in Pakistan generally require 55% for MBBS and 50% for BDS, as shown in the Khyber Medical University admission policy 2025-26. So a student who scored between 50% and 54% cannot get into a Pakistani public college but can still go abroad legally.
• The MDCAT result has a validity window. An earlier version of the policy on pmdc.pk states the subject result shall be valid for three years. Students should not rely on an old score beyond that.
• Skipping MDCAT is not an option for Pakistani-educated students. The phrase “MBBS abroad without MDCAT” that appears in adverts describes the foreign university’s admission rule, not PM&DC’s.

MDCAT registration and dates are published through PM&DC public notices, and the 2026 test was rescheduled according to the public announcements page. Always check the current year’s notice before planning an intake abroad.

PMDC student registration: the so-called NOC

This is the condition most families miss. Before proceeding abroad, the student must obtain a PM&DC Student Registration Certificate, which is free of cost, through the online portal at srf.pmdc.pk, according to the official guidelines.

The January 2025 alert puts it more bluntly: the student must have registration with PM&DC to pursue education at a foreign institution, and mandatory online registration is required to become eligible for provisional registration and the NRE under the PM&DC Act 2022, according to the students alert. Reporting from March 2025 summarised the effect: the NRE will only be available to students who registered with PM&DC before securing admission abroad.

Things to know about the registration:

• It is called a Student Registration Certificate in the policy. Agents and consultant websites usually call it the PMDC NOC. It is the same document.
• The account is created at srf.pmdc.pk/signup. There is no official fee.
• If an agent charges a large amount for “getting your PMDC NOC”, ask what exactly they are paying for. The certificate itself is free under the policy.
• Do the registration before you travel. The wording is “before proceeding abroad”.

The portal will only accept a student who meets the FSc and MDCAT thresholds. That is the practical reason the registration exists: it checks eligibility before the family spends six years of fees.

The ECFMG list and university recognition

Two separate recognition conditions apply to the university:

1. The institution must be included in the approved list maintained by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), according to the policy.
2. The qualification must be in allopathic medicine and awarded by an institution duly recognised by the relevant regulatory body of the country of origin.

The September 2025 press release hardened the first point: only graduates of foreign institutions included in the ECFMG accredited lists are eligible to appear in the NRE, according to the PM&DC press release of 14 September 2025. PM&DC describes this as standard practice adopted by different countries.

How to check yourself:

• Search the university in the World Directory of Medical Schools and look at the ECFMG sponsor note on the school’s page.
• Read ECFMG’s own explanation of its accreditation requirements.
• Cross-check against the recognised foreign institutions material PM&DC links from its standards and notices page.

The January 2025 alert states that the list of accredited foreign institutions is available on the PM&DC website, per the alert. Do not rely on an agent’s PDF or a WhatsApp screenshot. Check the source.

Program hours, attendance and language rules

The policy also sets minimum standards for the degree itself, according to the official guidelines:

• The medical program must comprise at least 6,200 hours.
• A minimum of 80% attendance is required.
• The program must be completed over a period of five years.
• For countries where the medium of instruction is not English, the student must spend a minimum of six months learning the local language before proceeding abroad.

The six-month language rule is the one that catches Russia and Central Asia applicants. Many Russian and Central Asian programs are advertised as “English medium”, yet clinical years and hospital rotations in those countries are often in Russian. A student should ask the university, in writing, what the medium of instruction is for each year, and keep that answer for any future PM&DC query.

The five-year wording is also relevant to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where some MD programs are five years. The policy says at least 6,200 hours over five years; it does not say six years. Students should still confirm that the total hours and any internship year match what PM&DC expects before choosing a shorter program.

The multiple entry visa condition

A less-discussed line in the policy says the student must provide a Multiple Entry & Exit Visa valid for the entire duration of the study program at the time of applying for the NRE examination, according to the policy. An earlier version of the policy on pmdc.pk phrased it as providing the multiple entry visa before proceeding.

What this means for students:

• Keep every visa, residence permit and extension from all years of study. PM&DC may ask for them at NRE stage.
• A student who studied on single-entry tourist visas, or who has gaps in legal status abroad, may face questions.
• Do not discard old passports. The visa history is evidence of continuous study.

The NRE: what happens after graduation

The student must pass the mandatory National Registration Examination (NRE) conducted by PM&DC in order to obtain a licence, according to the policy. PM&DC has said publicly that a registration examination is mandatory for all foreign medical graduates under the law and that the requirement dates back to the early 1990s under the 1962 Ordinance, per the September 2025 press release.

The NRE has two steps. Guides written for candidates describe NRE Step-I as the theory paper and NRE Step-II as the clinical skills component, with Step-II applications only opening after Step-I is passed, according to a candidate registration guide. Syllabi for foreign medical and dental graduates are linked from the PM&DC standards page.

