Uttar Pradesh has issued the government order that governs NEET UG 2026 admissions in the state. It runs to twelve pages and decides the things that cost candidates money: who is eligible, what you deposit, what you lose if you walk away from a seat, and how reservation is applied. The order is dated 1 September 2026 and carries the Governor’s approval.
It covers the 85 per cent state quota in government and autonomous medical colleges, and all the seats in private non-minority and minority medical and dental colleges of the state. The dates for the current round are in our report on Round 1 registration and choice filling.
Who can take part
You must have qualified NEET UG 2026. Reserved category candidates of Uttar Pradesh qualify on the reserved category cut-off issued by the NTA. Reserved category candidates from other states do not get that benefit in UP counselling; they are judged against the unreserved cut-off.
Domicile works differently for government and private colleges:
- Government colleges. You must be a native of Uttar Pradesh. If you passed both High School and Intermediate from UP, you do not need a separate domicile certificate. If you passed one or both from outside UP but are a native of the state, you need a UP domicile certificate on the prescribed format.
- Private and minority colleges. Neither UP domicile nor UP schooling is required. Candidates who passed High School and Intermediate anywhere in India can take part.
One bar carries over from last year. Candidates who were allotted a seat in the UP NEET UG 2025 state vacancy or special state vacancy round and did not take admission are not eligible for the 2026 counselling.
What you pay before you can choose
Registration costs ₹2,000 and is never refunded. It applies to the first, second and third rounds and to the state vacancy round, and the state vacancy round needs a fresh registration.
Security money is separate, is paid online, and is the gate on choice filling. A candidate who has not deposited it cannot fill choices at all.
- Government medical or dental colleges: ₹30,000
- Private medical colleges: ₹2,00,000
- Private dental colleges: ₹1,00,000
A candidate who wants both government and private seats, medical and dental, deposits only ₹2,00,000. One who wants government and private dental seats alone deposits ₹1,00,000. If no seat is allotted after all the rounds, the money returns to the account it came from.
What you lose if you leave a seat
This is the part worth reading twice, because the penalty grows with every round.
- Round 1 is a free exit. Take the allotment or leave it; the security money comes back in full and you can still play in Round 2 and Round 3.
- Round 2. Joining an allotted seat is compulsory. Skip it and the entire security money is forfeited. You can only enter Round 3 by depositing it again.
- Round 3. The same rule holds. A candidate already admitted from Round 1 or 2 who does not join an upgraded seat forfeits the whole security money, and in a government college all fees paid at that time as well.
- Round 3, private colleges. The same candidate forfeits the security money and half the tuition fee already paid.
- State vacancy round. Not joining an allotted seat forfeits the security money and bars the candidate from UP NEET UG counselling in 2027-28.
Resignation has its own clock. After you have joined, you may resign up to two days before the next round's choice filling opens, in person at the same college or nodal centre where you were admitted. A resignation sent any other way is not valid. Resign inside the Round 1 window and it is a free exit. Resign in the Round 2 window and the security money goes, though fees other than the admission fee are refunded. After Round 3 nobody is allowed to vacate a seat at all, and a candidate who does anyway loses the security money plus, at a private college, half the tuition.
A separate order of 26 June 2024 adds that anyone who leaves a seat after the final round and before finishing the course is debarred from the next session's admission process. Students joining government colleges also sign a compulsory government service bond.
Reservation, including a new NCC rule
Vertical reservation on state quota seats in government colleges, for UP natives, is SC 21 per cent, ST 2 per cent, OBC 27 per cent and EWS 10 per cent. The EWS quota applies only in those older colleges where the NMC allowed a matching increase in seats.
Horizontal reservation is 2 per cent for dependants of freedom fighters, 2 per cent for children of ex-servicemen, 5 per cent for candidates with disabilities, 1 per cent for NCC cadets and 20 per cent for women. Horizontal benefit is available only inside your own vertical category.
The NCC entry has changed this year, and it changed in court. In May 2026 the Allahabad High Court held that the state's rule was illusory, because it demanded a C certificate that can only be earned during graduation, which made the quota unusable for school leavers. The court directed the state to rectify the NEET 2026 brochure. Uttar Pradesh has now accepted a C certificate with at least B grading, or a B certificate, for the 1 per cent NCC quota.
Two other rulings shape the picture. Candidates who migrated into UP from other states or union territories get no reservation benefit of any kind. Candidates on the denotified castes list draw reservation only through the SC, ST or OBC list they already appear on, not as a separate group.
Four government colleges set up under the Special Component Plan, at Ambedkarnagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur, are a case apart. Their reservation is under challenge in the Allahabad High Court, and until that is decided each of those colleges divides its 85 state quota seats as 62 SC, 5 ST, 11 OBC and 7 unreserved.
In private minority institutions, half the seats go to candidates of the relevant religious minority and the other half to open category candidates.
Documents that get rejected
Verification is online. You upload your High School marksheet, Intermediate marksheet, reservation certificate and, where it applies, your domicile certificate, and you pick one of twenty nodal centres at registration.
- Reservation certificates count only on the UP format from a UP competent authority. The Government of India format used for central government jobs is not accepted.
- OBC and EWS certificates must be issued on or after 1 April 2026.
- Disability certificates are valid only from the centres designated under the DGHS and Medical Counselling Committee rules.
- If any document is found forged after admission, the admission is cancelled and legal action follows.
How the rounds fit together
Counselling runs online in four rounds: first, second, third and a state vacancy round. Candidates allotted in the first and second rounds can seek an upgrade up to the third. If an upgrade comes through, the earlier seat falls vacant automatically and passes to the next eligible candidate, and you must complete admission again at the new college. If no reshuffle happens, your existing seat stands.
After Round 3 processing, unfilled reserved seats convert in a fixed order. ST seats go to SC, and SC, OBC, EWS and minority seats all convert to unreserved. Seats reserved for a horizontal category within a vertical one revert to that vertical category first.
The state vacancy round is only for candidates who were never allotted anything in UP. Anyone admitted through the all India quota or another state's counselling is out. A candidate already admitted to BDS in an earlier UP round may fill MBBS choices in this round, provided the applicable security money is deposited.
At admission, government college candidates report to the college in person. Private college admissions are completed at nodal centres, following a Supreme Court order of 2017, and the tuition fee is paid by demand draft in favour of the Director General, Medical Education and Training. Security money is never adjusted against tuition.
What those private seats now cost is fixed separately. Our guide to Uttar Pradesh counselling tracks the process, and past closing ranks for UP and for BDS seats in the state show where a rank like yours has landed before. You can test a specific rank on our college predictor.
Official links
Related: UP NEET UG 2026 Round 1: registration and choice filling dates
Source: Government of Uttar Pradesh, Medical Education Section-4 — government order No. I/1448377/2026/71-4099/1011/2022 dated 1 September 2026, on admission policy for UG courses (MBBS/BDS) for the academic session 2026-27.