How to Get an Education NOC in Nepal for Studying Abroad

Eligibility

• Nepali students who have received an offer for a course abroad and need to transfer fees or living expenses
• Language course students, including those going to Japan, who have their own document category
• Students combining a language course with an academic course, which the portal treats separately again
• Diploma, advanced diploma, associate degree and graduate diploma applicants
• Bachelor, master, M.Phil and PhD applicants
• Medical and nursing applicants across MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BVMS, MD, MS, MDS, DM and MCH
• Students sitting an entrance exam only, such as USMLE or an MD entrance, which the portal lists as its own category
• Students already studying abroad, who have a separate documents category
• Bachelor level internship applicants and Juris Doctor applicants

Required documents checklist

• □ An NTC mobile number, because the portal states that only an NTC number may be entered at registration
• □ Citizenship certificate
• □ Passport
• □ Offer or admission letter from the institution abroad
• □ Academic certificates and transcripts for the level you completed
• □ The specific document set the portal publishes for your exact study level, which differs across more than twenty categories
• □ Medical Education Commission pre-approval, where your subject appears on the portal list requiring it
• □ Eligibility, licence or pre-approval letters from the related organisations the portal names, where applicable
• □ Payment for the applicable fee, made digitally within the application flow

Step-by-step process

1. Before anything else, check three portal lists that decide whether you can apply at all: the restricted country list, the subjects needing Medical Education Commission pre-approval from Sanothimi Bhaktapur, and the levels for which no NOC is issued.
2. Find your exact category in the portal FAQ. The requirements for a Japanese language course, a two-year diploma, a three-year bachelor, a master of nursing and an MD entrance exam are all published separately and are not interchangeable.
3. Get an NTC mobile number if you do not already have one. The registration screen states that only an NTC number may be entered, and this is the single most common first-attempt failure.
4. Register on noc.moest.gov.np with that number and complete verification. If you have applied before, use the existing login rather than creating a duplicate account.
5. Enter your personal, academic and destination details exactly as they appear on your offer letter and passport. A mismatch between the offer letter and your academic records is a common rejection cause.
6. Obtain Medical Education Commission pre-approval first if your subject requires it. The portal maintains lists of subjects that need it and subjects that do not, and applying without it when required wastes the attempt.
7. Upload the document set for your level, not a generic set copied from a consultancy blog.
8. Pay the fee inside the application flow. Confirm the current amount on the portal at the payment step rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
9. Track the application through your portal account and download the certificate once it is issued. The ministry publishes a user manual on the portal if a step is unclear.

Fees and timelines

• A fee applies and is paid within the online application. The portal does not display a consolidated fee table on its public landing page, so confirm the current amount at the payment step or with the ministry.
• This guide states no fee figure. Consultancy websites quote one widely, but a study-abroad applicant acting on an outdated number is exactly the scenario worth avoiding.
• The ministry does not publish a guaranteed processing time on the portal. Turnaround reported by agencies varies and is not a commitment by MOEST.
• Peak application seasons align with intake deadlines abroad, so the practical wait lengthens at exactly the time students can least afford it.
• Medical Education Commission pre-approval, where required, is a separate process with its own timeline that runs before the NOC application rather than alongside it.
• Plan backwards from your course commencement date and treat the NTC number, pre-approval and level-specific documents as the three items to settle earliest.

Common mistakes

• Trying to register with a non-NTC mobile number. The portal states that only an NTC number may be entered, and this stops the application before it starts.
• Using a generic document checklist. The portal publishes more than twenty separate lists by study level, and a bachelor list will not satisfy a nursing, medical or language application.
• Applying without checking the restricted country list. The portal maintains one, and the destination can decide the outcome regardless of how strong the application is.
• Skipping Medical Education Commission pre-approval. The portal separates subjects that need it from those that do not, and the pre-approval must exist before the NOC application.
• Assuming every level gets an NOC. The portal publishes a not-issued level category, and applying for one of those is a wasted cycle.
• Entering details that do not match the offer letter and passport exactly. Name, date of birth and course details are all cross-checked.
• Treating an entrance exam trip as the same as a study application. USMLE and MD or MS entrance exams have their own categories and their own documents.
• Creating a second account instead of using an existing login, which splits your application history.
• Budgeting from a fee quoted on a consultancy site rather than the amount shown at the portal payment step.

Office and portal links

FAQ