2026 dates reported from PM&DC notices:

• NEB examination: Saturday 16 May 2026, according to Medical News Pakistan.
• NRE Step-I: Sunday 17 May 2026, with the registration portal open 16 to 29 April 2026, according to Dental News Pakistan.

PM&DC compares the NRE to the USMLE in the United States, PLAB in the United Kingdom and MCCQE in Canada in its press release. The point for families is that the foreign degree alone is not a licence. It is the entry ticket to an exam.

Provisional registration and the September 2025 clarification

In 2025 thousands of returning graduates found they could not get provisional registration for house jobs. The Express Tribune reported a dispute over numbers: PM&DC said about 700 graduates were affected while graduate representatives put the figure closer to 3,000.

PM&DC’s formal answer is in the press release of 14 September 2025. The key decisions:

• Only graduates of foreign institutions duly recognised by PM&DC are eligible for provisional registration before the NRE.
• All other graduates who enrolled under the old PM&DC or PMC framework, whose institutions are not yet recognised under the new law, will be issued provisional registration once they qualify the NRE.
• Only graduates of institutions on the ECFMG accredited lists are eligible to appear in the NRE at all.
• PM&DC stated it had a pendency of over 700 graduates and said claims of 4,000 to 7,000 pending were incorrect.

The release also mentions that at least two medical universities in Punjab raised concerns about the quality of education of graduates from some foreign countries. That is part of the reason PM&DC began what it calls a rigorous assessment of foreign institutions where Pakistani students are enrolled. A summary aimed at students describes the same split between recognised and non-recognised institutions in a December 2025 explainer.

What happens if you skip a condition

The policy ends with one sentence that every family should read twice: any candidate who fails to comply with the above guidelines will become ineligible to sit in the NRE examination, according to the official guidelines.

No NRE means:

• no provisional registration
• no house job in Pakistan
• no full licence to practise in Pakistan

The degree may still be usable for USMLE, PLAB or work in a third country if that country accepts it, but that is a different plan with different costs. A student who goes abroad specifically to come back and practise in Pakistan must treat every line of the policy as a hard requirement.

How this affects Russia and Central Asia admissions

The policy is country-neutral, but its impact is not. PM&DC’s own press release names Afghanistan, the Central Asian Republics such as Kyrgyzstan, and Iran as the main sources of the graduates affected by the 2025 registration dispute, according to the press release. A 2025 analysis reported that around 3,000 Pakistani students seek medical education abroad each year, mostly in China followed by Central Asian states such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Practical consequences by destination:

• Russia: check the ECFMG note for the specific university, and take the six-month language rule seriously because clinical years are frequently in Russian.
• Kyrgyzstan: the country has many new private medical institutes. Some are WDOMS-listed, some are not. Verify each one; do not assume.
• Kazakhstan: five-year MD programs exist. Confirm the total hours against the 6,200-hour rule.
• Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan: fewer Pakistani graduates have gone through the NRE from these countries so far, so ask the university for evidence of ECFMG status rather than relying on Pakistani student numbers as proof.

Agent claims that do not match the policy

Compare these common sales lines against the official documents:

• “No MDCAT needed.” For Pakistani-educated students, the policy requires 50% in the Pakistani MDCAT.
• “50% FSc is enough.” The published threshold is 60%.
• “We will get your PMDC NOC for a fee.” The Student Registration Certificate is free and self-service.
• “The university is WHO recognised, so PMDC accepts it.” The policy names the ECFMG list, not a generic “WHO” label.
• “You can do the NOC after admission or after arrival.” The wording is before proceeding abroad.
• “No exam needed when you come back.” PM&DC calls the NRE mandatory under the law.

Step-by-step checklist before you pay any fee

1. Confirm your FSc percentage is 60% or above. If it is not, the abroad route to a Pakistani licence is closed under the current policy.
2. Sit the MDCAT and score 50% or above. Check the current year’s PM&DC announcements for dates.
3. Verify the university on WDOMS and ECFMG. Use the World Directory and ECFMG’s accreditation information.
4. Create your account at srf.pmdc.pk and obtain the Student Registration Certificate. It is free at srf.pmdc.pk.
5. Get the medium of instruction for every year in writing from the university. If any year is not in English, plan the six-month language requirement.
6. Confirm program hours and duration. At least 6,200 hours over five years with 80% attendance.
7. Keep every visa and residence document for all years. You will need them at NRE stage.
8. Plan for the NRE from day one. Read the syllabus on the standards page and follow the annual dates reported by outlets such as Dental News Pakistan.

Bottom line

The PMDC new policy for MBBS abroad can be summarised in one line: qualify at home first, register with PM&DC before you leave, choose an ECFMG-listed university, and plan for the NRE from day one. Every condition is public on pmdc.pk and every one of them is enforced at the NRE gate.

If an agent’s offer depends on ignoring any of these conditions, the offer is not cheaper. It is a six-year degree with no licence at the end. Confirm the current notices on pmdc.pk before signing anything, and keep your own copies of every document from FSc result to final-year visa.