UPSC Civil Services Exam is considered as one of the toughest exams of the Country. A very large number of candidates apply for this exam every year. However, before applying for the UPSC Civil Services exam it is important that the aspirants must know and understand the eligibility criteria. The application form of the candidates who will not fulfill the UPSC Civil services eligibility criteria 2021 will be summarily rejected.
The age of the candidates aspiring to appear for the UPSC civil services exam must not be more than 32 years. However, the relaxations will be given to the candidates from reserved categories. In this article, we will discuss complete details regarding UPSC Civil services eligibility criteria 2021 such as age limit, educational Qualification, Nationality, Number of Attempts etc.
UPSC Civil Services Eligibility Criteria 2021
The UPSC has divided Civil services or IAS Exam Criteria 2021 into following four factors:
- Nationality
- Age Limit
- Educational Qualification
- Number of Attempts
The Details of Nationality, Age limit and Educational Qualification for UPSC Civil Services exam are as following:
Nationality
- For Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), it is mandatory that the candidate must be an Indian citizen.
- For rest of the services, the candidate must possess any of the following nationality
- A Citizen of India
- A subject of Bhutan
- A subject of Nepal
- A Tibetan refugee came to India with an intention of settling here permanently before the 1st January 1962.
- An Indian Origin candidate migrated from any of the following county with the intention of permanently settling in India – East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, and Ethiopia. Along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Vietnam.
- A subject of Bhutan, Nepal or a Tibetan refugee is not eligible for Indian Foreign Service.
Age limit
- A candidate must be at least 21 years old in order to appear for UPSC civil services exam.
- The applicant must not have attained the age of 32 years as on 1st August 2021.
- A relaxation of up to 5 years will be given to the candidates from SC/ST/ ex-serviceman (including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs) categories.
- A relaxation of up to 3 years will be given to the candidates from OBC category.
- The Defence Services Personnel disabled in operations will also get the relaxation of up to 3 Years.
- A relaxation of up to 10 years in upper age will be given to the candidates with following disabilities
- Deafness and hard of hearing
- blindness and low vision
- locomotor disability including leprosy cured, cerebral palsy, acid attack victims, dwarfism and muscular dystrophy
- Intellectual disability, autism, mental illness and specific learning disability.
- Person with multiple disabilities (including deaf blindness)
Educational Qualification
The aspirant must attain the following educational Qualification in order to fulfill the UPSC Civil services eligibility criteria 2021.
- The applicant must possess a bachelor’s degree in order to fulfill the IAS exam criteria 2021.
- Candidates appearing in the final year exam of the bachelor’s degree can apply for the preliminary exam. However, such candidates will be required to furnish the proof of passing the qualifying exam along with the application of Main exam.
- The aspirant with professional or technical degrees can also apply.
- The candidates who have passed the final year of MBBS or any other medical degree but haven’t completed the internship by the time of main exam will be admitted provisionally. They have to submit a copy of certificate from the concerned authority stating that they have passed the final year exam of professional medical degree.
UPSC Civil Services Number of Attempts
- Every candidate will be allowed to attempt the UPSC civil services exam for the 6 times.
- Candidates form SC, ST, Jammu Kashmir Domiciled, Disable serviceman (from duty) categories can apply for UPSC Civil Service exam until they reach the upper age limit.
- The aspirants from OBC categories will be granted have 9 attempts.
Note: Apart from fulfilling the above mentioned UPSC Civil Services Eligibility Criteria 2021, the candidate must also be physically fit as per physical standards for admission to Civil Services Examination.
Restrictions on applying for the examination
Just like UPSC Civil services eligibility criteria 2021 there is a restriction criteria as well. The restriction criteria is given below
- A candidate who is already appointed as an IAS or IFS officer on the basis of earlier exams will not be considered as fulfilling UPSC civil services eligibility criteria 2021.
- The candidates who are appointed to the post of IPS and currently serving on the basis of previous exams are not eligible
UPSC Civil Services Application Form
The application form for UPSC Civil Services Exam will be released on the official website of the UPSC i.e. www.upsc.gov.in. The candidates have to fill all the required details and submit the application form before the last date.
Along with details, the candidates also need to upload the scanned copy of a recent passport size photograph and signature in a prescribed format.
In order to complete the application, the candidates have to pay the prescribed application fee either via online (using credit card, debit card, or net banking) method or via offline (by SBI pay-in-slip) mode.
The application fee for UPSC Civil Services Exam is given below:
| Categories | Application Fee |
| Male Candidates From General and OBC categories | Rs. 200/- |
| Female, SC/ ST/ PH candidates | Nil (Exempted for Application Fee) |
Note: The application fee once submitted will not be refunded in any case that’s why it is important that the candidate should check the UPSC Civil Services eligibility criteria 2020 before submitting the fee.