UPSC IAS Eligibility 2026: Age limit, Qualification, Nationality & Attempts

Registration - 4 Feb '26 - 24 Feb '26

Manager-Editorial

Updated on Feb 4, 2026 19:01 IST

The UPSC IAS Eligibility is notified in the official notification. The Union Public Service Commission did not change any eligibility conditions. The candidates must refer to the notification to get details in it. The UPSC eligibility is explained here in detail.

The Union Public Service Commission released the Civil Service notification 2026 on its official website - upsc.gov.in. The Commission notified all the UPSC Civil Service eligibility criteria in the notification. The candidates must confirm to all the eligibility conditions or else their candidature can be cancelled.The candidates can see here the age limit, educational requirements, number of permissible attempts and other important eligibility criteria for IAS 2026.

UPSC_IAS_Eligibility_Criteria

IAS 2026 Eligibility Criteria: The Union Public Service Commission has released the Civil Service (IAS) notification on its official website - upsconline.nic.in. The Commission notified all the important details related to UPSC IAS exam 2026 such as educational qualification, age limit, dates, number of permissible attempts, syllabus, exam pattern and the likes. The candidates are suggested to read and understand all the eligibility conditions mentioned in the notification because in case of any variation from the official eligibility conditions, the candidature of the candidate can be cancelled.The candidates can see here the important components of the UPSC Civil Service (IAS) 2026 eligibility criteria so that they can ascertain their candidature for the exam.

UPSC Civil Service eligibility criteria are the most important component of the application because it is checked at the UPSC counter by the officials before the personality test. The candidature of the candidates remains provisional till the final recommendation. In case of non-fulfilment to any of the eligibility conditions, the candidature of the candidate is cancelled irrespective of the prelims or main result. It is very important that the candidates read, understand and conform to all the eligibility conditions mentioned in the official notification to avoid last-minute rejection. Along with the official notification of UPSC, the Government of India also release an official gazette regarding the recruitment rules related to the Civil Service Exam of that year. The IAS Eligibility rules are explained in that gazette.

The full form of IAS is Indian Administrative Service. It is the dream job of millions in India. Be it an engineer, doctor, architect or lawyer, everyone once dreamed about appearing in the IAS exam. It is very important that the candidates read, understand and conform to all the IAS eligibility conditions mentioned in the official IAS notification to avoid last-minute rejection. There are special conditions mentioned for the MBBS doctors applying for the IAS exam. UPSC CSE (IAS) exam will be conducted on May 24, 2026.

All the UPSC Civil Service (IAS) eligibility conditions are notified in the official advertisement. We are explaining each component of the eligibility criteria for the UPSC(IAS) exam based on the previous notification. IAS eligibility can be divided into the following parts

Nationality for Civil Service
IAS Age Limit
Educational Qualification for IAS
Special Restrictions for some personnel

Each one of the above is a significant condition for the appointment to IAS and IPS. IAS eligibility criteria 2026 is explained here keeping the essential points in mind and the candidates will find it easy to understand each component of the IAS eligibility criteria. The candidate must fulfil all the IAS eligibility criteria because if the candidate does not confirm the prescribed norms, the candidature will be cancelled.

See Here: IAS Toppers

There are various eligibility criteria for the IAS exam which need to be understood by the IAS aspirants clearly. There are various candidates who do not understand the IAS eligibility criteria and do not fill out the IAS application form even though they are eligible for the exam. Here we are explaining the IAS eligibility criteria in detail so that the candidates should not get confused and fill out the IAS application at the appropriate time.

Table of contents

UPSC IAS Eligibility 2026 – Nationality
IAS Qualification
UPSC IAS Age Limit 2026
How Many Attempts are Permitted in IAS Exam?
How an Attempt is Counted in IAS Exam?
Special Restrictions in IAS Exam
Physical Standard For IAS

UPSC IAS Eligibility 2026 – Nationality

For services other than All India Services (IAS, IPS and IFoS), citizens of other countries are also eligible. The candidates should understand that they are competing with the students of various nations. But on the other hand, the All-India Services are reserved for Indian citizens only. This can be summarised as below:

Service Name	Nationality
Indian Administrative Service (IAS)	The candidate must be a citizen of India.
Indian Police Service (IPS)
Indian Foreign Service (IFS)

Indian citizens can only be appointed to the above services.

Also Read: Difference between IAS and IPS

For Central Civil Services –

The following candidates can be appointed to the Central Civil Service except for the Indian Foreign Service which is reserved for Indian nationals.

(a) a citizen of India, or

(b) a subject of Nepal, or

(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before January 1, 1962, with the intention of permanently settling in India, or

(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him/her by the Government of India.

Q: Is there any deadline for registration for IAS exam?

The candidates need the UPSC registration number for fill the Civil Service application form. They are required to fill in the personal details in the registration form. The candidates need to upload their academic certificates on upsconline.nic.in.

Q: How many days are provided to fill out the IAS application form?

The Union Public Service Commission provides only 20 days to fill the UPSC Civil Service (IAS) application form online. The UPSC IAS 2026 notification has been released at upsc.gov.in.The last date to fill the online applications is February 24, 2026.

Q: When can the candidate apply for IAS Exam?

The candidates can apply for the IAS exam within twenty days of the Civil Service Exam notification. Union Public Service Commission released the official notification on February 4 and the last date to apply online is February 24.

