UPSC Eligibility Criteria 2024 – Age Limit & Educational Qualification

Check out UPSC Eligibility Criteria for 2024 Civil Services (IAS, IFS, IES, etc.) Exams. The Candidates applying for the UPSC examination should ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility conditions for admission into the UPSC Civil Services, Forest Services or any other UPSC examination. Their admission to all the stages of the UPSC exam will be purely provisional subject to satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions as per below.

The Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) generally takes up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to the original documents(Including Birth Certificate) only after the candidate has qualified for the Interview / Personality Test.

Also, Check UPSC Notification 2022. Candidates who are preparing for UPSC Civil Services Exam, frequently ask about the Eligibility of Civil Services Exam, UPSC eligibility criteria 2022, UPSC eligibility for OBC, Civil Services age limit, what is the age limit for UPSC Civil Services/IAS Exam and what is the Educational Qualification for Civil services Exam 2022, etc.

Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) is the authorized central agency to release the eligibility details and to conduct the UPSC IAS/IPS/IFS/IES/ISS etc. examinations. The candidates applying for the UPSC civil services examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility conditions. UPSC Eligibility for 2022 UPSC examination is as follows.

ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS for UPSC Exam 2024

• Nationality
• Age Limit
• Minimum Educational Qualifications
• Number of Attempts
• Restrictions on applying for the Examination
• Physical Standards

Minimum Educational Qualifications

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

• Candidates who have appeared at an exam, the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the UPS Commission’s examination but have not been informed of the results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the UPSC Prelims Examination.
• All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Exam will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite exam with their application for the UPSC Mains Exam failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Civil Services Main Examination(or any other services Mains exam). The applications for the Main Examination will be called sometime in the month of September / October.
• In exceptional cases, the UPSC may treat a candidate who has not any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has passed an exam conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his / her admission to the examination.
• Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognized by Government as equivalent to the professional and technical degrees would also be eligible for admission to the UPSC exam.
• Candidates who have passed the 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) Exam, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University / Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination.
• In such 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.
• A candidate applying for UPSC IFS exam must possess a bachelor’s degree in one of the following: animal husbandry and veterinary science, physics, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, statistics and zoology, or a bachelor’s degree in forestry, agriculture, or engineering from a recognized university.

Nationality

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b) (c), (d), and (e) shall be a person in whose favor a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (b) (c), and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service.

For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
For other services, a candidate must be either:

• a citizen of India, or
• a subject of Nepal, or
• a subject of Bhutan, or
• a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India. Or
• a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka, 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.

A candidate, in case an eligibility certificate is necessary, may be admitted to the UPSC exam but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary certificate of eligibility has been issued to him by the Government of India.

Age Limit for UPSC Civil Services

A candidate must have attained the age of twenty-one (21) years and must not have attained the age of (32) thirty-two years as on 1st August of the year of exam.

The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable under the following conditions.

1. upto a maximum of five (5) years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe (ST).
2. upto a maximum of 3 (three) years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
3. upto a maximum of three (3) years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof.
4. upto a maximum of 5 years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from the 1st January 1980 to the 31st day of December 1989.
5. upto a maximum of 5 years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs / SSCOs who have rendered at least 5 years Military Service as on 1st August of the year of Exam and have been released
   • on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August of the year of exam) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
   • on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or
   • on invalided.
6. upto a maximum of 5 years in the case of ECOs / SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of 5 years Military Service as on 1st August of the year of UPSC examination and whose assignment has been extended beyond 5 years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on 3 months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
7. upto a maximum of (10) Ten years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopedically handicapped persons.

NOTE:

• Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes who are also covered under any of the clauses (a) to (g) mentioned above, viz. those coming under the category of Ex-servicemen, persons domiciled in the State of J & K, blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically handicapped, etc. will be eligible for grant of cumulative age relaxation under both the categories.
• The term ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from time to time.
• The age concession under clause (e) and (f) will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including ECOs / SSCOs who are released on their own request.
• Notwithstanding the provision of age-relaxation under clause (g) above, a physically disabled candidate will be considered to be eligible for appointment only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Government or appointing authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/posts to be allocated to the physically disabled candidates by the Government.

UPSC Exam – Number of Attempts

• Every candidate appearing at the UPSC examination who is otherwise eligible shall be permitted 6 attempts at the exam.
• This restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible.
• The number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible shall be 9 (nine).
• A physically handicapped will get as many attempts as are available to other non-physically handicapped candidates of his or her community, subject to the condition that a physically handicapped candidate belonging to the General Category shall be eligible for nine attempts.
• The relaxation will be available to the physically handicapped candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

NOTE:

• An attempt at UPSC Preliminary Exam shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination.
• If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Prelims Exam, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the UPSC Exam.
• Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.

Restrictions on applying for the UPSC Examination

• A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) on the results of an earlier exam and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this exam.
• In case a candidate is appointed to the IAS / IFS after the Prelims Exam of Civil Services of that year is over, and he/she continues to be a member of that service, he/she shall not be eligible to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Exam of that year notwithstanding his/her having qualified in the Prelims Examination of that year.
• If a candidate is appointed to IAS/IFS after the commencement of the Civil Services (Main) Exam of that year, but before the result thereof and continues to be a member of that service, he/she shall not be considered for appointment to any service/post on the basis of the result of the UPSC Civil Services Exam of that year.

UPSC Physical Standards Qualification

Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Civil Services Exam of a particular year as per guidelines given in Rules for Exam published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary during the year of examination.

Proof of Date of Birth for UPSC Exam

The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the 10+2 class (Matriculation or Secondary School) Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognized by an Indian University as equivalent to 10+2 (Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates) maintained by a University, which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent exam certificate. These certificates are required to be submitted only at the time of applying for the Civil Services Mains Exam.

• The expression (10+2) Matriculation / Secondary Examination Certificate in this part of the instruction includes the alternative certificates mentioned above.
• No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted.
• Candidates should note that only the Date of Birth as recorded in the Matriculation / Secondary Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate as on the date of submission of applications will be accepted by the Commission and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted.
• Candidates should also note that once a Date of Birth has been claimed by them and entered in the records of the Commission for the purpose of admission to an exam, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other exam of the Commission) on any grounds whatsoever.
• The candidate should exercise due care while entering their date of birth in column 3 of the Application Form for the Preliminary Exam. If on verification at any subsequent stage, any variation is found in their date of birth from the one entered in their matriculation or equivalent Exam certificate, disciplinary action will be taken against them by the Union Public Service Commission under the Rules.