UPSC Eligibility Criteria: Education, Nationality, Medical

To sit the Civil Services Examination you need a graduate degree or an equivalent qualification, and you can apply while still in your final year. You must meet the nationality rule for the services you want: the IAS, IFS and IPS are only for citizens of India. You must be at least 21 and under your category's upper age limit on 1 August of the exam year, have attempts left, and meet the physical standards in the exam rules.

UPSC admits every candidate provisionally. The notice says it checks eligibility against your original documents only after you qualify for the interview, and it can cancel your candidature at any stage if you don't meet a condition. So check each rule below before you apply. Everything here is from the CSE 2026 notice.

Educational qualification

You must hold a graduate degree from a university incorporated by an Act of the central or a State Legislature, from an institution established by an Act of Parliament, or from an institution declared a deemed university under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. An equivalent qualification also counts. The notice asks only for the degree; it sets no minimum percentage of marks.

• Final-year students and those awaiting results. If you have appeared, or intend to appear, in the exam that would make you a graduate, you can sit the written part of the CSE. If you qualify for the interview, you must produce proof of passing within the time limit in Rule 13 of the exam rules: a degree certificate, final mark sheet or provisional degree certificate issued after your university declares its results.
• Professional and technical degrees. Professional and technical qualifications that the Government recognises as equivalent to a professional or technical degree make you eligible.
• Medical degrees. If you have passed the final professional MBBS or an equivalent exam but not finished your internship, you are admitted provisionally. Send a certificate from your university or institution that you passed the final professional exam with your application. At the interview, you will need the original degree or a certificate that you completed every requirement, including the internship. For MBBS, BDS, Veterinary Science and similar degrees, proof of internship is part of proof of passing.
• Exceptional cases. The Commission may admit a candidate without these qualifications who has passed another institution's exam of a standard it considers enough.

Nationality

For the IAS, IFS and IPS, you must be a citizen of India. For the other services, you must be one of the following:

• a citizen of India;
• a subject of Nepal or of Bhutan;
• a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle here permanently;
• a person of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam intending to settle permanently in India.

Everyone except Indian citizens needs a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India. You can sit the exam before you have it, but an offer of appointment can be made only after it is issued.

Age and attempts

You must have turned 21 and must not have turned 32 on 1 August of the exam year. For CSE 2026 that meant being born between 2 August 1994 and 1 August 2005. SC and ST candidates get up to five more years, OBC candidates up to three, persons with benchmark disability up to ten, and some ex-servicemen and disabled defence personnel get relaxations of their own.

General and EWS candidates get six attempts, OBC candidates nine, and SC and ST candidates have no limit within their age limit. Candidates with benchmark disability get nine if they are General, EWS or OBC, and no limit if they are SC or ST. Sitting even one prelims paper counts as an attempt. The full table, every relaxation and what counts as an attempt are in age limit and attempts, and the age calculator works out your own years.

UPSC accepts only the date of birth in your Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate, or an equivalent certificate. Once you submit it, it cannot be changed at this or any later UPSC exam.

Who can't apply, or can apply only with conditions

• Serving IAS and IFS officers. If you were appointed to the IAS or IFS through an earlier exam and are still a member of that service, you cannot sit the exam.
• IPS officers. If you were selected or appointed to the IPS through an earlier exam, you cannot opt for or be allocated the IPS again.
• Candidates already allocated a service. The notice sets conditions for candidates allocated to the IPS or a Central Group ‘A’ service who want to sit the next exam, including a one-time exemption from joining training. Read para 3(V) of the notice if this applies to you.
• Government employees. Apply directly to UPSC, but give an undertaking that you have told your Head of Office or Department in writing. If your employer writes to UPSC withholding permission, your application can be rejected.

Physical and medical standards

The notice says candidates must be physically fit according to the physical standards in Appendix III of the CSE Rules, published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary on 4 February 2026. The notice itself doesn't reproduce them.

For candidates with benchmark disabilities, the notice adds three things:

• Who counts. Eligibility for PwBD reservation follows the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and only the categories of disability the notice lists can apply under the PwBD category.
• Which services. Each service has its own suitable categories of disability and functional requirements. The notice lists 19 services identified as suitable for persons with benchmark disability. The IPS, the Indian Railway Protection Force Service, DANIPS and PONDIPS are not among them.
• The medical examination decides. A PwBD candidate is eligible for appointment only if found to meet the physical and medical standards of the services allocated, after the medical examination the Government prescribes. Only the results of that examination count, whatever certificates you already hold.

Once you are sure you are eligible, see how to apply and the fees.