Live Photo Capture at JEE Main 2026 Exam Centres: Here's What Students Need to Know

NTA will now capture Live photos of the candidates at the JEE Main exam centres starting from the session 1 exams to be held between January 21 to 30. This is being introduced to identify any case of impersonation at the examination centres. Read details below.

Live Photo Capture at JEE Main 2026 Exam Centres: Here's What Students Need to Know

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will be capturing the live photo of all candidates at the exam centres. Candidates who will be appearing for the JEE Main 2026 January session exam will have to go through facial recognition-based identity verification and mandatory live photograph capture at the centres.

As per the reports, it is confirmed that this facial recognition and live photo-based verification will be mandatory for all candidates appearing for major tests conducted by the NTA, including the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) and also NEET to be held in May 2026. The first exam where this new identification process will be implemented is the JEE Mains January session exams.

The JEE Main 2026 exams are scheduled between January 21 to 30. Soon, NTA will allot the registered candidates their exam dates and city via the JEE Main advanced city intimation slip. The city intimation slip will be out in the first week of January at jeemain.nta.nic.in.

What this Means for candidates appearing for JEE Main 2026 January Session Exam

The candidates who will be appearing for the JEE Main 2026 January session exam should:

1. Reach the exam centre on time as per the reporting time that will be mentioned on their JEE Main admit card. NTA will issue the admit card 3 to 4 days before the exam date.
2. Although no official notification about live photo-based verification has been issued by NTA yet, candidates should be ready for any updates in this regard. Ensure that you are not changing your appearance drastically in the coming days, like a hair colour change, major haircuts, etc.
3. Currently, students are required to produce a valid government-issued ID card for identity verification at the exam centres. Candidates should keep any one ID card among these ready: valid School Identity Card/ PAN card / Voter ID/ Passport/ Aadhaar Card (with photograph)/ e-Aadhaar with photograph/ Class 12 Board Admit Card with photograph/ Bank Passbook with Photograph.
4. Do not panic, as live photo capture and facial recognition are for the benefit of the candidates in conducting a fair and cheating-free examination.

Need for Facial Identification at JEE Main Centres

To curb any or all cases of impersonation at exam centres, NTA has started the facility of live photo capture and facial recognition-based identity verification. This decision will now be implemented on a larger scale after its success during the NEET UG 2025 exam, where Aadhaar-based facial authentication was tested at select examination centres in Delhi. 

In this regard, NTA has already implemented live photo capture of the candidates during the registration process itself. Candidates who have applied for the JEE Main 2026 session 1 exam had to upload a recent scanned photograph and a live photograph. This was part of the facial recognition-based identity verification of NTA at exam centres.