When JEE Advanced results dropped on June 1, 2026, I started digging into exactly how JoSAA counselling works this year. I spent a good amount of time going through the official Business Rules document released by JoSAA, the full schedule, and search trend data to understand what students actually need to know. What I found is that JoSAA counselling is more layered than most guides make it out to be. So I decided to put together everything in one place. While researching, I also found out that JoSAA Registration is ongoing. If you have qualified in JEE Advanced, it’s your chance to pick the top engineering colleges through JoSAA counselling. Whether you are figuring out eligibility, trying to understand the seat acceptance fee, or want to know what Freeze, Float, and Slide actually mean, I have covered it all below.
What Will I Cover in This Blog?
- What JoSAA counselling is and who it is for
- Full JoSAA 2026 schedule with round-wise dates
- Who is eligible to participate in JoSAA counselling
- How the registration and choice filling process works
- Seat acceptance fee and partial admission fee details
- What Freeze, Float, and Slide mean
- Documents required for JoSAA counselling
- Participating institutes under JoSAA 2026
- JoSAA opening and closing ranks from previous years
- Refund policy and withdrawal process
- Frequently asked questions
What is JoSAA Counselling
JoSAA stands for Joint Seat Allocation Authority. It is the single platform that handles seat allocation for IITs, IISc, NITs, IIEST Shibpur, IIITs, and other Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs) for the academic year 2026-27.
The process is entirely online and run by JoSAA in partnership with the JEE Apex Board (for IITs and IISc) and CSAB (for the NIT+ system). The official portal is josaa.nic.in and that is the only legitimate source for all activity. You log in using your JEE Main application number and password. No separate sign-up is needed.
Qualifying JEE Main or JEE Advanced does not guarantee a seat. It only makes you eligible to participate in JoSAA counselling. Seat allocation depends on your rank, your category, the choices you fill, and seat availability.
JoSAA Counselling 2026 Dates
The schedule for JoSAA counselling 2026 is available. Missing a single deadline can cost you your seat. The entire cousnelling process will be conducted in five rounds. Registration and choice filling opened on June 2, 2026. The final round wraps up on July 21, 2026 for IITs and IISc. NIT+ system candidates have an extended window for Partial Admission Fee payment up to July 24, 2026. I went through the official JoSAA 2026 schedule document and put together the full round-wise timeline below:
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| JEE (Main) 2026 Ranks Declared | April 20, 2026 |
| JEE (Advanced) 2026 Result | June 1, 2026 |
| JoSAA Registration and Choice Filling Opens | June 2, 2026 |
| Pre-payment of Seat Acceptance Fee Begins | June 2, 2026 |
| Mock Seat Allocation 1 | June 8, 2026 |
| Mock Seat Allocation 2 / Candidates Can Lock Choices | June 10, 2026 |
| Choice Filling Ends / Auto-Lock | June 11, 2026 |
| Pre-payment of Seat Acceptance Fee Ends | June 11, 2026 |
| Data Reconciliation by JoSAA | June 12, 2026 |
| Round 1 Seat Allocation | June 13, 2026 |
| Round 1 Online Reporting Window | June 13 to June 26, 2026 |
| Last Date for Fee Payment (Round 1) | June 26, 2026 |
| Resolution of Fee Payment Issues (Round 1) | June 29, 2026 |
| Last Date to Respond to Queries (Round 1) | June 29, 2026 |
| Round 2 Seat Allocation | June 30, 2026 |
| Round 2 Online Reporting Window | June 30 to July 3, 2026 |
| Last Date for Fee Payment (Round 2) | July 3, 2026 |
| Resolution of Fee Payment Issues (Round 2) | July 4, 2026 |
| Withdrawal/Exit Initiation (Round 2) | July 1 to July 3, 2026 |
| Last Date to Respond to Queries (Round 2) | July 5, 2026 |
| Round 3 Seat Allocation | July 6, 2026 |
| Round 3 Online Reporting Window | July 6 to July 8, 2026 |
| Last Date for Fee Payment (Round 3) | July 8, 2026 |
