How to apply for JEE Main & JEE Advanced 2027

To apply for JEE Main 2027, register on jeemain.nta.nic.in (Session 1 window opens around November 2026); JEE Advanced 2027 registration is a separate process on jeeadv.ac.in, open only to the top ~2,50,000 Main qualifiers. This page covers the step-by-step flow, document checklist, fees, and the mistakes that get applications rejected.

Where do you register for JEE Main and JEE Advanced 2027?

• JEE Main 2027: apply online at jeemain.nta.nic.in. The Session 1 window is expected to open around November 2026; Session 2 opens separately after Session 1 results.
• JEE Advanced 2027: register at jeeadv.ac.in only after qualifying JEE Main (within the top ~2,50,000 Paper 1 qualifiers) - a fresh, separate registration on the host-IIT site.

Document checklist before you start the form

Stop and gather these before you open the form. The NTA portal logs you out after a short idle period, and most rejected applications were not rejected because the candidate was ineligible - they were rejected because something on the form contradicted a document the candidate had to hand later.

• Class 10 marksheet or pass certificate - you need the board name, roll number, year of passing and the exact name spelling as printed. This is the master copy: every other field on the form must agree with it.
• Class 12 marksheet or admit card - if you are appearing in 2027, keep the school admit card or registration slip ready for the board and roll number; if you have already passed, keep the marksheet with the year of passing and aggregate.
• Government photo ID - Aadhaar is preferred because the NTA portal sometimes verifies the name against the UIDAI database. Passport, voter ID or PAN are accepted as backup, but the name and DOB on whichever ID you pick must match the form character-for-character.
• Category certificate (SC / ST / OBC-NCL / EWS) - OBC-NCL and EWS certificates have validity windows (typically issued in the current financial year); an expired certificate is treated as no certificate.
• PwD certificate - from a notified medical authority, with the disability percentage and (if applying for a scribe or extra time) a separate PwBD certificate matching the NTA format.
• Recent passport-size photograph - clicked within the last six months on a plain background, face fully visible.
• Signature on white paper - in running handwriting (not block capitals), in black or blue ink, scanned cleanly.
• Active mobile and email- ideally the parent's and student's; OTPs and admit-card alerts go there for the next twelve months, so do not use a temporary number.
• A debit / credit card or UPI for fee payment, with sufficient daily limit; failed payments due to bank limits are a common reason for last-day form submissions to lapse.

JEE Main 2027 application: step by step

1. Watch for the NTA notification - the JEE Main 2027 Information Bulletin is published on jeemain.nta.nic.in, indicatively at the end of October 2026 for Session 1. Read it before you touch the form: every fee, deadline and document spec for that cycle lives in the bulletin.
2. Create your NTA candidate login with a working email and mobile. Choose a password you can reproduce - this login persists for both sessions and for downloading the admit card, scorecard and rank card later.
3. Fill personal details- name, father's name, mother's name, date of birth, gender, nationality, category and PwD status. Match the spellings and DOB to your Class 10 certificate exactly; the system will not let you edit some of these after final submission.
4. Fill academic details- Class 10 board, year, roll number and aggregate; Class 12 board, year (or "appearing"), school code, and the subjects you have taken. Pick Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics if you are applying for B.E./B.Tech (Paper 1).
5. Choose your paper(s) - Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech), Paper 2A (B.Arch), Paper 2B (B.Planning), or any combination. Each combination has its own fee; you can opt for both Paper 2A and Paper 2B in one application.
6. Upload photograph and signature - JPG / JPEG only, with the size and dimension limits noted in the next section. Reject-cycle on bad uploads is the single biggest day-one delay.
7. Pick exam-city preferences - the NTA asks for up to four preferred cities in order. Strategy notes are in the next section.
8. Pay the fee onlinevia net banking, debit / credit card or UPI. Save the bank reference number; if the bank debits but the form does not reflect "paid", you need this number to raise a refund or retry.
9. Download the confirmation page and note your application number. Print at least two copies and save a PDF on your phone - the application number is your reference for every later step, including the correction window, admit-card download and result.
10. Use the correction window - NTA opens a short correction window (typically 3 to 5 days) after the form closes. You can fix most fields here, but a few core fields (mobile, email, sometimes category) are locked. Fix everything you spot; nothing can be edited after this window closes.
11. Download the admit card - released roughly 3 to 5 days before each session begins. Check the allotted city, reporting time, exam centre and the photo / signature printed on it; raise a correction request immediately if anything is wrong.
12. Repeat for Session 2 - a separate registration window opens after Session 1 results. If you already applied to Session 1, you log in with the same credentials and only pay the Session 2 fee. Your best NTA percentile across the two sessions counts.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free JEE Main mock and see your indicative rank in 30 minutes.

Photo, signature and thumbprint upload specs

NTA upload specs are strict because the same photo is printed on the admit card and shown to the invigilator on exam day. The indicative limits for the JEE Main 2027 cycle are summarised below; the exact bytes / pixels are reconfirmed in the Information Bulletin each year.

Common rejection reasons: face partially covered, photo taken in poor light or against a busy background, signature written in capital letters, signature scanned at an angle so it appears as a tilted line, certificate scanned in greyscale where the official seal is unreadable, and stamping a photocopied photo onto plain paper and rescanning that - a signal NTA looks for. Use a phone scanner app (CamScanner, Adobe Scan or Microsoft Lens) for documents and a proper photo studio for the passport-size photograph; selfies on a phone almost always fail the face-area check.

