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

Ongoing Event

CLAT Application Date:01 Aug' 25 - 31 Oct' 25

Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 25 Aug 2025, 11:30 AM IST

The CLAT NRI quota for various National Universities is prescribed in the admission brochures of each university on the consortium's official website - consortiumofnlus.ac.in. The CLAT 2026 reservation criteria is prescribed separately for each NLU. The most common categories of reservation are SC, ST, OBC and EWS. However, many National Law Universities also set aside a certain number of seats for Foreign Nationals (FN) and Non-Resident Indians (NRI), including OCI and PIO card holders and non-resident Indian-sponsored.

This Story also Contains

  1. CLAT 2026 NRI Seat Intake
  2. CLAT 2026 NRI Admission
  3. Legality of NRI Quota in NLUs
  4. CLAT NRI Cut Off 2026
  5. NRI Fees in NLUs
  6. Admission to Foreign Nationals
NRI Quota in NLUs: All You Need to Know About NRI Reservation, Seats, Cut-Offs & Fees
CLAT 2026: NLRI Reservation in NLUs

There are 24 national law universities (NLUs) and one private university participating in CLAT 2026. The entrance exam paves the way to some of the top law colleges in India, making it highly competitive, as around 20 students compete for every seat offered by an NLU.

CLAT 2026 NRI Seat Intake

At present, the NLUs offer a total of around 3700+ CLAT seats under 5-year LLB. Around 247 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 2026 NRI/NRI Sponsered & FN seats

NLUNRI/NRI SponsoredFN

NLSIU Bengaluru

-

15

NALSAR Hyderabad

-

-

NLIU Bhopal (BA LLB)

18

-

NLIU Bhopal (BSc LLB)

9

-

WBNUJS Kolkata ( BA LLB)

20

2

WBNUJS Kolkata (BSc.LLB Hons)

10

2

NLU Jodhpur

16

-

HNLU Raipur

8

2

GNLU Gandhinagar

16

5

GNLU Silvassa Campus

-

-

RMLNLU Lucknow

16

4

RGNUL Patiala

5

-

CNLU Patna (BA LLB)

5

-

CNLU Patna (BBA LLB)

NUALS Kochi

6

2

NLU Odisha (BA LLB)

10

4

NLU Odisha (BBA LLB)

5

2

NUSRL Ranchi

-

-

NLUJA Assam

-

-

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

12

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli (BA LLB)

3

-

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli (BCom LLB)

3

-

MNLU Mumbai

20

MNLU Nagpur (BA LLB)

-

-

MNLU Nagpur (BBA LLB)

-

-

MNLU Aurangabad- (BA LLB)

-

-

MNLU Aurangabad (BBA LLB)

-

-

HPNLU Shimla - BA LLB

18

HPNLU Shimla - BBA LLB (Hons)
9

CLAT 2026 NRI Admission

The CLAT NRI admission at NLUs offering NLU quota is done based on scores obtained by NRI candidates in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). Candidates have to separately apply to the universities for getting admission under the CLAT NRI quota. The NRI admissions are not done through the centralised CLAT 2026 counselling process. Each university will release a separate NRI admission merit list on its website. The selected candidates are then required to complete document verification and fee payment. NRI seats that are left vacant are converted into general category seats and filled accordingly.

Legality of NRI Quota in NLUs

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.

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CLAT Cut-offs

Understand previous year cut-off trends as well as expected cut-offs for current year. Get the Ebook

In a case that came up in 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.

CLAT NRI Cut Off 2026

The CLAT 2026 NRI cut off will be available through the CLAT 2026 NRI merit list published by each university. The CLAT NRI cut off 2026 will be updated in this section upon official notification.

CLAT NRI Previous Year Cut Off

Candidates can check the previous year CLAT NRI cut-offs. It will give the candidates an idea of the cut off trends and the expected CLAT cut off for NRI category.

CLAT 2024 NRI Cut Off

NLU NameNRI / NRI Sponsored cut off rank

WBNUJS Kolkata

1251

NLIU Bhopal

5758

NLU Jodhpur

1474

HNLU Raipur

33519

GNLU Gandhinagar

2831

RMLNLU Lucknow

9604

NLUO Odisha

24707

DSNLU Visakhapatnam

39922

MNLU Mumbai

33519

CLAT NRI Cut-Offs 2023

UniversityCLAT NRI Cut Off

NLU Visakhapatnam

873

GNLU Silvassa

1427

NLU Jodhpur

1441

GNLU Gandhinagar

2816

NLIU Bhopal

3299

MNLU Mumbai

4689

NLU Odisha, Cuttack

6197

HNLU Raipur

40012

NLU Lucknow*

37492 (invited in Round 1)

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

University

Tuition Fees

NLU Visakhapatnam

Rs. 4,30,000/annum

GNLU Silvassa

USD 12,500/year

NLU Jodhpur

Rs. 4,17,000/year

GNLU Gandhinagar

USD 12,500/year

NLIU Bhopal

USD 10000/year

MNLU Mumbai

USD 5000/Semester

NLU Odisha, Cuttack

USD 6000/year

HNLU Raipur

USD 6000 + 1 Lakh

NLU Lucknow*

USD 10,000/year

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.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Do NLUs offer NRI quota?
A:

Yes, NLUs offer NRI quota.

Q: How many NRI/FN seats are there?
A:

There are around 247 NRI/FN seats

Q: Do NRI candidates have to appear for CLAT?
A:

Yes, NRI candidates must have a valid CLAT score to gain NLU admission.

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

Hello,

While NLUs are costly, you can still pursue government-funded law education through state-funded universities and their affiliated colleges that accept CLAT scores, such as institutes like Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University.

I hope it will clear your query!!

It is always better to take the CLAT exam right after Class 12 if your goal is to build a career in law, because CLAT UG is specifically designed for admission into integrated five-year law programs like BA LLB, BCom LLB, or BBA LLB. Appearing after Class 12 saves you time, as you complete both graduation and law together in a single course. On the other hand, if you first complete graduation and then plan for law, you will not be eligible for CLAT UG but instead for CLAT PG, which is meant for admission into LLM programs. This path takes longer, because you first spend three or four years on graduation and then add another three years in an LLB program if you choose not to go for an integrated course. So, if you are already sure about pursuing law as your career, writing CLAT right after Class 12 is the smarter and time-saving option, while writing it after graduation makes sense only if you are considering higher studies in law or a shift in career later.

For CLAT, the most important topics are from  Legal Reasoning, Current Affairs & GK, the Indian Constitution, English Language, Quantitative Techniques and Logical Reasoning. For a brief detail you can go through the following link: https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-important-topics

Thank You.

Hi dear candidate,

Both the colleges Maharaja Agrasen (MAIMS) or Gitarattan (GIBS) are affiliated to IP University and allows admission either by CLAT or IPU CET Law. Without either of these exams, your admission is NOT accepted there. You can try looking for management quota seats in these colleges if you have got good marks in 12th class.

BEST REGARDS

Hi dear candidate,

You can easily register yourself for CLAT exam by visiting the Consortium of NLUs official website and follow these steps:

  • Register yourself with your EMail ID, phone number and password.
  • Log in using OTP
  • Complete application form by entering details, selecting program (UG/PG) and uploading required documents mentioned there.
  • Then at last, review the application and pay the registration fees.
  • Download your confirmation slip.

Know the complete process at:

CLAT Registration 2026 (Started): Documents Required, Application Fee, Link, Steps to Apply

BEST REGARDS