JEE 2026: NTA announces update for Indian expat students in Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain centres

Dubai: India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced an important update for Indian expat students who have registered to attend the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026 in Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain centres.

The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi on Thursday shared the NTA’s advisory on the city of examination for India's engineering entrance exam.

As per the advisory, NTA will conduct the JEE (Main- 2026) Session 2 in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from April 2 to April 8, 2026 in India and in a few cities outside India.

“The City Intimation Slips for candidates in Kuwait and Dubai have now been released,” NTA revealed.

“For the candidates registered from Bahrain, the NTA is in coordination with the Indian Embassy,” the agency said.

The announcement brings relief to thousands of Indian expat families in the Gulf countries who had been anxiously waiting for clarity on where their children would sit the high-stakes engineering entrance exam amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war.

While Dubai and Kuwait candidates can now view their assigned exam cities, students registered from Bahrain remain in a holding pattern. The NTA said it "is in coordination with the Indian Embassy" to resolve the situation and no timeline has been given for when those slips will be released.

Change of city option

However, candidates still have the opportunity to change their city of examination.

NTA said candidates who wish to request a change of examination city for JEE (Main) 2026 Session 2 can call the NTA helpline at 011-40759000 or write to jeemain@nta.ac.in.

All candidates are advised to regularly check the official NTA website at www.nta.ac.in and the JEE Main portal at https://jeemain.nta.nic.in/ for the latest updates ahead of the April exam window.