UPSC CSE eligibility at a glance
The baseline: meet the nationality condition for the services you want, be 21–32 years old on 1 August 2026, hold a graduate degree (or be awaiting the result), and have attempts left. Admission to every stage is provisional — UPSC verifies eligibility against original documents only after you qualify for the Personality Test.
Nationality and number of attempts
For the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service, you must be a citizen of India. For the other services, the notification also accepts these categories — each needs a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India before an offer of appointment:
| Category | Services open |
|---|---|
| Citizen of India | All services |
| Subject of Nepal or of Bhutan | Services other than IAS, IFS and IPS |
| Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 to settle permanently | Services other than IAS, IFS and IPS |
| Person of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam to settle permanently in India | Services other than IAS, IFS and IPS |
Sitting even one prelims paper counts as an attempt, and an attempt at prelims counts as an attempt at the whole examination. Appearance counts even if your candidature is later cancelled or you are disqualified.
Age limit
One age band applies to every service, counted as on 1 August 2026:
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 21 years |
| Maximum age | 32 years (before any relaxation) |
| Date of birth | Not earlier than 02.08.1994 and not later than 01.08.2005 |
UPSC accepts only the date of birth in your Matriculation/Secondary School Leaving certificate (or an equivalent certificate) issued before you applied. Once it is in your registration profile and application, it cannot be changed later, at this or any other UPSC exam.
Age relaxation
The upper age limit is relaxed for these categories. SC, ST and OBC candidates who are also ex-servicemen or PwBD get the relaxations for both categories added together.
| Category | Age relaxation |
|---|---|
| OBC (eligible for OBC reservation) | 3 years |
| SC / ST | 5 years |
| Defence services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with a foreign country or in a disturbed area, and released as a result | 3 years |
| Ex-servicemen, including commissioned officers and Emergency/Short Service Commissioned Officers, with at least five years’ military service as on 1 August 2026, released on completion of assignment (or due within a year, other than by dismissal or discharge for misconduct or inefficiency), for a disability attributable to military service, or on invalidment | 5 years |
| Emergency or Short Service Commissioned Officers whose initial five-year assignment has been extended, with a Ministry of Defence certificate that they can apply and will be released on three months’ notice if selected | 5 years |
| PwBD — blindness/low vision; deaf/hard of hearing; locomotor disability; autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; multiple disabilities | 10 years |
Apart from these, the age limits cannot be relaxed. PwBD candidates are eligible for appointment only if they meet the physical and medical standards for the service allocated to them.
Educational qualification
A graduate degree from a university set up by a Central or State Act, an institution established by an Act of Parliament or a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956 — or an equivalent qualification. The rules that come with it:
Application fee and who cannot apply
The fee is paid online by net banking, card or UPI. The Prelims fee goes with the application; the Mains fee is paid in a window after the prelims result. Some serving officers face limits on sitting the exam again.
Application fee
₹100 for Prelims and a further ₹200 for Mains. Women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates are exempt from both. Fee once paid is not refunded and cannot be held over for another exam.
PwBD fee exemption
Claim it with a certified copy of a disability certificate from a Government hospital or medical board, submitted with the application.
Serving IAS / IFS members
Not eligible for CSE 2026 while still in the service. If appointed after prelims, they cannot sit Mains; if appointed after Mains begins, they are not considered for any service from CSE 2026.
IPS & Central Group A
An existing IPS officer cannot opt for IPS again. A candidate allotted IPS or a Central Group A service through CSE 2026 may sit CSE 2027 once, with a one-time exemption from training, on the conditions in the notification.
Applications cannot be withdrawn or edited after submission. For 2026, the notification set the last date as 24.02.2026 (6 PM), which UPSC’s exam page shows as extended to 27.02.2026 (6 PM). For CSE 2027, UPSC’s tentative calendar lists the notification on 13.01.2027 and the last date as 02.02.2027.
Persons with benchmark disabilities
Every candidate must meet the physical standards in Appendix III of the CSE Rules (Gazette of India, 04.02.2026). The notification’s estimate of about 933 vacancies included 33 reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities:
| Category | Vacancies | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Blindness & low vision | 7 | — |
| (b) Deaf & hard of hearing | 11 | — |
| (c) Locomotor disability | 8 | Cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy |
| (e) Multiple disabilities | 7 | From categories (a) to (c), except the blind & deaf combination |
UPSC’s 15.06.2026 result press note puts total CSE 2026 vacancies at 1,016 but gives no updated PwBD split. Eligible candidates get a scribe (their own or the Commission’s) and/or compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour of the exam; a scribe must be at least a matriculate, and a change of scribe can be requested up to seven days before the exam.
Crack UPSC Prelims with your own daily plan
Daily targets, PYQ practice sets & timed practice mocks for UPSC Prelims.
Cleared the eligibility check? Start day one
Eligibility gets you to the start line — a plan gets you across it. Once you know you qualify, JobSafal turns the UPSC Prelims syllabus into a daily routine.
Daily study plan
The GS Paper I and CSAT syllabus sequenced into short daily targets.
PYQ practice sets
Six timed sets for UPSC Prelims to check your speed and accuracy.
Practice mocks
Timed mocks in a test interface, with analysis after each attempt.
Aim for 2027
UPSC’s tentative 2027 calendar puts the next Prelims on 23 May 2027.
