JoSAA 2026 Schedule - The Deadlines You Cannot Miss
JoSAA opened registration for JEE Main counselling on June 2, 2026, at josaa.nic.in. The portal locks on June 11, 2026, at 5:00 pm. Late registration does not exist. Miss this cutoff and your rank buys you nothing this year.
A total of 48,372 seats across NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs are available to JEE Main qualifiers through this process. The schedule below is exact. Print it. Set phone reminders for every row that applies to you.
Key Registration and Early Dates
Detailed Round-Wise Timeline
Mock allotments on June 8 and June 10 are free diagnostic runs. They show exactly which seat your current choice list would yield. Skipping them means flying blind into the real allotment. Use them to reorder, add, or delete choices before the June 11 deadline. After that, your list is frozen for all five rounds.
The full JEE Main 2026 exam calendar has the complete picture from registration through results.
Who Is Eligible for JEE Main Counselling 2026
You need exactly four things to sit at the JoSAA table.
First, a valid JEE Main 2026 rank. Without it, the portal will not let you register. Second, you must have passed Class 12 - with Physics and Mathematics as compulsory subjects, plus one of Chemistry, Biology, Biotechnology, or a technical vocational subject. Third, you need minimum aggregate marks: 75% for General, OBC-NCL, and EWS candidates; 65% for SC, ST, and PWD candidates. Candidates in the top 20 percentile of their respective state board also qualify. Fourth, for B.Arch programmes, you need 50% aggregate in Class 12 and 50% in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics individually.
One critical distinction: JoSAA allocates IIT seats exclusively to JEE Advanced rank holders. A JEE Main rank - no matter how high - will not get you an IIT seat. Your JEE Main rank opens doors to NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs. That is 48,372 seats. If that sounds like a lot, consider that roughly 14.5 lakh candidates registered for the January session alone. The ratio demands sharp strategy.
For NIT seats, the state where you first appeared for your Class 12 board examination determines your home state for the 50% home state quota. Indian nationals who passed Class 12 from an institution abroad will have their home state determined by their permanent address in India. This quota is automatic - you do not apply for it. But misreporting your state code of eligibility during registration can permanently revoke your home state benefits. Verify it carefully before submitting.
Check the full JEE Main 2026 eligibility criteria if you are unsure about your qualifying status. One missing document during verification can cancel a seat you waited six rounds to get.
Seat Matrix 2026 - How Many Seats Are Available
The official JoSAA seat matrix for 2026 confirms a total of 67,323 seats across all participating institutes. IITs, admitting through JEE Advanced, offer 18,951 seats. The remaining 48,372 seats - for NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs - are the pool accessible via your JEE Main rank.
IISc Bangalore has been included in the JoSAA process alongside the IITs for the first time this year. Its seat allocation follows the IIT-side logic, with candidates admitted through JEE Advanced ranks.
For JEE Main qualifiers, the NIT+ system (NITs, IIITs, GFTIs) provides 48,372 seats. Female candidates benefit from supernumerary seats in many programmes, designed to improve gender balance. The exact number of female-only seats varies by institute and programme - the seat matrix provides the complete breakdown. Always check the matrix on josaa.nic.in before locking your choices.
Explore the full list of colleges accepting JEE Main 2026 scores to understand your options beyond the NIT-IIIT circuit.
The Counselling Process - Step by Step
Every year, students with excellent ranks lose seats because they treat counselling as an afterthought. The process runs on rails - rigid, automated, and unforgiving. Here is exactly what you do and when.
Step 1: Register on josaa.nic.in
Visit josaa.nic.in. Log in with your JEE Main 2026 application number and password. The system pulls your details from the NTA database. Verify everything - name, date of birth, category, state code of eligibility. The state code determines your home state quota. An error here is irreversible once registration is submitted.
Registration opened June 2, 2026. The window closes June 11, 2026, at 5:00 pm. No extensions.
Step 2: Choice Filling and Locking
You will see a list of every institute and branch your rank qualifies you for. Arrange them in order of genuine preference. The algorithm reads your list from top to bottom and allocates the first choice your rank can secure. If a lower choice you genuinely prefer sits at position 15, the algorithm never reaches it - it already locked you into an earlier choice. Never put anything above something you prefer less.
Fill 15 to 20 choices minimum. More choices mean more shots across rounds. Use the mock allotments on June 8 and June 10 to test your list. If the mock assigns a safety choice, your realistic tier needs recalibration.
Before finalising, study the JEE Main 2026 cutoffs - particularly the category-specific opening and closing ranks from the previous year. JoSAA released Round 1 cutoffs on June 13, 2026. For example, IIT Bombay CSE closed at AIR 66 for General category, while NIT Trichy CSE closed at 1,317 for the same category. These numbers reveal the competitive landscape. Use them to calibrate your aspirational, realistic, and safety tiers.
Lock your choices at least 24 hours before the June 11 deadline. The portal destabilises in the final six hours.
Step 3: Freeze, Float, or Slide
After each round's seat allotment, you must choose one of three options. This decision determines whether you climb or stall.
- Freeze: You accept the seat as final. You exit all future rounds. Choose this only if you got your top preference or are genuinely unwilling to risk the current seat.
