MEA internship Term II 2026 — apply by 27 Sep

MEA internship Term II 2026 is the Ministry of External Affairs intake for the October 2026–March 2027 term. Last date printed across the current call — 27 September 2026. Apply only on internship.mea.gov.in. Policy page — mea.gov.in/intership.

Read this page once before you open the form. MEA does not take every state in every term. If your domicile is in a Term I state this cycle, the form will not help you.

What MEA actually does

The Ministry of External Affairs is the Union ministry that handles India’s relations with other countries, passports and consular work, and Indians living abroad. Headquarters is in New Delhi. An intern sits with a Division under a Head of Division. Typical work on the policy page is research notes, short reports, and tracking a file the officer assigns. It is office work in South Block / Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan area offices — not an embassy posting and not the IFS exam.

The internship is an introduction to how foreign policy is written and carried out. The ministry keeps the work product. You cannot publish it later without MEA approval. You also sign up to keep ministry information confidential.

What kind of seat this is

This is a paid internship, not a job and not a promise of a future MEA post. Term II runs from October to March. On the live policy page, each intern is taken for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months inside that term. Maximum intake is 30 interns in the term.

Location is New Delhi only. Board, lodging and daily food are your cost. MEA pays an honorarium of ₹10,000 per month to cover basic costs, plus one round-trip economy air ticket between Delhi and the state capital of your domicile or your college, subject to the printed airfare ceiling.

No application fee is printed on the policy page. Anyone asking you to pay a “MEA internship processing fee” on UPI is not the ministry.

Who should apply — and who should skip

Apply if you are an Indian citizen, you will be 25 or below on 31 December 2026, you already hold a graduate degree from a recognised university (or you are in the final year of a bachelor’s course where an internship is a compulsory part of that year), and your state or Union Territory is in the Term II list below. You must be able to live in Delhi on your own money for one to three months.

Skip if your domicile is Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, or Delhi — those belong to Term I (April–September). Skip if you need MEA to pay rent. Skip if you want remote work. Skip if you treat this as a backdoor into the IFS. Skip if someone is selling a lookalike form that is not internship.mea.gov.in.

Dates and fee

Confirm the last-date clock on internship.mea.gov.in before you submit. The policy page does not print a calendar date; the live portal and the Term II call do.

Available positions

Total seats this term — maximum 30. Policy split: about 26 from the 14 Term II states together, 2 from the 4 Term II Union Territories together, and 2 more from Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme (TADP) districts or underprivileged sections, taking those with the highest marks. A minimum of 30 percent of internships may be filled by women.

Term II states and Union Territories — read this twice

Only these domiciles are considered in Term II:

States: Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry.

Term I (April–September) takes the other 14 states and 4 UTs, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Bihar and the rest. That is a different window. Do not mix the two lists.

Educational qualifications

Screening weightage uses percentage of marks in Class 12 (+2) and in graduation. State-wise merit lists are made separately for male and female candidates.

Selection

1. Register on internship.mea.gov.in and fill the online form.
2. Preliminary screening on Class 12 and graduation marks. TADP-district applicants get priority at this stage.
3. State-wise male and female merit lists.
4. Personal interview by videoconference. Up to three times the intake may be called (about 90 people if 30 seats are filled). SC / ST / OBC / EWS applicants get priority at the interview stage.
5. Up to 30 offers. If a selected candidate drops out, the next name from that state list is called.

The internship is not a job. Completing it does not give you an MEA post or an IFS interview call.

How to prepare (free, official)

• MEA internship policy page
• MEA internship portal
• Read one recent MEA annual report or a short official brief on the ministry site so you can write a plain statement of interest. Do not paste a ChatGPT foreign-policy essay.

How to apply without getting played

1. Open only internship.mea.gov.in. Bookmark it. Ignore WhatsApp PDFs and “mea-internship.in” lookalikes.
2. Create login credentials on that portal. Do not share the OTP.
3. Check your domicile against the Term II list before you spend an evening on the form.
4. Enter Class 12 and graduation percentages exactly as on the marksheet. Screening is marks-based.
5. Submit before 27 September 2026. Save the acknowledgement.
6. If shortlisted, keep 17 October 2026 free for the videoconference. Sit in a quiet room with a working camera. This is not a campus placement booth.
7. If selected, budget Delhi rent and food yourself. The ₹10,000 honorarium will not cover a South Delhi PG plus meals.

FAQs

What is the last date?
27 September 2026 on the current Term II call. Recheck the portal clock the day you submit.

Who can apply?
Indian citizens, age 25 or below on 31 December 2026, with a completed bachelor’s degree — or final-year UG students only if the internship is mandatory in that year — and domicile in a Term II state or UT.

How many seats?
Maximum 30 in the term. About 26 from the 14 states, 2 from the 4 UTs, 2 from TADP / underprivileged high-marks applicants. At least 30 percent may go to women.

Where do I apply?
internship.mea.gov.in.

What is the fee?
No rupee fee is printed. Do not pay a third party.

Is there a stipend?
₹10,000 per month honorarium, plus one economy round-trip air ticket within the printed ceiling. Stay and food in Delhi are yours.

Can a first-year or second-year student apply?
The policy asks for a completed graduate degree, or a final-year bachelor’s student whose course itself requires an internship. First-year and second-year students are outside that line.

I live in Delhi / Maharashtra / Karnataka. Can I apply this term?
No. Those domiciles sit in Term I. Wait for the April–September window.

Does this become a government job?
No. The policy page treats it as an internship only.

internships · jobs · admissions.