| Resolution of Fee Payment Issues (Round 3) | July 9, 2026 |
| Withdrawal/Exit Initiation (Round 3) | July 7 to July 8, 2026 |
| Last Date to Respond to Queries (Round 3) | July 9, 2026 |
| Round 4 Seat Allocation | July 10, 2026 |
| Round 4 Online Reporting Window | July 10 to July 13, 2026 |
| Last Date for Fee Payment (Round 4) | July 13, 2026 |
| Resolution of Fee Payment Issues (Round 4) | July 14, 2026 |
| Withdrawal/Exit Initiation (Round 4) | July 11 to July 14, 2026 |
| Last Round for Withdrawal/Exit for IITs/IISc | July 14, 2026 |
| Last Date to Respond to Queries (Round 4) | July 15, 2026 |
| Round 5 Seat Allocation (Final Round for IITs/IISc) | July 16, 2026 |
| Round 5 Online Reporting Window | July 16 to July 20, 2026 |
| Last Date for Fee Payment (Round 5) | July 20, 2026 |
| Last Date to Respond to Queries (Round 5) | July 21, 2026 |
| NIT+ Withdrawal Window (Round 5) | July 16 to July 20, 2026 |
| Partial Admission Fee (PAF) Payment Window (NIT+ Only) | July 22 to July 24, 2026 |
Round 5 is the final round for IITs and IISc. If you have not been allocated a seat through Rounds 1 to 4 and you do not exit before Round 5, you will be automatically considered for whatever seat becomes available. Accepting that seat makes you ineligible for JEE Advanced 2027.
JoSAA Counselling Eligibility Criteria 2026
JoSAA counselling eligibility is not just about qualifying for an exam. There is a Class XII performance requirement attached to it. Based on the official business rules, participation is open to candidates who meet any one of the following criteria:
For IITs and IISc:
- Qualified JEE Advanced 2026 for regular academic programs and meets the Class XII performance requirement (75% aggregate marks with PCM as compulsory subjects, or 65% for SC/ST/PwD candidates, or top 20 percentile category-wise in their board)
- Qualified JEE Advanced 2026 for preparatory courses and meets the same Class XII performance requirement
For NIT+ System (NITs, IIEST, IIITs, and GFTIs):
- Secured a rank in JEE Main 2026 Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.) and appeared in Class XII for the first time in 2024, 2025, or 2026 with 75% aggregate (65% for SC/ST/PwD) or top 20 percentile in the board
- Secured a rank in JEE Main 2026 Paper IIA (B.Arch.) with the same Class XII performance requirement
- Secured a rank in JEE Main 2026 Paper IIB (B.Plan.) with the same Class XII performance requirement
A few things worth noting:
- If you appeared in Class XII for the first time in 2025 and reappear for improvement in 2026, the best of the two performances is counted
- If you are trying to meet the top 20 percentile criterion, you must reappear in all subjects, not just select ones
- Candidates undergoing revaluation should still register and fill choices even if not yet eligible
What I Found About JoSAA Registration and Choice Filling
JoSAA counselling registration is free of cost. No fee is charged to register or fill choices. Payment only comes in at the seat acceptance stage. Here is how the registration and choice filling process works based on what I read in the business rules:
- Step 1: Use your JEE Main 2026 Application Number and password at josaa.nic.in to log in. Foreign nationals and OCI/PIO card holders who did not appear in JEE Main use their JEE Advanced direct registration credentials.
- Step 2: You reconfirm basic details, including gender, state code of eligibility, and nationality for registration. You also provide contact information.
- Step 3: Next is the Choice Filling round. This is where you select academic program and institute combinations and rank them in order of preference. An ‘academic program’ in JoSAA means a branch and institute combination. So B.Tech. Computer Science at IIT Bombay and B.Tech. Computer Science at IIT Delhi is two separate choices.
- Step 4: The last stage is locking choices. You need to lock your choices before June 11, 2026. If you do not lock, the system auto-locks whatever was last saved. If nothing was saved, you are out.
