JoSAA Counselling 2026: Schedule, Opening & Closing Ranks, Eligibility, Application Form

Candidates have to register for JoSAA to participate in JoSAA counselling for admission to IITs, NITs, IIEST, IIITs and Other-GFTIs.

Registration for JoSAA 2026 will start in June 2026. Admission to IITs will be determined by JEE Advanced 2026 ranks, while NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and other GFTIs will use JEE Main 2026 ranks for their allotments.

NO. There will be no spot round of seat allocation at any of the IITs.

JoSAA counselling is usually held in 5 or 6 rounds. The admission process for admissions in 23 IITs, 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs and 40 Other-Government Funded Technical Institutes (Other-GFTIs) will be done by JoSAA in various rounds deending on various factors. In these rounds, candidates are allotted seats based on their JEE Main or JEE Advanced rank and preferences filled by them during registration. Candidates who are allotted seats have to either accept or float the seat.

The coursse offered by the 23 IITs, 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs and 40 Other-Government Funded Technical Institutes (Other-GFTIs) via the JoSAA counselling include:

• BTech in various Engineering disciplines.
• BSc programs in Science.
• BArch in Architecture.
• Dual Degree programs like B.Tech-MTech and BS-MS.
• Integrated M.Tech and Integrated MSc programs.

The official website for JoSAA is josaa.nic.in. All official details regarding the Joint Seat Allocation Authority counselling are updated on the website. The JoSAA schedule, the cutoffs, important notice, eligibility, business rules and all other details are updated on the official website. Candidates must keep track of the official website for all important information and updates on JoSAA counselling.

The age limit will be applicable as mentioned in JEE Main/JEE Advanced brochure and official website. There is no seperate age limit criteria prescribed for JoSAA counselling.

Yes. Foreign nationals who wish to take admission to IITs have to apply for JoSAA counselling. The seats in the IITs will be alloted based on their JEE Advanced ranks. However, the all foreign nationals studying in any country including India or Indian nationals studying abroad have to apply for DASA counselling for admission to UG engineering and architecture courses offered at NITs, IIITs, SPAs and CFTIs. Admission will be based on JEE Main ranks as declared by NTA.

Joint Seat Allocation Authority is an admission and e-counselling services established by Ministry of Education. It regulates admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs.

JoSAA application form correction facility is not provided once the candidates have submitted the form. Therefore it is recommended that the candidates crosscheck all the details filled in the fom before submitting the application form. If a candidate has made mistakes in the form, they can request for a change in the details during document verification step of the JoSAA counselling. Howwver, the details filled in the form will effect the seat allotment process and hence candidates must be midful about the details they fill in the application form before final submission.

The JoSAA counselling registration link is made available on the official JoSAA counselling website, josaa.nic.in. 

The JoSAA application form is released online only on the official website - josaa.nic.in.

No, you cannot appear for JoSAA counselling with 350 marks in Class 12 UP board. The minimum percentage required to appear for JoSAA Counseling is 75% in class 12 with Physics, chemistry and mathematics as compulsory subjects. The candidates must have completed their class 12 from a recognised board.  A total of 350 marks out of 500 constitutes 70% of marks, which does not meet the minimum percentage required to appear for JoSAA counselling.

If you can not complete the JoSAA reporting process, you could go for the JEE (Advanced) the next year. You just need to fit all the conditions of eligibility.

No. You are only allowed to fill choices once before entering the first round of counselling and that choice list is final. Candidates are given only one chance to enter their choice, edit the choices, rearrange them before the choice filling deadline. All candidates have to save and lock their choices within the prescribed deadline. No more chances to fill.edit/rearrange the choices will be provided in the subsequent rounds of JoSAA counselling.

If you wish to edit your choices after locking but before the choice filling deadline, you can do so by first submitting a request to unlock in the online JoSAA portal.

Candidates cannot make changes in the JoSAA choice filling list after the choice filling deadline is over.

If you are satisfied with the allotted seat and do not wish to participate in further rounds of JoSAA seat allocation, you need to choose the option “Freeze” while accepting the seat and complete all the three steps of online reporting process.

