A total of 523,024 apprentices were recruited by NATS in 2025, in all States and UTs. According to the NILERD’s independent assessment, 74% of the NATS-trained apprentices found jobs permanently after completion of training.
Those numbers represent the programme working correctly. What do they do training? is the volume of applications that never completed registration, blocked by portal errors, document rejections, and credential mismatches that most first-time users do not know to expect.
NATS registration problems are almost always preventable. The errors repeat across every cycle, every batch, and every regional BOAT. This article covers the seven most common ones with the exact fix for each.
“New Establishment Registration and new student enrolment have been stopped at the NATS 1.0 portal. The NATS 2.0 portal has already been deployed and is fully extended to all stakeholders for all operations under NATS.”
BOPTER (Board of Practical Training, Eastern Region), NATS 2.0 Migration Notice, 2025
That migration is the source of the most widespread registration error in the current cycle. If you have not yet understood what changed between NATS 1.0 and NATS 2.0, that is where to start.
What Is NATS Registration?
NATS Registration involves the procedure where both the establishment and the candidate, i.e., the graduate/diploma holder, register themselves and create accounts on the NATS 2.0 portal (nats.education.gov.in), tie up their Aadhaar and APAAR IDs, upload their educational documents, and create an apprenticeship agreement contract that needs to be forwarded to the concerned regional BOAT.
There are two distinct workflows involved in the procedure – one for establishing and one for the candidate – which must both be completed before a contract is created. Any problem within either workflow will prevent the process from going forward.
Why NATS Registration Errors Are More Common Than You Think
Some new mandatory fields have been introduced through the portal of NATS 2.0, which were not part of the previous version, namely APAAR ID (Academic Bank of Credits ID), document specifications, and the verification of establishments through MCA21 data.
Most common NATS registration errors in 2026 come from three sources:
- Legacy information — candidates and employers entering details that were correct for NATS 1.0 but don’t match NATS 2.0’s verification systems
- Missing 2026 requirements — APAAR ID was not mandatory before 2025, so many candidates and institutions have not yet generated one
- Regional BOAT mismatch — India has four regional BOAT offices, and applications submitted to the wrong region either get rejected or sit unprocessed for weeks
The good news: every error below has a specific, documented fix. None require legal intervention or special permissions — just the right sequence of steps.
7 Common NATS Registration Errors & How to Fix Each One
Error 1: APAAR ID Not Linked or Missing
What happens: Registration fails at the document verification stage with an error indicating the APAAR/ABC ID is missing or not recognised.
Why it happens: The APAAR ID (Academic Bank of Credits ID) became compulsory for registration in NATS in the year 2026. If any individual has been registered in NATS 1.0 or never registered via the ABC portal, then they will never have their APAAR ID connected.
The fix:
- Candidate visits abc.gov.in and registers with their Aadhaar number
- APAAR ID is generated immediately after Aadhaar OTP verification
- Return to NATS 2.0 portal and enter the APAAR ID in the required field
- The portal cross-references APAAR ID against the ABC database in real time
Time to resolve: 30 minutes if Aadhaar OTP is working fine. If the candidate’s academic details are not uploaded to the ABC database by the institute where he or she studied, then it will take more time.
Note for employers: Before onboarding any batch, confirm every candidate has an active APAAR ID before they begin NATS registration. Discovering this mid-process adds one to two days per candidate.
Error 2: Aadhaar or Personal Details Mismatch
What happens: The portal recognises the Aadhaar number; however, due to differences in name spellings, DOB, and/or gender in the UIDAI database, there is a conflict.
Why it happens: Candidates often enter their name as it appears on their degree certificate, which may differ from how it appears on their Aadhaar card. Even a single character difference – “Mohammed” vs “Mohammad”, a missing initial, or a surname in a different sequence – causes a validation failure.
The fix:
- Check the candidate’s Aadhaar card directly, not a photocopy, the physical card or m-Aadhaar app
- Enter every field on the NATS portal exactly as it appears on the Aadhaar card, including punctuation and spacing
- In case there are errors in the Aadhaar (outdated name/DOB), the applicant needs to correct it in the Aadhaar Seva Kendra prior to NATS registration.
Time to resolve: Immediate if details are corrected in the portal. 7–15 working days if an Aadhaar update is required through UIDAI.
This is the single most time-consuming error to resolve. Flag it at the beginning of your onboarding process, not at the registration stage.
Error 3: Wrong Regional BOAT Selected
What happens:Â The registration process is completed successfully but the contract approval process takes weeks or fails with a mismatch notice due to regions.
Employers must register under the BOAT region corresponding to their establishment’s registered address not where the apprentices will physically work. If these differ, the employer should contact their regional BOAT to clarify which registration applies.