A few things worth noting here:
- You can request an OTP-based unlock to edit choices after locking, but only before the June 11 deadline
- Two mock seat allocations run during the window (June 8 and June 10), so you can preview results before actual rounds
- Only one seat is allocated per candidate, even if you qualified for both JEE Advanced and JEE Main
The Data I Put Together on JoSAA Counselling Fees
This is one of the most searched topics I found in the keyword data. Here is the full breakdown:
Seat Acceptance Fee
After a seat is allocated, you must pay the seat acceptance fee to confirm your participation. The fee structure from the 2026 business rules is as follows:
| Category | Seat Acceptance Fee |
|---|---|
| SC, ST, GEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD | Rs. 15,000 (includes Rs. 5,000 JoSAA processing charge) |
| All other candidates (GEN, OBC-NCL, GEN-EWS) | Rs. 30,000 (includes Rs. 5,000 JoSAA processing charge) |
The Rs. 5,000 processing charge is non-refundable. The rest is adjusted against the actual admission fee of the institute.
Pre-payment is optional but JoSAA recommends it. This window is open from June 2 to June 11, 2026. If you pre-pay and are not allocated any seat, the full amount is refunded.
Partial Admission Fee (NIT+ System Only)
After Round 5, NIT+ system candidates with a provisionally allocated seat must additionally pay the Partial Admission Fee. The PAF window is July 22 to July 24, 2026.
| Category | Partial Admission Fee |
|---|---|
| SC, ST, GEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD | Rs. 20,000 |
| All other candidates | Rs. 45,000 |
PAF is adjusted against the institute admission fee but is non-refundable once paid.
JoSAA Counselling Fees Refund Policy
- If you withdraw your seat in Rounds 2 to 4: Seat acceptance fee refunded minus Rs. 7,000 withdrawal processing charge
- If JoSAA cancels your seat due to document issues (not fraud): Refunded minus Rs. 5,000 processing charge
- If you did not get any seat and had pre-paid: Full refund
What I Learned About Freeze, Float, and Slide in JoSAA Counselling
After a seat is allocated, you must accept it by choosing one of three options. These options determine whether and how you participate in subsequent rounds.
- Freeze means you are satisfied with the allocated seat and do not want to participate further. The seat is confirmed.
- Float means you accept the current seat but want to be considered for any higher-preference program in any institute in the next round. If a better option opens up in your choice list, your seat moves there. If not, you keep the current one.
- Slide works like Float but within the same institute only. If a higher-preference branch in the same college opens up in the next round, your seat moves there.
A few important points:
- If you get your first choice program, Freeze is the only option available
- Float and Slide are not available in Round 5 (the last round)
- If a higher-preference seat is offered through Float or Slide and you reject it, you lose all seats and exit JoSAA counselling entirely
Documents Required for JoSAA Counselling
Documents need to be uploaded during online reporting. If the reporting officer raises a query, you must respond before the round deadline or your seat gets cancelled.
Here is the document list for IITs and IISc:
- Class X certificate, Aadhaar Card, or Birth Certificate (for date of birth proof)
- Class XII marksheet
- Category certificate (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/GEN-EWS), if applicable, issued on or after April 1, 2026
- PwD certificate with UDID card, if applicable
- Certificate for persons with less than 40% disability, if applicable
- Crossed bank cheque copy or passbook image with account details
- Medical certificate in JoSAA format (Annexure 7)
- OCI/PIO card, if applicable
- Passport or citizenship certificate, if applicable
For NIT+ system, the list is the same with one addition:
- JEE Main 2026 Admit Card
One thing to keep in mind about OBC-NCL certificates: the certificate must either be issued on or after April 1, 2026, or be a government-issued online verifiable certificate valid till at least August 31, 2026.
What the JoSAA Seat Allotment Process Actually Looks Like
The allocation is based on four things: your category tag, your rank in the applicable rank list(s), the order of your filled choices, and seat availability. The system checks your choices in order and assigns the highest possible choice for which you are eligible.
