Type of Applicant |
IAS Qualification Criteria 2023 |
UPSC age limit for General Category |
IAS Age Limit – 32 Years with 6 Attempts |
UPSC Age Limit for OBC |
UPSC Age Limit is 35 Years with 9 Attempts |
UPSC Age Limit for SC/ST |
32 years + 5 years with unlimited attempts. |
Physically Disability |
UPSC Age Limit is 42 years, where SC/ST category aspirants have unlimited attempts, and others have 9 attempts. |
J&K Domicile |
The UPSC age limit will be calculated as 32 years + 5 years + (5 years, if SC/ST OR 3 Years, if OBC), and the UPSC attempts depends on the reserved category. |
Candidates should adhere to the nationality standards to be eligible for UPSC examination.
(i) The candidate must be an Indian citizen to be eligible for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), or Indian Police Service (IPS).
(ii) Apart from the above, here are the eligibility criteria for other services:
- The candidate must be a citizen of India, or
- The candidate must be a citizen of Nepal, or
- The candidate must be a citizen of Bhutan, or
- The candidate is a refugee from Tibet who came and settled permanently in the territory of India before January 1st, 1962, or
- The candidate is a person of Indian origin who migrated to settle in India permanently from Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Eastern African countries of Kenya, The United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Vietnam
(iii) The candidates belonging to the category B, C, D, and E are required to have a certificate of eligibility from the Indian government.
(iv) The candidates whose eligibility certificate is mandatory will be allowed to sit in the examination but the appointment letter and offer may be given to them after the verification of the certificate or the issuance of the certificate by the Government of India.
The Union Public Service Commission prescribes the age limit in the official UPSC IAS notification 2023. As per the IAS age limit eligibility criteria, those between 21 to 32 years as on August 1, 2023, can fill the UPSC IAS application form. Applicants belonging to the reserved category are eligible for age relaxation as per the rules set by UPSC. For more details on IAS age limit and age relaxation, check the tables below:
UPSC age limit 2023 eligibility criteria
Category |
IAS age limit |
General |
21 to 32 years |
UPSC IAS eligibility criteria 2023 - Age Relaxation
Categories |
Age relaxation |
General |
% |
OBC |
3 years |
SC/ ST |
5 years |
Defense Services Personnel, who got disabled during operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence |
3 years |
Ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers (CO) and ECOs/ SSCOs who will render at least five years Military Service as of August 1, 2021, and have been released |
5 years |
ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as of 1st August 2021 |
5 years |
In the following cases: blindness and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, locomotor disability including acid attack, cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, victims and muscular dystrophy, intellectual disability, autism, specific learning disability and mental illness |
10 years |
Candidates ordinarily domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir from January 1, 1981, to December 31, 1989. |
5 years |
Each applicant who appears in the examination and is otherwise eligible will be allowed six (6) tries at the CSE. However, applicants from the SC/ST/OBC and PwBD categories who are otherwise qualified will be granted a reduction in the number of tries. The number of tries available to such applicants as a result of the relaxation is as follows:
(i) Number of attempts for SC/ST category is Unlimited
(ii) For the OBC category the number of attempts are 09
(iii) For the PwBD category the number of attempts for GL/EWS/OBC are 09 and for SC/ST unlimited.
Note-I: The terms GL (General), EWS (Economically Weaker Sections), SC (Scheduled Castes), ST (Scheduled Tribes), OBC (Other Backward Classes), and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disability) are used to denote the categories of candidates attending the Examination.
Note-II: A Preliminary Examination attempt is assumed to be a Civil Services Examination attempt.
Note-III: If a candidate appears in any one paper of the Preliminary Examination, it is assumed that the individual attempted the Examination.
Note-IV: Regardless of any future disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the candidate’s attendance at the Examination shall count as an attempt.