Nationality

• 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 :—
1. a citizen of India, or
2. a subject of Nepal, or
3. a subject of Bhutan, or
4. a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
5. 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.
  Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (b), (c) and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service.
• 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.

Age Limit

A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years as on 1st August of the year of examination.
The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable under the following conditions.

1. upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe (ST).
2. upto a maximum of 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 five 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.
4. upto a maximum of three 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.
5. upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs / SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August of the year of Examination 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 examination) 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 invalidment.
6. upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs / SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years Military Service as on 1st August of the year of examination and whose assignment has been extended beyond five 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 three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
7. upto a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically 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 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.

SAVE AS PROVIDED ABOVE THE AGE LIMITS PRESCRIBED CAN IN NO CASE BE RELAXED.

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 examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the 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 Preliminary Examination.
• All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination with their application for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. The applications for the Main Examination will be called sometime in the month of September / October.
• In exceptional cases, the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who has not any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he / she has passed examination 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 recognised by Government as equivalent to professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.
• 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 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.

Number of Attempts

• Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted Six attempts at the examination.
• 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 nine.
• The relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
• 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 a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination.
• If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.
• 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 Examination

• A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination.
• In case a candidate is appointed to the IAS / IFS after the Preliminary Examination of Civil Services Examination 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) Examination of that year notwithstanding his/her having qualified in the Preliminary Examination of that year.
• If a candidate is appointed to IAS/IFS after the commencement of the Civil Services (Main) Examination 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 Civil Services Examination of that year.

Physical Standards

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

Proof of Date of Birth

The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent to 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 examination certificate. These certificates are required to be submitted only at the time of applying for the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

• The expression 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 examination, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other examination 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 Examination. 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 Examination certificate, disciplinary action will be taken against them by the Commission under the Rules.