UPSC eligibility: age, attempts and qualification

Eligible birth-date windows

If you would rather not use the tool, find your category and read across. These are the birth-date ranges that satisfy the standard age rule on 1 August.

Nationality

For IAS, IPS and IFS

Must be a citizen of India. There is no relaxation for these three services.

For other Central Services

A candidate must be one of the following:

• a citizen of India;
• a subject of Nepal;
• a subject of Bhutan;
• a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle permanently;
• a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam intending to settle permanently.

Everyone except Indian citizens needs a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India. You may sit the examination while it is pending, but an appointment offer only follows once it is issued.

Age limit

You must have attained 21 years and must not have attained the upper limit for your category on 1 August of the examination year. The precise wording matters: an upper limit of 32 does not mean you may be exactly 32 on the cut-off date.

Why PwBD figures reach 45 and 47

The notification grants PwBD candidates up to 10 years, and separately grants 3 years to OBC and 5 years to SC/ST. A candidate in both groups gets cumulative relaxation under both categories — which is where 45 and 47 come from. That combination is stated in the notification itself, not inferred.

Relaxations this page's tool does not model

• Ex-servicemen, including Commissioned, Emergency Commissioned and Short Service Commissioned Officers with at least five years' military service — up to 5 years.
• Defence Services Personnel disabled in operations during hostilities or in a disturbed area, and released as a consequence — up to 3 years.

Both are also cumulative with SC, ST or OBC status. If either applies to you, add the relaxation to the ceiling shown above and check the notification for the certificate requirements.

Educational qualification

Minimum qualification

A bachelor's degree from a recognised university, in any discipline. Arts, science, commerce, engineering and medicine all qualify equally.

Key points

• Final-year candidates, and those awaiting a result, may sit the written part of the examination. Proof of passing is required only from those called for the Interview / Personality Test, within the time limit set in the rules — not at the Mains stage.
• Accepted proof is a degree certificate, final mark sheet or provisional degree certificate issued after the formal declaration of results.
• MBBS, BDS and Veterinary Science candidates must also produce proof of having completed their internship.
• An equivalent qualification is accepted, and the Commission may in exceptional cases admit a candidate holding none of the listed qualifications if it considers the standard justified.
• Marks are irrelevant. There is no minimum percentage.

Number of attempts

When does an attempt count?

An attempt is counted when you appear in at least one paper of the Preliminary Examination. Applying without appearing does not count. Unlimited attempts still stop at the age ceiling, so the practical limit is the number of cycles before you reach it.

Application fee

There are two fees, not one. Most pages only mention the first.

The further ₹200 falls due only if you are admitted to the Mains, and is paid through a ten-day window opened after the Prelims result. Payment is by net banking, Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, debit or credit card, or UPI.

Physical standards for IPS

The notification requires every candidate to be physically fit according to the prescribed standards. What follows below — the height and chest requirements — are the service-specific standards that matter for the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service. There is no height or chest bar for the IAS, but there is still a medical examination, conducted by a board after the Personality Test.

The core standards

Also assessed: colour vision, night blindness, squint, hearing, and conditions such as flat feet, knock knees and varicose veins.

The height relaxation — and the mistake most sites make

The relaxed minimum is 160 cm for men and 145 cm for women. It is granted on the basis of race and community, not reservation category, and the regulation says why: it exists for groups whose average height is distinctly lower.

The relaxation traces to the physical-standards regulation governing appointment to the Indian Police Service, which names Scheduled Tribes together with specific races rather than reservation categories.

Restrictions on applying

These rules catch people out, because they apply after you have already succeeded once. They are set out in the notification and are more specific than most summaries suggest.

If you are already in the IAS or IFS

A candidate appointed to the IAS or the Indian Foreign Service on the basis of an earlier examination, and still serving in it, cannot appear at the examination at all — not merely for that service. The rule follows you through the cycle:

• Appointed before the Prelims — not eligible to appear.
• Appointed after the Prelims — not eligible to sit the Mains, even having qualified.
• Appointed after the Mains but before the result — not considered for appointment to any service on that result.

If you are already in the IPS

A candidate already selected or appointed to the Indian Police Service cannot opt for, or be allocated to, the IPS again. Other services remain open.

The one-time training exemption — reattempting after you have been allocated a service

If you are allocated the IPS or a Central Service Group 'A', you may appear at the immediately following examination, on conditions:

• You must be granted exemption from training for the allocated service. This is a one-time exemption only.
• You may join the Foundation Course, and only the Foundation Course.
• If you neither join training nor take the exemption, your existing service allocation is cancelled.
• If you succeed again, you may keep either allocation; the other is cancelled. If you are allocated nothing the second time, your original service is still available.
• If you join training for neither, both allocations are cancelled.
• Your seniority follows whichever service you join and is not depressed by the gap.
• You cannot appear at any later examination beyond that one, unless you resign from the allocated service.

Applications

Applicants are instructed not to submit multiple applications for the same examination.

Important dates

Applications for CSE 2026 closed on 24 February 2026 and the Prelims was held on 24 May 2026. The CSE 2026 Mains runs from 21 to 25 August 2026. If you are planning your next attempt, the CSE 2027 dates below are taken from the UPSC Annual Calendar 2027.

The application window is three weeks. The Indian Forest Service Preliminary Examination 2027 is taken through the same Civil Services (Preliminary) paper on the same date.

Questions