The fix:
- Identify your establishment’s registered state
- Match it to the correct regional BOAT from the table above
- If you have already registered under the wrong region, contact natssupport@aicte-india.org with your establishment details and request a region correction
Time to resolve: 3–7 working days for a region correction via email.
Error 4: NATS 1.0 Credentials Not Working on NATS 2.0
What happens: Employer or institution logs in with existing email and password and receives an authentication error or finds their establishment data missing on the new portal.
Why it happens: NATS 1.0 is being progressively downgraded. New registrations and enrolments are stopped on 1.0. The NATS 2.0 portal uses the same email ID as NATS 1.0 but requires a password reset to activate the account on the new system.
The fix:
- Go to nats.education.gov.in (NATS 2.0 portal)
- Click “Forgot Password” and enter the same email ID used on NATS 1.0
- Complete the password reset via OTP or email link
- Log in with the same email and new password
- Please check that all your establishment information is migrated; if not, please ensure that it is updated in your NATS 2.0 Profile
- For issues related to the portal, mail to natssupport@aicte-india.org
Time required to resolve: Less than 15 minutes for password reset. 3 working days in case of re-verification of establishment data.
Error 5: Document Upload Rejected
What happens: The portal generates an error message that the “file format is not supported” or the “file size has exceeded”.
Why it happens: Only JPG or PDF files are acceptable in NATS 2.0. The majority of aspirants tend to upload scanned copies in PNG, HEIC (iPhone image format), and WEBP formats, which are incompatible with the portal. The size limit for the documents is usually 200KB to 500KB per file.
The fix:
For format errors:
- Use a free tool like Techy hit tools PDF, ILovePDF, or the Windows Photos app to convert images to JPG
- For certificates and marksheets, scan to PDF directly, do not photograph and convert
In case of file size issues:
- PDF files to be compressed using Techy hit tools PDF or ilovepdf.comÂ
- In case of photographs: Resize the photograph to below 200KB
Specifications that work reliably:
- Photo: JPG format, less than 100KB, white background, passport size.
- Documents: PDF format, less than 500KB per file, legible scan.
- Time to complete the process: Less than 30 minutes.
Time to resolve: Under 30 minutes once the correctly formatted documents are prepared.
Error 6: Employer (Establishment) Not Found on Portal
What happens: the candidate tries to connect his/her registration to an establishment of employer, but the establishment of employer is not available in the NATS portal.
Why it happens: The employer has not yet completed their NATS 2.0 establishment registration, or their establishment is registered under a slightly different name than what the candidate is searching for.
The fix:
- Confirm the employer has completed NATS 2.0 registration and is verified on the portal
- Ask the employer to provide the exact establishment name as it appears on their NATS 2.0 profile
- Search using the establishment name exactly as registered, not trade names or abbreviations
- If the employer is a new registration, BOAT verification typically takes 3–5 working days before the establishment becomes searchable
For employers: Complete your NATS 2.0 establishment registration before beginning candidate onboarding. Starting with candidates before your establishment is verified adds a minimum 5-day delay to every application.
Time to resolve:Â If the business is already registered, then immediately. Otherwise, 5 to 7 working days.
Error 7: Contract Not Submitted or Approved Within the Window
What happens: The apprenticeship agreement is automatically created by the portal but is not approved by the regional BOAT during the time frame.
Why it happens: The contracts are processed in bulk at the BOAT regional offices. Those submitted close to the end of the quarter and incomplete contracts are often rejected. Some common reasons why the contracts can be rejected are the mismatch of the qualifications details in the student’s profile with the contract and the incorrect training period in the selected trade category.
The fix:
- Submit contracts well before quarter-end deadlines (avoid the last 10 days of March, June, September, December)
- Verify training duration matches the NATS-approved duration for the selected course before generating the contract
- If a contract is returned, read the BOAT rejection notice carefully, corrections are usually specific (a field value or document)
- After correction, resubmit and follow up via email to your regional BOAT if no action is taken within 5 working days
Time to resolve: 3–10 working days after a correct resubmission, depending on regional BOAT processing volume.
Wrapping Up
All these issues in NATS registration can be prevented. None of these need a policy change or portal updates. What they need is certain data to be accurate, certain documents to be formatted correctly, and the registration process to be followed in the right order – employer first, then the candidate, then the contract.
The companies that do NATS registrations correctly are the ones who check all these seven factors before the first applicant logs on to the portal, not after receiving the first rejection email.
Our NATS Apprenticeship Management programme manages the entire NATS registration process from APAAR ID validation to document preparation, BOAT co-ordination, and contract management. So your HR department doesn’t have to manually deal with the portal errors. The system works. Stipends get disbursed. Certificates get generated.
