UPSC ESE Admit Card 2027: Prelims e-Admit Card on upsconline

The ESE 2027 Preliminary (Stage-I) e-Admit Card is not out yet: the Prelims is on 31 January 2027, and UPSC issues the e-Admit Card on the last working day of the week before the exam, on https://upsconline.nic.in. In the 2026 cycle, UPSC uploaded the Prelims e-Admit Cards on 30 January 2026 and the Main e-Admit Cards on 12 June 2026. The ESE 2026 interviews, called by e-Summon Letter rather than admit card, are scheduled to run until 30 October 2026.

How will the ESE 2027 e-Admit Card be issued?

Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG. says eligible candidates get the e-Admit Card on the last working day of the preceding week, for download from the Commission's website https://upsconline.nic.in, and no admit card is sent by post. Candidates who changed their scribe seven days before the exam receive it three days before the exam.

If you have no e-Admit Card one week before the exam, contact UPSC at once, in person at the Facilitation Counter or on 011-24041001 / 011-40303444. A candidate who has not written to UPSC at least one week before the exam is solely responsible for not receiving the card. Holding an e-Admit Card does not clear your candidature; UPSC verifies original documents only after you qualify for the Personality Test.

What to check on the ESE e-Admit Card

The notice asks you to check the card carefully and report errors to UPSC immediately. For the 2026 Prelims, UPSC's press note of 30 January 2026 asked candidates to confirm the Name, Photograph and QR Code, and to send discrepancies to [email protected]. It also told candidates to keep the e-Admit Card until the final results of the Engineering Services Examination, 2026.

Exam-day rules for the ESE Prelims

• Entry closes 30 minutes before each session, and nobody is let in after that. For the 2026 Prelims, Paper-I ran 09:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. and Paper-II 2:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M., so entry closed at 09:00 AM and 01:30 PM.
• Face authentication is mandatory, along with identity verification and frisking, so arrive well in time.
• Bring the e-Admit Card printout and the Photo ID whose number is on it, for each session. If the photograph on the card is not clear, bring a photo identity card and two passport sized photographs, one for each session.
• Use a black ball pen only on the OMR answer sheet; a wrong Roll Number or Test Booklet Series code can get the sheet rejected.
• Calculators are allowed only in the conventional (Main) papers; do not bring one to the objective Prelims papers.
• Banned: mobile phones even when switched off, smart watches, AI enabled glasses, pen drives, Bluetooth devices and bags. There is no safe-keeping at the venue.
• In 2026, candidates could take in only the e-Admit Card print, pen, pencil, identity proof and self-photographs. A candidate with a changed name needed a Government-issued photo ID in that name for each session.

ESE admit card release in past cycles

ESE Main admit card and interview e-Summon Letter

The Main needs a fresh e-Admit Card. The ESE 2026 Prelims result note told qualified candidates to download Main e-admit cards around one week before the Main, which was held on 21 June 2026. The ESE 2027 Main is fixed for 18 June 2027.

For the Personality Test, UPSC issues e-Summon Letters on https://upsconline.nic.in. The ESE 2026 interview notice of 7 September 2026 scheduled 1336 candidates from Monday, 21 September 2026, with reporting at 0900 hours (forenoon) and 1300 hours (afternoon). The e-Summon Letter was generated only for candidates who submitted the application form in the window from 07.08.2026 to 21.08.2026, with the Socio-Economic Questionnaire. Travel costs are reimbursed only up to Second/Sleeper class train fare (Mail Express).