How does NTA allot exam cities and what should you pick?

You list up to four exam cities in your order of preference. NTA does not guarantee your first preference; allotment depends on total candidates choosing that city, the centre capacity available, and the shift balance NTA is trying to maintain across the country. The allotted city is final - there is no "change exam centre" option after the admit card is issued, only a re-allotment under genuine compassionate circumstances which NTA may or may not approve.

• Pick cities you can actually reach. All four preferences should be cities where you have either a place to stay overnight or a comfortable same-day return journey. Listing a faraway metro just because it "sounds reliable" is the wrong trade-off.
• A nearby tier-2 city is often safer than the home metro. Large metros like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai are heavily over-subscribed; centres can be allotted 40 to 60 km from the city centre. A tier-2 city 100 km away can give you a closer, calmer centre.
• Do not list a city you have never been to. If you get allotted there, you will be hunting for the centre at 6 am on exam morning - a known cause of late arrivals and denied entries.
• Choose the same set of cities for Session 2. NTA tries (but does not promise) to allot the same centre or same city if you sit both sessions, which helps with logistics.
• If the allotted city is far, plan travel. Book refundable train tickets the moment the admit card releases; many candidates discover the city only 3 to 5 days before exam day, when last-mile bookings are already gone.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free JEE Main mock and see your indicative rank in 30 minutes.

What are the most common JEE application mistakes?

• Mismatched name vs Class 10 certificate - using an initialised name on the form ("A. Sharma") when the Class 10 certificate has the expansion ("Anand Sharma"), or vice versa, is the single most cited reason for application rejection during admit-card verification.
• Wrong year of passingin Class 12 - candidates who took a drop year sometimes enter 2026 when their certificate year is 2025, or mark themselves "appearing" after they have already passed. Both invalidate the form.
• Wrong category certificate - uploading a state-issued OBC certificate where OBC-NCL (central list) is required, or an EWS certificate from a previous financial year. Reservation will be denied at counselling even if the form went through.
• Wrong PwD declaration - ticking PwD without the certificate, or claiming the scribe / extra time facility without the additional PwBD certificate. Both are flagged on exam day; the facility is then refused at the centre.
• Bad photo / signature scans - wrong size, wrong format or face partially covered - gets the form held up in the verification queue.
• Missing the deadline - the NTA window is firm; do not leave payment to the last day, when portal traffic and bank-gateway timeouts spike.
• Skipping Session 2 when a second attempt could lift your best percentile - the fee is modest and the upside is meaningful.

Ready to test where you stand? Take a free JEE Main mock and see your indicative rank in 30 minutes.

Fee waiver and concession eligibility

The application fee itself has a built-in concession structure: female candidates and candidates from SC, ST, PwD and (for some papers) EWS / OBC-NCL categories pay a reduced fee for both JEE Main and JEE Advanced. This is not a separate "fee waiver" you have to apply for - you tick your category and gender on the form and the system computes the reduced amount automatically. The proof comes later: at the time of admit-card download (for PwD facilities) and again at JoSAA / institute reporting (for category benefit).

To claim the concessional fee, you need the matching certificate on the matching format: SC / ST in the standard central-government format from a Tehsildar or equivalent; OBC-NCL on the central-government non-creamy-layer format issued in the current financial year; EWS on the central EWS format issued in the current financial year. State-only or expired certificates are treated as no certificate at counselling, even if the form was submitted with the concessional fee. Detailed aid schemes after admission are covered on the fees and scholarships page.

JEE Advanced registration: separate, only for top ~2.5L Main qualifiers

JEE Advanced is a different exam on a different portal. Once JEE Main Session 2 results are declared, NTA publishes the list of candidates eligible for Advanced - broadly the top ~2,50,000 across categories on the Paper 1 NTA percentile ranks, with category-wise sub-quotas. If your name is on that list, you have a short window (typically 5 to 7 days) to register on jeeadv.ac.in.

• Fresh registration - your NTA login does not carry over. You create a new account on the IIT portal using your JEE Main application number, date of birth and a fresh password.
• Choose your zonal IIT- you pick one of seven IIT zones (IIT Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Roorkee) as your zone. This decides the exam city set you can choose from and which zone's answer-key portal you use later.
• Pick the language - English or Hindi. Once locked, you cannot switch on exam day; the question paper on screen will be in the language you selected here.
• Pay the Advanced fee - indicative figures for Indian nationals are around Rs 3,200 (general / OBC-NCL / EWS) and Rs 1,600 (female across categories / SC / ST / PwD); foreign nationals pay more. Confirm exact amounts on the official Information Brochure for the year.
• Upload Class 10 and 12 documents again on the IIT portal - even if you uploaded them to NTA. Advanced verifies them independently because it sets its own eligibility (year of Class 12 first attempt, age limit, number of attempts).

Indicative fees

Figures are indicative and vary by paper, category and year - foreign nationals pay more for JEE Advanced. Always confirm the exact amount in the official NTA / IIT notification before paying. For full fee concessions and aid schemes, see the fees page.