No Objection Certificate (NOC) for No Obligation to Return to India (NORI)

No Obligation to Return to India (NORI) Certificate is required by a person who has gone to USA on J-1 visa. J-1 visa is subject to a two-year home country physical presence requirement which requires J-1 visa holders to return to their home country for at least two years at the end of their exchange visitor program. This is also known as the foreign residence requirement under U.S. law, Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212(e). If someone is unable to return to India to fulfill the two-year requirement, one must obtain a waiver from Embassy /Consulate General of India in the USA. To enable the Embassy to issue a "WAIVER CERTIFICATE", for the purpose of immigration, it is necessary for the applicant to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) directly from the authorities concerned in India. One of the authorities to issue the NOC for non-medical applicants, is the External Scholarship Division of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.

Note:

• 1. The DHE does not issue NOC for NORI if any of the qualification possessed by applicant is included in any of the three schedules of Medical Council of India Act, 1956. The same is available in the public domain of MCI at https://www.nmc.org.in. OM dated 04.07.2023 from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare may also be seen (click).
• 2. If an applicant has availed of scholarships/ loans from any other Ministry/ Department or is under any bond obligation from any other Ministry/ Department, she/ he should apply for NOC directly to that Ministry/ Department.

Ministry of Education has launched a new portal for NOC to be given by the External Scholarship Division of NORI. The physical mode of application has been discontinued. This portal does not deal with other NOCs which might be required by an applicant for getting the NORI.

The previous domain of NORI Portal i.e. https://nori.ignouonline.ac.in has been closed. For new applications of NORI, candidates are advised to apply at (https://nori.samarth.ac.in).

Note: All those candidates who had already applied on this domain (https://nori.ignouonline.ac.in), may login on that domain and check their application status. Existing applications for NORI will be issued in due time on this portal only. It is to be noted that on the new portal, there is the option of downloading the affidavit and bio-data generated by the system, and then accordingly getting the documents notorized and/or attested and finally uploading the said documents. However, if the applicant already has notorized and/or attested affidavit and biodata, he/she may proceed and upload the same documents and apply for NORI application.

Procedure for applying on NORI portal of Ministry of Education:

Important Notes:

• The applicants are required to register themselves on the portal https://nori.samarth.ac.in. At the time of registration, the candidate is required to give the same current address as mentioned in the biodata. The scanned copies (colour) of the following documents are required to be uploaded while making online application for NOC of NORI: (i) Affidavit(generated on portal), (ii) biodata(generated on portal), (iii) educational/academic certificate/diploma/degree conferred after 10+2, (iv) visa, (v) passport and (vi) DS 2019 Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status issued by the authority at the Government of USA.
• For candidates applying from abroad, it is mandatory to get the documents (i.e both affidavit and bio-data; notorized by the public notary of that country and attested by the respective consulate/embassy). In case the applicant is applying from India, the documents are required to be notorized by Indian notary on ‘Rs. 100 Non-Judicial Stamp Paper’. (Attestation not needed for these candidates)
• If the applicant has any obligations with respect to any loan taken, scholarship availed, any other monetary benefits, in such cases applicant is required to submit an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the respective organisation/agency/bank/institute acknowledging that the respective organisation/agency/bank/institute has i) no objection with respect to issue of NORI certificate from Ministry of Education; ii) no amount is due; (iii) There is no condition to return to India for a certain period after completion of studies abroad under the exchange programme and if there is such condition then that has been fulfilled.
• For candidates having background in BSc/MSc/PhD/Diploma in Bio-Medical Sciences Education e.g. Immunology, Cancer Cell, Human Genetics, Physiology, Pharmacology, Neuropharmacology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, etc which combines the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine etc., it may be noted that currently Ministry of Education (MoE) will be issuing NORI to such candidates, however, in future if Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW) instructs that these professions come under IMC Act 1956, then the candidates will have to abide by the directions of the MoHFW.
• The applicants who are residing in other country than India and USA are required to contact the Indian Mission in the residing country and are required to get the biodata and affidavit notarized from notary public and then these documents should be authenticated by the Indian mission in that country.

M/o Defence letter regarding doing away with NOC for Defence Personnel - View

The following facilities have been provided in the NORI portal for applicants:

• To apply online
• Applicant gets an e-mail when any update is made in his/her application status. The details may be seen after re-login to the portal.
• In case any shortcoming is found in the application, the applicants are intimated on the portal, and they can submit their reply on the same portal.
• After issue of NOC for NORI, a copy of the same can be downloaded from the portal.

NOTE: NOC for NORI is sent to the Ministry of External Affair in New Delhi/Embassy of India/CGI as the case may be.

Links :

Embassy of India, Washington DC - https://www.indianembassy.org/pages.php?id=71

CGI, New York - https://www.indiainnewyork.gov.in

CGI, San Francisco - http://www.cgisf.gov.in/

CGI, Chicago - http://www.cgichicago.gov.in

CGI, Houston - http://cgihouston.gov.in/

CGI, Atlanta - https://www.indiainatlanta.gov.in

Contact us:
External Scholarship Division,
Ministry of Education,
Department of Higher Education,
West Block 1, 2nd Floor, Wing 6, Room No. 5,
R. K. Puram, Sector 1, New Delhi 110066.
Tele:011-26172896
Email: es3[dot]edu[at]nic[dot]in