NRI Quota in NLUs: All You Need to Know About NRI Reservation, Seats, Cut-Offs & Fees

There are 24 national law universities (NLUs) participating in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). The entrance exam paves the way to some of the best law schools in India, making it highly competitive, as around 20 students compete for every seat offered by an NLU. Being state universities, the NLUs offer reservations as per the government guidelines. The most common categories of reservation are SC, ST, OBC and EWS. However, most national law universities also set aside a certain number of seats for foreign nationals, and non-resident Indians including OCI and PIO card holders and non-resident Indian-sponsored.

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This Story also Contains

1. CLAT 2024 NRI/NRI Sponsered & FN seats
2. NRI Fees in NLUs
3. Admission to Foreign Nationals

NRI and NRI-sponsored reservation in NLUs has been much contested. The tuition fee charged from NRIs, NRI-sponsored, OCI cardholders, and foreign nationals generally tends to be higher than other students. But the cut-offs under these categories go low due to reservation, making a chance for some section students who in most cases belong to the class to which the social, and economic reservation may not be justified.

The legality of the NRI quota was challenged in P A Inamdar v State of Maharashtra (2005).

In the judgement, the Supreme Court admitted that the term 'NRI' in relation to admissions is a “misnomer” and by and large, neither the students who get admissions under this category nor their parents are NRIs. In reality, less meritorious students who can afford to bring more money get admission.

However, the Court upheld the NRI quota on two main grounds;

• It enables these institutions to strengthen their level of education and enlarge their educational activities.

• That, it allows the people of Indian origin to bring back their children to their own country for higher education and facilitates their reunion with Indian cultural ethos.

In conclusion, the Court recommended a reservation not exceeding 15% for NRIs and subjected it to two conditions.

• First, the seat should be utilized by the NRIs only for their children or wards.

• Second, the amount collected from such students should be utilized to benefit students from weaker sections.

In a more recent case of 2020, the Odisha High Court observed “NRIS reservation is like the reservation for the elite class and this dubious category of quota is unconstitutional. The eligibility and selection under this category are unregulated, illegal and arbitrary.”

The court further suggested the Consortium of NLUs, the Bar Council of India and all the stakeholders involved in the process revisit the so-called NRIS quota and prepare a proper regulation and system while implementing this quota.

At present, the NLUs offer around 3400 seats under 5-year LLB. Additionally, around 283 seats are offered to NRI/NRI sponsored/OCI/FN candidates. The seats offered by NLUs under NRI/NRI-S and FN categories are as mentioned below.

CLAT 2024 NRI/NRI Sponsered & FN seats

One of the most popular universities among CLAT NLUs, NLSIU Bengaluru will conduct a separate entrance examination for foreign nationals from next academic year, as per its official website. The university does not have a direct admission system for foreign nationals, NRI or NRI-sponsored, nor does the university have any separate reservations for such categories. NRIs or foreign nationals looking to study LLB courses at NLSIU Bengaluru have to appear for CLAT and they will be considered under the general category.

Among the remaining NLUs, admissions for NRI, and foreign nationals are conducted separately. NRIs are required to appear for CLAT whereas foreign nationals are mostly offered direct admissions.

Talking about NRIs and NRI-sponsored candidates, the merit lists are released at the time of counselling based on which the following cut-offs were attained in 2023-24.

NRI Cut-Offs 2023

NRI Fees in NLUs

Talking about the fees in NLUs, the NRI candidates in most cases have to pay almost double the general category fee. The tuition fee for NRI students is around USD 5,000 per semester (around Rs. 4 Lakh per annum, 1$ = Rs. 80) as tuition fees in MNLU Mumbai. In GNLU Gandhinagar, the tuition fee for NRI candidates is around USD 12,500 per annum (roughly Rs. 10 Lakh per annum). Hostel fees, admission fees, examination fees etc are charged in addition to tuition fees. Candidates can check the tuition fees for NRIs in NLUs below in a table.

NRI/NRI-S fees in NLUs

Reference – Official website/brochures

Admission to Foreign Nationals

While NRIs are required to appear for the CLAT exam, foreign nationals are eligible for direct admission in most of the NLUs. Such candidates need to apply separately to these NLUs at the time of counselling. A separate application form is released under the NRI/NRI-S and FN categories. Admissions to foreign nationals are offered on the basis of their academic performance.