IAS Eligibility 2024: Age limit, Qualification, Nationality & Attempts

See Here: IAS Toppers 2022

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.

IAS Eligibility 2024 – 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:

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

(c) a subject of Bhutan, 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.

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

IAS Age Limit

UPSC mentions the IAS exam age limit in the official IAS 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 July 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 July 1 of the notification year. It means that for the IAS exam 2024, the age will be taken into account from the date July 1, 2024. For IAS exam 2024, the candidate must not be born before August 2, 1992, and not later than August 1, 2003.

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

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

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.

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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