If you have accepted a seat in a certain round and want to be appear for a seat of higher preference in any Institute then you will have to choose the option of ‘Float’. This will help you to reappear for seat. If you are given a seat of higher preference in subsequent round of JoSAA seat allocation then your earlier accepted seat will be automatically cancelled and you have to accept newly allocated seat. If you do not get higher preference seat in a subsequent round, then you will continue in the already accepted seat and you will also be considered for seat allocation in any Institute (based on your preference in choice list) in the subsequent rounds if you continue with the ‘Float’ option.

No you won't be able to edit your choice list after the deadline for JoSAA choice filling. You cannot change the order of your choices. Even adding or deleting any more course won't be possible after the deadline date for choice filling.

NO. Once you are allocated a seat of higher preference based on your float/slide option, your accepted seat from the earlier JoSAA counselling round will be automatically cancelled and you cannot get the previously allotted seat.

Except in the last round of JoSAA seat allocation, you can change your option from float to slide/freeze and slide to freeze in the online portal.

No, choosing the option “Freeze” in JoSAA counselling means that the candidate accepts the offered seat and is satisfied with the allotted course and college.

You MUST pay the seat acceptance fee and complete all the steps of the online reporting process in the same round of seat allocation for continuing with the JoSAA process to avail the seat in IITs or NIT+ system. Your allocated seat will be CANCELLED and you will no longer be able to participate in the subsequent rounds of seat allocation process (if any) if you do not complete all the steps of online reporting process including the payment of seat acceptance fee.

If a candidate has been allotted seat in the first round of JoSAA, only then the seat acceptance fee (SAF) has to be paid. SAF is to be paid to confirm the seat as soon as the seat is allotted. If the SAF is not paud, then the candidate will not be eligible for document verification.

Seat acceptance fee is INR 15,000 for candidates with the category tag SC, ST, GEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD or ST-PwD and INR 30,000 for all other candidates (the fee includes INR 5,000 JoSAA processing charges). The seat acceptance fee, excluding JoSAA processing charges of INR 5000, will be adjusted against the admission fee.

PAF is Partial Admission Fee, which is to be paid by candidates who get provisionally allotment in the NIT+System during the JoSAA rounds, provided the seat has not been cancelled or withdrawn. PAF can be paid using UPI/Credit card/Debit card/Internet Banking. Candidates who fail to remit the PAF will not be allotted a seat.

If you have already acceptd seat via the JoSAA counselling but want to withdraw the admission then you can do so. The withdraw option is made available starting from the 2nd round and up to the second last round of seat allocation.

If a candidate withdraws a seat, the candidate’s allotted seat will be cancelled and offered to another candidate in a subsequent round of counselling. The candidate withdrawing shall be excluded from the JoSAA process, which means the candidate shall not be considered for subsequent rounds of seat allocation (if any). 

Seat acceptance fee will be refunded to these candidates after deducting the withdrawal processing charges of INR 7000. Thus the candidate will forfeit the eligibility for admissions to any of the institutes through JoSAA.

Yes, digitally signed caste certificates will be considered as valid for JEE Main, Advanced and Jossa counselling as they are properly authenticated and meet the specified requirements.

Yes. Birth certificate is needed to prove age in JoSAA counselling. But if you do not have the birth certificate, then you can upload Aadhaar card or Class 10 marksheet/certificate.

During the process of document verification in JoSAA, if there is any mismatch between the document uploaded earlier by the candidate JEE Main registration site, JEE Advanced registration site and the document uploaded by the candidate on the JoSAA portal, the offer of admission will be withdrawn. The candidates shall be debarred from further rounds of seat allocation. Thus, the candidate will forfeit the eligibility for admissions to any of the institutes through JoSAA. The decision of JoSAA on this issue shall be final and binding.

1. Visit the official website of JoSAA.
2. Access the JoSAA login link.
3. Login with JEE Main application number and password
4. Inside the login portal, candidates can access the link to doenload the JoSAA seat allotment letter.
5. Download the letter and keep it safe.

JoSAA seat allotment letter is issued once the candidates have paid the seat accpetnace fee and the documents are verified in JoSAA counselling process.