- Float: You accept the current seat as a floor but stay eligible for any higher-preference choice on your list across all institutes. If a better seat opens in a later round, you get it automatically. If nothing better materialises, you keep this one. Float is correct in rounds 1 through 4 for most candidates.
- Slide: You accept the current seat but request an upgrade only within the same institute - a better branch. You will not be moved to a different college.
Float and Slide are unavailable in the final round (Round 5). Only Freeze or Withdraw apply there. The most common JoSAA regret is freezing too early - especially in Round 1 or 2 - and watching better seats open in later rounds while you sit locked out. If your current allotment is not in your top three preferences, Float. Slide is the right tool when you have already landed your target institute and only want a branch upgrade.
A JEE Main college predictor tool can help you gauge upgrade probabilities before you commit.
Step 4: Pay the Seat Acceptance Fee and Upload Documents
Once you accept a seat, the seat acceptance fee (SAF) is due immediately within that round's reporting window.
This fee includes a non-refundable ₹5,000 JoSAA processing charge. Pay it on day one of the acceptance window. Bank declines and portal timeouts have killed seats.
After payment, upload scanned copies of all required documents through the portal. Blurred uploads trigger queries. Unresolved queries lead to automatic seat cancellation. The query resolution window is typically two days after the reporting deadline.
Step 5: Document Verification and Reporting
JoSAA officials verify your uploaded documents after each round's fee payment. Discrepancies in name spelling, category certificate format, or date of birth trigger a query. You must respond within the specified window. Miss it and your seat is cancelled.
If you hold an NIT+ system seat at the end of Round 5, one final mandatory step remains: the Partial Admission Fee (PAF). Pay it between July 22 and July 24, 2026, by 5:00 pm. General, OBC-NCL, and EWS candidates pay ₹45,000. SC, ST, and PWD candidates pay ₹20,000. Failure to pay PAF cancels your seat automatically.
Home State Quota in NITs - How It Works
Half of all NIT seats are reserved for candidates who completed Class 12 in the same state where the NIT is located. This is the home state (HS) quota. The other half is the other state (OS) quota, open to everyone else. Some NITs also have an all-India quota for specific programmes, but the 50-50 split is the dominant structure.
The state code of eligibility - which determines your home state - is based on where you first appeared for your Class 12 board examination. If you passed Class 12 from an institution abroad, your permanent address in India determines your home state. This is fixed at registration and cannot be changed later.
Home state closing ranks are typically 30-50% higher (i.e., easier to obtain) than other state closing ranks for the same branch. A student from Tamil Nadu with AIR 15,000 might not get NIT Trichy CSE under the OS quota - but might comfortably secure it under HS. Put your home state NITs high enough on your choice list. The algorithm will never reach them if you bury them at the bottom.
Some NITs have special sub-quotas within the HS pool. For example, NIT Goa reserves 80% of its HS seats for Goa candidates and 20% for candidates from Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Lakshadweep. NIT Srinagar reserves 90% of HS seats for J&K candidates and 10% for Ladakh. Check the JoSAA business rules for any such sub-quotas that apply to you.
CSAB 2026 - The Second Chance After JoSAA
After JoSAA's five rounds close, the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) runs additional rounds in August to fill vacant NIT, IIIT, and GFTI seats. CSAB is not a consolation round. Every year, students move from mediocre JoSAA allotments to far better branches and institutes through this window.
CSAB Special Round Schedule 2026
CSAB requires fresh registration on csab.nic.in. Your JoSAA registration does not carry over. The special round enrolment fee (SREF) varies by your candidate type - for fresh applicants it is nil plus a seat acceptance component, while for those who already paid fees in JoSAA and are looking for an upgrade, it can range up to ₹75,000 for general category. The exact amount depends on your JoSAA participation history. The CSAB portal displays a candidate-type-specific fee during registration.
A critical rule: if you are holding a JoSAA seat and CSAB allocates you a new seat, your JoSAA seat is automatically cancelled. You cannot hold both. Before entering CSAB choices, list only branches you genuinely prefer over your current seat.
Documents Required for JoSAA Counselling 2026
Keep every document scanned, named consistently, and stored in at least two locations. One missing or blurry document during online reporting cancels your seat. This is not a hypothetical.
Core Documents for All Candidates
- JEE Main 2026 scorecard
- JEE Main 2026 admit card
- Class 10 certificate (proof of date of birth) or Aadhaar card or birth certificate
- Class 12 marksheet and passing certificate
- JoSAA provisional seat allotment letter (downloaded after each round)
- Government-issued photo ID (Aadhaar, passport, or voter ID)
- Three recent passport-size photographs (same as uploaded during JEE Main registration)
- Crossed bank cheque copy or passbook image with account details (for refund routing)
Category-Specific Documents
- SC/ST certificate: Issued by a competent authority in the Government of India format. Must be in the candidate's name.
- OBC-NCL certificate: Must explicitly state "non-creamy layer." Issued in the central government format, dated on or after April 1, 2026. Certificates in state-specific formats are rejected. This is the single most common rejection reason.
