Civil Services Eligibility

• Information
• Civil Services Eligibility

Civil Services Eligibility for Examination is as follows:

• For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, the candidate must be a citizen of India.
• For other services, the candidate must be one of the following:
  1. A citizen of India
  2. A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
  3. A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar,Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India

 
All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications:

• A degree from a Central, State or a Deemed university
• A degree received through correspondence or distance education
• A degree from an open university
• A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to one of the above

The following candidates are also eligible, but must submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam.

• Candidates who have appeared in an examination, the passing of which would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy one of the above points
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but have not yet completed an internship.
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of ICAI, ICSI and ICWAI.
• A degree from a private university.
• A degree from any foreign university recognized by the Association of Indian Universities

 
The candidate must be between the age of 21-32 years (for the General category candidate) on August 1 of the year of examination. Prescribed age limits vary with respect to caste reservations.

• For Other Backward Castes (OBC) the upper age limit is 35
• For Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), the limit is 37 years.
• The upper age limit is relaxed for certain candidates who are backward with respect to other factors and physically handicapped (PH) people.

 
The number of times a candidate may attempt the exam is limited as follows:

• General category candidates = 6.
• OBC category candidates = 9.
• SC/ST candidates = unlimited attempts till 37 years of age.

Appearing to attempt one of the papers in the preliminary examination is counted as an attempt, including disqualification/ cancellation of candidature. However, applying to sit the exam but failing to attend is not counted as an attempt.