If you do not complete all steps of online reporting process including seat acceptance fee payment. Your allocated seat will be CANCELLED and you won't be able to participate in subsequent rounds of JoSAA seat allocation process (if any).

Candidates do not need to present a domicile certificate in order to be admitted to IIT, NIT, or IIIT via JEE. The only university where admission is granted based on the Home State Quota is NIT. The state in which you take your 12th board test is used to determine admission, not your home state. When receiving JoSAA counselling, the domicile certificate is not necessary. The JEE score of the applicants determines their admission.

Admission to IIIT D B.Tech courses is via the JAC Delhi counselling only. Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) do not offer admission via JoSAA counselling. Therefore candidates have to apply for JAC Delhi counselling for B.Tech admission to IIIT D. Joint Admission Counseling Delhi conducts JAC Delhi counselling for admission to BE/B.Tech and B.Arch degree programmes offered by 5 technical universities/institutes of the Government of NCT, Delhi. These institutes/universities include Delhi Technological University (DTU), Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-D), Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU), and Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT). .

The institutes the participate in JoSAA counselling are:

1. 23 IITs
2. 31 NITs
3. IIEST Shibpur
4. 26 IIITs
5. 40 Other-Government Funded Technical Institutes (Other-GFTIs)

A JEE rank of more than 70,000 is typically regarded as low, and applicants frequently give up on getting into the NITs and B.Tech programmes of their choice. The good news is that a number of universities, such as NITs and IIITs, accept JEE Main low scores up to 2,000,000. Based on the data from the previous year, NIT Mizoram has the lowest cutoff with a closing rank of 678406 for B.Tech. Civil Engineering (Gender-Neutral). It is followed by NIT Sikkim, which has a JEE Main rank of 639272 for B.Tech. EEE, and NIT Agartala, which has a JEE Main rank of 287950 for B.Tech. Biotech & Bio Chem Engineering. Therefore a rank of 9 Lacs can also have a chance of getting into colleges.

Internal sliding is changing the branch within the same college. Therefore, during JoSAA special rounds, candidates who have already accepted a seat in an earlier round may be considered for upgradation based on their merit and the availability of seats.

Yes. JoSAA counselling is for engineering courses primarily. However, seats in courses like B.Sc, B.Arch, and BPlan is also allotted via JoSAA counselling. Via JoSAA counselling candidates are allotted seat in varios UG engineering courses offered by the IITs, NITs, IIITs, and CFTIs. The allotment is done based on JEE advanced scores to the IITs and via JEE Main scores in other participating institutes. The courses offered via JoSAA counselling includes:

• BTech in various Engineering disciplines.
• BSc programs in Science.
• MSc programs.

Candidates can check JoSAA opening and closing ranks on the official website. They have to enter the details asked to check the list of courses and colleges based on the OR and CR of each counselling round.

Among the IITs, IIT Bombay has the highest admission cutoff for the Computer Science course, followed by IIT Delhi fo the same course. Among the NITs, the highest admission cutoff is for NIT Trichy for Computer Science and Engineering, followed by NIT Rourkela for the same course.

The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) publishes cutoffs as opening and closing ranks after each round of seat allotment.

The opening rank is the raank at which admisison to a particuloar course and college starts in a JoSAA round. The closing rank indicates the last rank at which the admission in a JoSAA round closed for a college and course.

The JoSAA opening and closing rank will vary in all rounds based on based on various categories of the candidates.

The JoSAA 2026 dates will be announced at josaa.nic.in. Check tentative dates below:

No. In JoSAA counselling, it is typically not possible to modify the preference order of your choice fill-up, add and remove certain choices after the results of round. Candidates cannot introduce new choices once the initial choice filling period is over and neither they can modify their existing preference of choices.

No. Once the choices are locked in JoSAA, candidates cannot rearrange their choices. Any reshuffling can be done before the choices are locked.

If the score is above 96, your chances of getting into a NIT are high, but not the course that you want. However, if you want to get into NIT with a preferred branch, you would need to score above 97.5%.

