NEET UG 2026 Counselling: AIQ Registration From August 5, State Quota From August 13 — What Changes This Year

If you sat for NEET UG on June 21, 2026, the counselling clock has now started ticking. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), which handles admissions to the 15% All India Quota (AIQ) MBBS/BDS seats and 100% seats at AIIMS, JIPMER, BHU and a few other central institutions, opens its registration window on August 5, 2026. Separately, state quota registration for the remaining 85% of seats in most states begins on August 13, 2026, through each state's own counselling authority. This year brings a genuinely useful process change: the entire admission cycle is being run online, so you will not need to travel to a reporting centre until you actually join your allotted college. Getting the registration window, fee, and document list right at the start saves a lot of stress once the rounds begin moving fast.

The AIQ counselling calendar you need to track

AIQ Round 1 registration and choice filling run from August 5 to about August 12–13, with the seat allotment result expected on August 17, 2026. Candidates who are allotted a seat then have till August 22 to report at their institute; MCC verifies joining data on August 23.

Round 2 follows almost immediately, with registration from roughly August 25–29, results on September 2, and reporting by September 8. Round 3 registration runs from around September 11–15, results on September 18, and reporting by September 26. After that comes an online stray vacancy round (registration around September 28–30, results October 3, reporting by October 10) to mop up any seats still lying vacant.

This is a fast-moving, back-to-back schedule with only a few days between each round's result and the next round's registration opening — so aspirants should keep every document ready in advance rather than scrambling once a round opens.

State quota runs on a slightly delayed, parallel track

For the 85% state quota seats, most states begin their own registration from August 13, 2026, with round-wise dates trailing the AIQ schedule by roughly a week each time — Round 1 results around August 28–29, Round 2 in early September, and Round 3 through late September, followed by a stray vacancy window running into early October.

One practical point aspirants often miss: AIQ and state quota counselling are run by different bodies (MCC for AIQ, state directorates for state quota) but with overlapping timelines. If you get allotted a seat in both, you generally have to choose one and formally give up the other — for instance, surrendering an AIQ seat if you decide to join a state-allotted seat.

What's actually new in 2026: no physical reporting, online seat upgrade

Previously, a candidate allotted a seat had to physically visit that college to complete admission formalities before being eligible for the next round of counselling. That step has been removed for candidates who are not joining for the first time — everything from registration to document upload to fee payment is now done online through the MCC portal.

The new 'seat upgrade' feature lets you mark yourself as Freeze (you're happy with the current allotted seat and don't want further rounds) or Float/Willing to Upgrade (you keep your current seat locked in but still get considered for a better college or course in the next round). This removes the old risk of losing an allotted seat just because you wanted to try for something better.

Document upload has also been extended to all categories, including NRI candidates, who earlier had separate manual processes in some cases. MCC has said it is running orientation sessions for participating colleges' admission staff so that the transition to a fully digital process doesn't create confusion at the institute end.

Registration fee and security deposit — know the exact numbers

Fees differ by category and by whether the seat is a regular government/central seat or a deemed-university seat, and the security deposit is refundable if you don't ultimately join.

• Unreserved/EWS candidates (AIQ, central universities, AIIMS, JIPMER, B.Sc Nursing): Rs 1,000 registration + Rs 10,000 refundable security
• SC/ST/OBC candidates: Rs 500 registration + Rs 5,000 refundable security
• Deemed university seats (any category): Rs 5,000 registration + Rs 2,00,000 refundable security — a much larger deposit, so budget for it if you're likely to land a deemed college seat

Documents to keep scanned and ready before registration

Since the entire process is now online, having clean, correctly sized scanned copies ready before Round 1 opens will save time and avoid last-minute upload errors.

• NEET UG 2026 admit card and rank card/scorecard
• Class 10 and Class 12 marksheets and certificates
• A valid photo ID proof
• Category certificate (SC/ST/OBC/EWS) and transfer certificate, where applicable
• A recent passport-size photograph
• MCC allotment letter (once you receive a seat, for subsequent steps)

Where the seats actually are

Seat availability is heavily concentrated in a handful of large states, which matters when you're deciding how many choices to fill and in which order during choice-filling.

AIQ counselling itself also covers 100% seats at AIIMS institutes, JIPMER, BHU, AMU, Jamia Millia Islamia's dental faculty, ESIC colleges, and 15% AIQ seats within Delhi University/IP University institutions — so even candidates from states with fewer seats have a genuine shot through the central-institute route.

• Karnataka: 15,395 seats (highest in the country)
• Uttar Pradesh: 14,000 seats
• Tamil Nadu: 13,999 seats
• Maharashtra: 13,099 seats
• Telangana: 10,250 seats

AIIMS reservation, for those aiming for the AIIMS network

For candidates specifically eyeing AIIMS seats (all filled through AIQ counselling), the reservation break-up is fixed: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC 27%, EWS 10%, and PwD (persons with disability) 5%, with a small allocation for foreign nationals. Historical opening-and-closing rank data shows AIIMS New Delhi remains by far the toughest to crack, while newer AIIMS campuses such as Guwahati and Bilaspur have historically closed at comparatively higher (less competitive) ranks.

Frequently asked questions

With AIQ registration opening August 5 and state quota following on August 13, the next few weeks are the busiest stretch of the NEET admission calendar — get your documents scanned, your fee payment method ready, and your college preference list roughly sorted before Round 1 choice-filling closes. Keep checking mcc.nic.in and your state counselling portal directly for the official link and any date revisions, since counselling schedules can shift by a few days.