JEE Main 2023: Who all are not required to take JEE for admissions to IITs?

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Students in the categories had to previously appear for the preliminary entrance exam for the IITs so as to qualify for the Advanced exam that determined admissions. But they were included in the foreign nationals category in the 2022 admission cycle. The new rule, in line with procedure for foreign national students, states that OCI and PIO students including those studying in India can directly register to appear for the JEE-Advanced.

The OCI and PIO candidates can appear for the JEE-Main if they wish to. Their score, however, will not be considered for the JEE-Advanced shortlist.

“The foreign national candidates who have studied or are studying in India or abroad at 10+2 level or equivalent at the time of registering for JEE (Advanced) 2023 are not required to write JEE (Main) 2023 and may register for JEE (Advanced) 2023 directly subject to fulfilment of other eligibility criteria,” the IIT Guwahati brochure says. It clarifies, “candidates who are not citizens of India (by birth or naturalized) and/or are OCI/PIO card holders are treated as foreign nationals.”

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Confirming the relaxation, Bishnupada Mandal, chairman for the JEE-Advanced 2023, told The Indian Express, “The OCI or PIO candidates were considered as foreign nationals even in last year’s process. But they had to appear for the JEE-Main to get shortlisted for JEE-Advanced. But after being termed as foreign nationals, their fee-structure changed automatically. It was decided that the criteria for their entrance exam had to be in line for foreign nationals. They are not required to write JEE-Main. This change will be applicable from JEE-Advanced 2023.”

With this change, the OCI or PIO candidates will now be admitted to IITs through the 10 per cent supernumerary seats created for foreign nationals and not through the general pool of seats for Indian students. They will also not be able to avail reservations.

“Seats allotted to such foreign national candidates are supernumerary with a cap of 10 percent of total number of seats in every course. These candidates are outside the ambit of reservation of seats under the GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and PwD categories. There are no separate supernumerary seats or subcategory for females in the foreign national supernumerary seats,” the information brochure states.

The move, the IITs expect, will create more foreign nationals seats in the IITs as OCI and PIO students would seek admissions through a separate merit and will no longer have to compete in the competitive Common Rank List (CRL) after the JEE-Advanced.

But the number of foreign candidates who appear for the JEE-Advanced has always been low. Among those who do appear, a very small number qualifies for a seat. Only few among them end up getting their preferred course or confirm their admission, keeping the number of foreign nationals, especially in the undergraduate courses, very nominal in the IITs.

Over the past five years, the number of foreign nationals that have been offered seats in the IITs have not crossed 10. After OCI/PIO candidates were included under the foreign nationals category, the combined number rose up to 66.

Mandal said, “A total of 296 candidates have registered for JEE-Advanced 2022. This included OCI/PIO who were shortlisted from JEE-Main. Due to this, the number of candidates was not quite high. It was reduced further as only 280 of them actually appeared for the JEE-Advanced 2022. Out of them, only 145 qualified. Only 66 of them joined IITs. “

“With OCI or PIO candidates not having to compete in the Common Rank List (CRL) to get admission to course of their choice, we hope the number of foreign nationals confirming admissions in IITs to increase as more of them are likely to grab seat in courses of their choice with a separate merit dedicated to fill the 10 percent supernumerary seats in each course,” Mandal added.