IAS Qualification

IAS exam is an open exam for all. There are no minimum percentage criteria in the qualifying exam for the Civil Service exam. Any graduate with any percentage of marks can apply to become an IAS officer. The only educational qualification required is that the candidates must be a graduate or equivalent in any discipline from a recognised university. There is no mention of the minimum passing percentage required to appear in the IAS Exam.

The candidates, in the last year of their degree course, can also fill in the IAS application provided that they need to submit their final year mark sheet/ score sheet at the time of Detailed Application Form(DAF) submission for the IAS main exam.

See Here: IAS exam pattern

Condition for Doctors

Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the examination. They will require submitting a copy of a certificate from the concerned authority of the University/Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination.

As per the eligibility criteria for the IAS exam, in such above cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University/Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of internship) for the award of the Degree.

Also Read about IAS Preparation

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UPSC IAS Age Limit 2026

The Commission mentions the IAS exam age limit in the official notification. The candidates need to ensure that they fall within the prescribed age limit for IAS because UPSC can cancel the candidature of the candidate at any moment in the wake of non-conformity to the eligibility criteria. The candidates should note that the cutoff date for the IAS age calculation is August 1 of the exam year.

IAS Age Limit for General Category

For the general category candidates, IAS age limit is defined as below. The date of birth as mentioned in the High School/Higher Secondary certificate will be considered final by the UPSC.

Lower Age Limit - 21 years

Upper Age Limit - 32 years

Read Here: 100 days plan for IAS prelims

Age Relaxation in IAS Age Limit

For the IAS exam, the age is counted from August 1 of the notification year. It means that for the IAS exam 2026, the age will be taken into account from the date August 1, 2026. For IAS exam 2026, the candidate must not be born before August 2, 1994, and not later than August 1, 2005.

UPSC also provides age relaxation in the IAS exam to the candidates belonging to the reserved categories in the manner shown below:

Category	Age Relaxation
SC/ ST	5 Years
OBC	3 Years
Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof	3 Years
Ex-servicemen including commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years of military service as of August 1, 2026, and have been released	5 Years
PwD [(a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness]	10 Years

Q: What is the process and criteria to apply for IAS exam after 12th?

The candidates should note that the minimum qualification to apply for the UPSC Civil Service (IAS ) exam is a Graduate degree in any discipline. There is no way to apply for the UPSC IAS exam after 12.

The candidates can start preparing for the UPSC CSE(IAS) exam after class 12 to score better when they appear in the Civil Service Exam. The preparation will help them in clearing the IAS Exam.

Q: Which degree is best suited to apply for the IAS exam 2026?

There is no specific degree that best suits the IAS exam. Five compulsory papers are common to all candidates. Besides this, the candidates need to appear in two papers on one optional subject. The list of the subjects is given in the IAS Syllabus section of the UPSC notification. The candidates can opt for any optional subject irrespective of their subject in their graduation. Moreover, the UPPSC has done away with the optional subject in the main exam may be UPSC will also follow suit and remove the optional subject from the IAS main exam.

Q: What are the minimum marks required to become an IAS?

The candidates should note that there is no minimum marks that can be ascretained for the IAS. The final UPSC merit list is based on the marks secured in the main (written) and personlaity test condcuted at Dholpur House, UPSC. The Commission arrange the candidates in the order of their merit and select top candidates for the Indian Administrative Service if they have opted for it as their first choice.

The minimum marks for IAS cannot be asertained as the cutoff for each year differs from year to year.

How Many Attempts are Permitted in IAS Exam?

Besides the IAS age limit and educational qualification, there is one more eligibility criterion for the IAS exam which is the number of attempts. The number of attempts for the candidates is limited to a certain number in the IAS exam. It means that the candidate can appear in the IAS exam as per the prescribed limit irrespective of their age. If a candidate falls within the age limit but exhausted all attempts, they will not be eligible for the IAS exam. But exemption in the number of attempts is provided to the reserved category candidates. The number of attempts and exemptions are as follows

Category	Number of Attempts(Allowed)
General/Economically Weaker Section(EWS)	6
Other Backward Classes	9
SC/ST	Unlimited - till the age limit
Person with Disabilities	Unlimited - till the age limit

How an Attempt is Counted in IAS Exam?

The UPSC defines how an attempt is counted in the IAS exam. In the official IAS notification, it is mentioned that if a candidate appears in any of the papers of the Civil Service (IAS) Prelims exam, this will be counted as the attempt of the candidate. The number of attempts is one of the critical components of IAS eligibility.

This is the reason for high absenteeism in the IAS prelims exam. Only around 50% of candidates appear in the IAS prelims exam and the rest of the candidates do not appear to keep their number of attempts intact. Therefore, UPSC introduced the IAS application withdrawal facility. Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of the appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.

See here: Important topics for IAS Exam

Special Restrictions in IAS Exam

The candidates who are appointed to Indian Administrative Services (IAS) or Indian Foreign Services (IFS) and continue to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete in the IAS Exam again. They have to resign to compete again in the IAS exam.

But an existing IPS officer can appear and compete in the IAS exam again. But he cannot opt for the Indian Police Service again.

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Physical Standard For IAS

A candidate must be physically fit and have a sound mind. After the IAS interview, the candidate needs to undergo a compulsory medical test at the assigned medical centre. The candidates need to qualify for this medical test irrespective of the service assigned later.

The candidate who wants to claim the relaxation in the IAS eligibility criteria, as per their category, should note that all the certificates required to avail of the relaxation should be issued before the date of the IAS notification of that year. If the candidates are still confused regarding the IAS eligibility, they can comment in the comment box and ask their queries.

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