Nagpur student without passport allotted Abu Dhabi centre for NEET re-exam

3 min readNew DelhiJun 20, 2026 10:37 AM IST

His new admit card listed the Abu Dhabi Indian School in the UAE as his examination centre. (Image: AI generated)

A NEET-UG 2026 aspirant from Nagpur has been allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, just a day before the medical entrance re-examination. He had opted for Nagpur as his preferred test city when filling the NEET UG application form.

The student, who was originally assigned a centre at Saraswati Vidyalaya in Nagpur for the initial examination, discovered the error only after downloading his fresh admit card following the rescheduling of the exam in the wake of the alleged paper leak controversy.

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His new NEET admit card listed the Abu Dhabi Indian School in the UAE as his examination centre. According to the family, the student had listed Nagpur as his first preference, followed by Wardha and Bhandara, reports news agency ANI.

“He does not even have a passport”

The student’s father, Mohammad Talib, said the family was completely blindsided by the development. “We are completely unable to send our child abroad for the exam. He does not even have a passport, and there is no time left to make travel arrangements,” he said.

The family has since lodged a complaint with the NTA helpline. The agency reportedly acknowledged the error and assured them a revised admit card would be issued following verification.

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Former Maharashtra Education Minister Dr Anees Ahmed criticised the lapse, calling on NTA to immediately allot the student a centre in Nagpur or a nearby city. The incident, he said, reflects a serious failure on the part of the testing agency.

Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has put in place extensive security and logistical arrangements for the smooth conduct of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21. Confidential examination materials are being transported under strict protocols through GPS-enabled vehicles accompanied by police escorts. CCTV surveillance, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication and real-time monitoring systems have been deployed across examination centres.

More than two lakh personnel — including city coordinators, observers, centre superintendents, invigilators, district administration officials and police personnel — have been mobilised for the examination.

Candidates have been advised to arrive at their centres between 11 am and 1:30 pm. Entry gates will close at 1:30 pm. The examination will be held in pen-and-paper mode from 2 pm to 5:15 pm across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. More than 22.79 lakh candidates are registered to appear for the test.