- EWS certificate: Issued by a competent authority, certifying family income below ₹8 lakh per annum. Issued in the current financial year.
- PWD certificate: From a government hospital or medical board, specifying type and percentage of disability (40% or more). Candidates with less than 40% disability but with writing difficulty need an additional certificate.
Upload Specifications
Scan each document at 300 dpi minimum. Save as PDF, under 1 MB per file. Photographs and signatures must be in JPEG format, under 100 KB each. Poor-quality scans trigger queries. If a verifying officer cannot read your certificate details, your seat is at risk.
The OBC-NCL certificate requires extra attention. Do not assume last year's certificate is valid. Get a fresh one issued in FY 2025-26 before counselling begins. The JEE Main 2026 registration guide details the exact document formats for the application phase.
Medical Certificate for JoSAA 2026
The medical certificate is mandatory. Your seat confirmation is incomplete without it. The official format - Annexure 7 of the JoSAA business rules - must be downloaded from josaa.nic.in. Formats from third-party sites are rejected even if they look identical.
Who can sign: A registered medical practitioner (MBBS or higher) with a valid Medical Council of India or National Medical Commission registration number. The certifying doctor must not be below the rank of Assistant Surgeon. Your family doctor or a private clinic physician qualifies as long as they hold the credentials.
What gets checked: Height, weight, blood pressure, vision (corrected to 6/9 in both eyes or 6/6 in the better eye is acceptable; wearing spectacles is fine), colour blindness, hearing, chest measurement, and a general fitness declaration. The doctor must explicitly write "Fit" in the fitness declaration field. Leaving it blank causes rejection.
Upload rules: Scan the completed, signed, and stamped certificate as a PDF under 500 KB. Upload it through the JoSAA portal during your round's reporting window. Keep the original physical copy for when you report to the allotted institute.
If the certificate is rejected online - due to blur, missing stamp, or wrong format - a query will appear on your dashboard. You will have 24 to 48 hours to fix the issue and re-upload. Check your JoSAA login daily after submission.
Seat Acceptance Fee and Partial Admission Fee - The Complete Math
Two payments govern your JoSAA seat. Confusing them is expensive.
Seat Acceptance Fee (SAF): Paid after your first seat allotment in any round. It confirms you accept the seat and wish to continue.
₹5,000 of this is a non-refundable JoSAA processing charge. The balance adjusts against your final institute admission fee.
Partial Admission Fee (PAF): Applicable only to NIT+ system seats (NITs, IIITs, GFTIs). Paid once after Round 5, between July 22 and July 24, 2026.
PAF is completely non-refundable once paid. A General-category candidate holding an NIT seat pays a total of ₹75,000 (SAF + PAF), all of which adjusts against the institute fee except the ₹5,000 processing charge.
Withdrawal and Refund Rules
You can withdraw from the JoSAA process starting from Round 2 and only up to the end of Round 4 - for candidates who have been allotted a seat. If you have not been allotted any seat, you can exit the process from Round 2 through Round 4 as well. Withdrawal after Round 4 is not permitted; you must either freeze or accept the final allotment.
Here is how the refund math works:
- Voluntary withdrawal before the final round: SAF is refunded minus a ₹7,000 withdrawal processing charge. A General-category candidate gets ₹23,000 back. An SC/ST/PWD candidate gets ₹8,000.
- Seat cancelled by JoSAA due to document discrepancy or eligibility failure: SAF is refunded minus ₹5,000 (the standard processing charge). General category: ₹25,000. Reserved category: ₹10,000.
- PAF refund: PAF is never refunded by JoSAA. If your seat is cancelled after PAF payment, contact the allotted institute directly.
- No action taken (missed deadline, no withdrawal, no PAF payment): SAF is forfeited entirely.
Refunds are credited to the same bank account used for SAF payment. Processing takes 15 to 30 working days.
Eight Common Mistakes That Cost Students Their Seats
1. Locking choices before using both mock allotment rounds. The June 8 and June 10 mocks exist specifically to test your list. Use them.
2. Filling too few choices. A list with 8 or 10 options is a gamble. Fill at least 15 to 20. There is no penalty for length.
3. Ignoring category-specific cutoffs. General-category rank lists mislead reserved-category candidates. Download the category-specific opening and closing ranks from josaa.nic.in before finalising choices.
4. Freezing in Round 1 or Round 2. Unless you received your absolute top preference, Float. Early freezing is the most common and costliest JoSAA regret.
5. Missing the document upload or fee payment deadline. Selecting Freeze/Float/Slide without uploading documents and paying SAF within the same round window is treated as an incomplete response. Your seat is cancelled.
6. Using Float when Slide was the right call. Float can move you to a completely different college. If your only goal is a better branch at the same institute, use Slide.
7. Assuming JEE Main rank gives IIT access. It does not. IIT seats in JoSAA are exclusively for JEE Advanced rank holders. Do not fill IIT choices if you only have a JEE Main rank.
8. Skipping CSAB entirely. After JoSAA closes, hundreds of seats across NITs and IIITs remain vacant. CSAB cutoffs drop significantly. Many students ignore this second window and leave a better seat on the table.