How to Register for the dMAT: Process & Test Centers in India

Registration, payment and certificate issuance for the dMAT are handled entirely by g.a.s.t. — APS India is not involved in any part of the test-booking process, only in requiring the resulting certificate as part of your documentation. Registration is fixed to published test dates; there's no on-demand testing.

Before you read further: registration for the first India sitting closed on 15 September 2026, and the exam itself took place on 26 September 2026. If you didn't book a seat, that cycle is over for you — the section below on where the window stands explains what your actual next opportunity is.

The registration steps

1. Go to the g.a.s.t. portal linked from d-mat.de and create a participant profile.
2. Book a seat at your chosen test center, for the General Academic Module — the module required for APS purposes in India.
3. Use the exact name spelling shown on your passport. You'll present the same ID document on exam day, and a mismatch causes problems you don't want to discover that morning.
4. Upload a passport-style photo for identity verification. This is a hard admission requirement, not a formality — see below.
5. Pay the exam fee to confirm your booking — see the exam fee page for the amount and what happens if you later need to deregister. Registration only counts as complete once the fee is paid, and it becomes binding once g.a.s.t. confirms it.
6. Keep your contact details current in the participant portal up to the registration deadline. You can update these yourself; changing your legal name after registering generally requires g.a.s.t.'s direct agreement, which is why step 3 matters.

The photo requirement people miss

Every piece of information g.a.s.t. requires has to be complete in your participant portal by the registration deadline — and the item most likely to be left half-done is the photo. g.a.s.t. requires a passport-style photograph for identity verification, and states that without it you will not be admitted to the test.

It's worth separating this from the paperwork you can fix later. A wrong phone number is an inconvenience; a missing photo is a locked door on exam morning, after the fee is non-refundable and the deadline for fixing anything has passed. Because the check happens at the test center rather than at upload time, nothing warns you in between. If you've registered, log into the portal and confirm the photo is actually there and accepted, rather than assuming the upload went through.

Changing your test center or date after you've booked

Changes to an existing registration are only possible in consultation with g.a.s.t. directly, at kontakt@gast.de — your test center can't move you. The practical deadline is the registration deadline: once it passes, changes can no longer be made through the regular process at all.

The lesson is to raise a possible change early rather than waiting for certainty. If a few weeks before the deadline you think you might need to move from Pune to Mumbai, ask then — not after it, when the only remaining options are to travel or to forfeit the fee entirely. The same asymmetry applies to cancelling: you can cancel through the portal up to the registration deadline and recover most of the fee, and nothing after it.

Where the registration window stands right now

The 26 September 2026 sitting was the first dMAT administration in India, and its booking window is shut. APS India's published schedule runs: registration opened 29 June 2026, closed 15 September 2026, exam 26 September 2026, certificates released 12 October 2026.

Nothing in APS India's or g.a.s.t.'s published material describes a late-registration route, a waitlist, or a discretionary exception for missing the deadline. g.a.s.t.'s terms are consistent with that — they allow changes and deregistration only up to the registration deadline, after which the regular process simply stops accepting them. So if you didn't book by 15 September, the honest answer is that this sitting is closed rather than difficult.

Your next opportunity is a planned date, not a bookable one. g.a.s.t.'s India FAQ states that the test date after 26 September 2026 is planned for the first quarter of 2027, with the exact day to be published on the dMAT website once confirmed. APS India's dMAT page (updated 15 October 2026) adds that the next dates will be in mid-January and mid-March, with the registration start to be announced shortly. That ordering matters: g.a.s.t. publishes each test date together with its own registration deadline, so the booking window for the 2027 sitting cannot open until the date itself exists. There is no queue to join in the meantime and no way to pre-register.

What you can usefully do while waiting is move the rest of your file forward. APS India recommends registering on its portal and submitting your documents as early as possible, because verification can begin while a dMAT result is still outstanding — the dMAT certificate is the one item you're allowed to add later. How the dMAT fits into your APS application covers that sequencing, and exam dates covers what a Q1 2027 result does and doesn't reach in terms of intake deadlines.

How test-center seats are allocated

Seats are allocated first-come, first-served, and APS India states plainly that it cannot reserve dMAT test seats — booking is handled entirely by g.a.s.t. This is worth taking literally, because it removes the escalation route applicants often assume exists: if your city is full, there is no one at APS India to appeal to, and no waitlist described anywhere in the official material.

The practical consequence is that a full center behaves differently from a full center at a typical Indian entrance exam. There, a popular venue usually means a less convenient slot or a longer queue. Here, APS India's guidance is that if your preferred center is fully booked, you select a different available center — and with only ten cities in India offering the test (listed below), "a different center" can mean an overnight journey rather than a different neighbourhood. Budget for that possibility when you plan, since g.a.s.t. won't reimburse travel and the exam-day rules require you to be at the venue before materials are distributed.

One thing you cannot do is check availability in advance: both APS India and g.a.s.t. say the final list of available test centers is shown during registration, not published beforehand. Neither organisation publishes seat counts per center, or data on which centers filled first — so treat any confident claim about which Indian cities "always fill up" as guesswork rather than information, including on other sites.

Taken together, that argues for booking early in the window rather than near its deadline, and for treating your center choice as part of the booking rather than something to tidy up later — changes after the fact need g.a.s.t.'s direct agreement and stop being possible once the deadline passes.

Special arrangements take longer to book

If you have a documented disability or condition that requires special exam arrangements, g.a.s.t. requires you to register at least ten weeks before the exam date so accommodations can be arranged — considerably earlier than the general registration deadline. Applicants who need this shouldn't wait to confirm eligibility first; start the accommodation request in parallel.

Test centers

For the 2026 India cycle, dMAT test centers are located in: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kolkata, Mananthavady, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune. Final center availability is confirmed at the time of registration. The dMAT is also run outside India — currently at a center in Berlin, Germany, and in Kathmandu, Nepal — though those centers aren't relevant to the APS India requirement covered on this site.

Once you're registered, see how the dMAT fits into your APS application for how to sequence this against your overall timeline, double-check eligibility if you haven't already, and see what to expect on exam day before you go.

Does APS India handle dMAT registration?

No. Registration, payment and certificate issuance are handled entirely by g.a.s.t. through its own portal. APS India is not involved in test-booking — it only requires the resulting certificate as part of your documentation.

Is dMAT registration still open?

Not for the 26 September 2026 sitting. That window ran from 29 June to 15 September 2026 and has closed, and no official source describes a late-registration route. g.a.s.t. plans the next test date for the first quarter of 2027 but hasn't published the day yet — and since every sitting carries its own registration deadline, there is nothing to book until that date is confirmed. See exam dates for what that timing means for your intake.

What if my preferred dMAT test center is fully booked?

You choose another center that still has seats. APS India states plainly that it cannot reserve dMAT test seats — booking is run by g.a.s.t. on a first-come, first-served basis, so there is no waitlist or escalation route. The list of centers with availability is shown to you during registration.

What name should I use when I register?

The exact spelling shown on your passport. You must present the same ID document on exam day that you used to register, and changing your legal name afterward generally requires agreement from g.a.s.t. directly — so get it right the first time.

Do I need to upload a photo to register for the dMAT?

Yes, and it is not optional paperwork. g.a.s.t. requires a passport-style photo in your participant portal for identity verification, and states plainly that you will not be admitted to the test without it. It has to be uploaded before the registration deadline, like every other required detail.

Can I change my test center or test date after registering?

Only by arranging it with g.a.s.t. directly, and realistically only before the registration deadline. Once the deadline passes, changes can no longer be made through the normal process, so any switch you're considering should be raised well before then.