UPSC Eligibility Criteria 2024: IAS Age Limit, Attempts and Qualification

UPSC Eligibility 2024: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the Civil Service Examination (CSE) age limit, number of attempts and other requirements along with a detailed notification. All interested candidates must carefully analyse the IAS qualifications before submitting the application form. 

To be eligible for the UPSC CSE exam, they should enter only valid details about their age, qualification, etc. in the application form. Candidates with a graduation degree who are at least 21 years old can apply for the announced vacancies.

In this article, complete details on the UPSC educational qualification, including age limit, nationality, number of attempts, etc., are shared for the ease of the aspirants.

Also Check - UPSC IAS Online Application Process 2024

UPSC Eligibility Criteria 2024

All interested candidates must fulfil all requirements related to UPSC eligibility before filling out and submitting the online application. For the convenience of candidates, a brief description of the IAS eligibility requirements and age limit is provided below.

What is the UPSC IAS age limit?

As per the official notification, the age of candidates must be 21 years and not exceed the age of 32 years for the general category when applying for the UPSC IAS 2024 exam. Candidates must note that the date of birth filled out in their application form should be the same as recorded in the matriculation/SSC or an equivalent certificate. The cutoff date to measure age is August 1, 2024. The candidate must have been born not earlier than August 2, 1992 and not later than August 1, 2003.

UPSC CSE Age Relaxation

Candidates who apply for the exam and come from reserved categories will have their upper age limit relaxed. The UPSC IAS age limit relaxation is given below for each of the categories.

UPSC CSE Educational Qualification

A candidate must hold a graduate degree from any of the universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions. Candidates who are in their final year can apply for the posts to attempt the prelims examination. However, they have to submit their final qualification marks in the detailed application form (DAF) if selected for UPSC Mains.

Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications that are recognised by the government as equivalent to professional and technical degrees would also be eligible for admission to the Civil Services Examination. 

Candidates who have completed their MBBS degree but have not completed their internship are also eligible for the UPSC IAS, provided they have to submit their internship certificate in the DAF if selected for the mains examination.

UPSC Eligibility - Number of Attempts

The candidate who is going to appear in the civil service examination will be permitted six (6) attempts. However, candidates in the SC, ST, OBC, and PwBD categories who fulfil the other eligibility requirements will be granted an exemption for the maximum number of attempts. The number of attempts that these candidates have in accordance with relaxation is as follows

Note: An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Civil Services Examination

Nationality FOR UPSC IAS Exam

Besides the UPSC CSE qualification, candidates should meet certain nationality/citizenship criteria before applying for the post.

For IAS/IPS - candidate must be a citizen of India

For Other Posts -

• A citizen of India,
• A subject of Nepal,
• A subject of Bhutan
• A Tibetan refugee who came over to India before January 1, 1962, to permanently settle in India,
• 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 to settle in India permanently.

What Restrictions are in UPSC IAS Exam?

A candidate who is appointed to the IAS or IFS based on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to appear at the CSE 2024. In case such a candidate is appointed to the IAS or IFS after the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination-2024 is over and the candidate continues to be a member of that service, the candidate shall not be eligible to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Examination-2024 notwithstanding having qualified in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination-2024.

If such a candidate is appointed to the IAS or IFS after the commencement of the Civil Services (Main) Examination-2024 but before the result thereof is declared by the Commission and continues to be a member of that service, the candidate shall not be considered for appointment to any Service/Post on the basis of the result of the CSE-2024.

A candidate who is appointed to the IPS based on the results of an earlier Examination and continues to be a member of that service shall not be eligible to opt for the IPS on the basis of the result of the CSE-2024

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