CSAB (Central Seat Allocation Board) and JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) are both involved in the seat allocation process for engineering admissions in IITs, NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and other GFTIs. However, via JoSAA seat are allotted to all available seats in IITs, NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and other GFTIs. But via CSAB seat is allotted only at NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and other GFTIs against the vacant seats left after JoSAA counselling last round based on JEE Main scores.

JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) has been set up by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) to manage and regulate joint seat allocation for admissions to over 100 institutes including IITs, NITs, IIITs, and Other-Government Funded Technical Institutes (Other-GFTIs). Admissions to all these institutes will be done through a single platform. The idea behind introducing a single counselling platform was to reduce thousands of seats going vacant in engineering colleges across the country. The Joint seat allocation process was introduced to make the whole process of admissions smoother, effective, efficient, transparent and a lot faster. Candidates who qualify for the JEE Main or JEE Advanced must register for JoSAA 2025 to participate in the counselling and admission process for various renowned engineering institutes across India. The admission process for admissions in 23 IITs, 31 NITs, 25 IIITs, and 28 Other-Government Funded Technical Institutes (Other-GFTIs) is managed by The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA). Candidates will be allotted seats in various rounds of JoSAA counselling. The seat allotment through JoSAA will be based on the merit of candidates and their preference for courses and colleges.

• Candidates should have JEE Main and/or JEE Advanced rank.
• Candidates must have at least 75% aggregate marks in Class 12. The aggregate marks for SC, ST and PwD candidates must be at least 65%.
• Candidates must be within the category wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates in their respective Class 12 board.

Yes. Apart from JEE Main/JEE Advanced rabks, class 12 marks are also considered for admission to IITs, NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and other GFTIs. It is mandatory to have minimum 75% marks (65% for reserved category) in class 12 to take admission in IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. Candidates should apply for JoSAA conselling only if they fulfill all the conditions of eligibility.

There is no fee for JoSAA registration. Candidates have to login to the JoSAA portal with their JEE Main application number and password to start their JoSAA counselling process.

If you do not lock your choices, last saved choices will be locked automatically upon reaching the deadline for JoSAA choice filling. The automatically locked choice list will be considered for allocating a seat during JoSAA.

SAF is Seat Acceptance Fees (SAF) on JoSAA. Upon receiving a seat for the first time, candidates must remit the seat acceptance fee in the respective round. Failure to pay the seat acceptance fee constitutes a refusal of the offered or allocated seat and renders the candidate ineligible for further participation in subsequent rounds of the seat allocation process.

For payment of seat acceptance fee, candidates should either use Net Banking or Debit card or UPI or Credit card facilities available on JoSAA portal or use e-challan of State Bank of India downloaded from the JoSAA portal.

Documents for Online Reporting / Registration

The following documents must be uploaded by candidates for online reporting and registration, whether for the NIT+ system or admission to IITs.

• General Mandatory Documents
• Proof of Date of Birth: Class X Mark Sheet/Certificate, Aadhaar Card, or Birth Certificate.
• Academic Records: Class XII Mark Sheet and Certificate (Qualifying Examination). (Note: For IIT admissions, usually only the Class XII Mark Sheet is specified, but the certificate is generally required for the NIT+ system.)
• Bank Details: A crossed bank cheque copy or an image of your passbook showing account details (for refund purposes).
• Medical Certificate: A valid medical fitness certificate. Category-Specific Documents (If Applicable) 
• Category Certificate (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/GEN-EWS): A valid certificate issued by the competent authority in the Government of India format (as per the JoSAA website guidelines).
• Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD): Original PwD Certificate issued by the competent authority. Original Certificate for persons having less than 40% disability and having difficulty in writing, if applicable.
• International Candidate Documents (If Applicable) OCI/PIO: OCI certificate or PIO card.
• Citizenship Proof: Passport or Citizenship certificate.

Following documents are required during admission at allotted institute via JoSAA counselling are:

• 3 passport size photos (the same as uploaded during registration)
• Provisional JoSAA seat allotment letter
• Photo id
• Seat acceptance fee payment proof
• JEE Main Admit Card
• Date of birth proof / class 10 marksheet
• JEE Main Score Card
• XII Mark sheet
• Category certificate (if applicable)