The rank lists used in JoSAA counselling are:
- CRL (Common Rank List)
- GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST
- CRL-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD
A candidate can appear in more than one rank list. If you are a GEN-EWS candidate who also appears in the CRL, the system checks OPEN seats first, then GEN-EWS seats.
Two mock seat allocations (June 8 and June 10) run before actual rounds. These give you a preview of where you might land. They do not allocate any seat.
Seat Allotment for Female Candidates
Female candidates get access to two seat pools: Gender-Neutral and Female-Only. The Female-Only pool contains supernumerary seats created to ensure at least 20% female enrollment in IITs, IISc, NITs, IIEST, and some IIITs.
- Female candidates are considered for the Female-Only pool first
- If they do not get a seat there, they compete in the Gender-Neutral pool
- Non-female candidates can only access the Gender-Neutral pool
- Female-Only seats that remain vacant cannot be reallocated to non-female candidates
JoSAA Opening and Closing Rank 2025 (Previous Year Data)
The opening and closing ranks are what most students want to see before building their choice list. The opening rank is the best rank that received a seat in a given program, category, and institute. The closing rank is the last rank that got a seat. JoSAA counselling uses these terms for every round and they shift as rounds progress.
All IIT ranks below are based on JEE Advanced AIR. All NIT and GFTI ranks are based on JEE Main CRL. The data below is from the final round of JoSAA 2025 (Round 6 for NITs/GFTIs), Open category, Gender-Neutral seats.
JoSAA IIT Opening and Closing Ranks 2025 (B.Tech CSE, Open GN)
I pulled this data from the official JoSAA 2025 records. These are JEE Advanced All India Ranks for B.Tech Computer Science Engineering in the Open (GEN) Gender-Neutral category.
| Institute | Opening Rank 2025 | Closing Rank 2025 | Closing Rank 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IIT Bombay | 1 | 66 | 68 |
| IIT Delhi | 24 | 126 | 116 |
| IIT Madras | 79 | 171 | 159 |
| IIT Kanpur | 147 | 271 | 252 |
| IIT Kharagpur | 238 | 466 | 415 |
| IIT Roorkee | 275 | 592 | 481 |
| IIT Hyderabad | 339 | 673 | 656 |
| IIT Guwahati | 504 | 792 | 623 |
| IIT (BHU) Varanasi | 747 | 1,489 | 1,071 |
| IIT Gandhinagar | 905 | 2,020 | 1,708 |
| IIT Indore | 952 | 1,775 | 1,389 |
| IIT Ropar | 1,680 | 2,512 | 2,379 |
| IIT Jodhpur | 2,269 | 2,918 | 3,061 |
| IIT Mandi | 2,096 | 3,123 | 3,118 |
| IIT Patna | 1,954 | 3,377 | 3,144 |
| IIT (ISM) Dhanbad | 2,143 | 3,585 | 3,846 |
| IIT Bhubaneswar | 2,344 | 4,162 | 3,685 |
| IIT Tirupati | 1,916 | 5,034 | 5,024 |
| IIT Goa | 4,256 | 6,242 | 5,371 |
| IIT Palakkad | 4,530 | 6,454 | 6,199 |
| IIT Dharwad | 4,742 | 7,208 | 6,375 |
| IIT Jammu | 4,704 | 6,651 | 6,310 |
| IIT Bhilai | 4,462 | 7,382 | 6,516 |
Source: josaa.nic.in official allotment data, Final Round 2025. Ranks are for B.Tech CSE, Open Category, Gender-Neutral only. Cutoffs for other branches and categories will differ.
A few observations I noted from this data:
- IIT Bombay has maintained a CSE closing rank of 66 to 68 across 2024 and 2025, making it the most competitive program in the country
- IIT Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, and Kharagpur all close within AIR 500 for CSE in the open category
- Newer IITs (Bhilai, Dharwad, Jammu, Goa) closed CSE above AIR 6,000, giving candidates in the mid-rank range a viable IIT option
JoSAA NIT Opening and Closing Ranks 2025 (B.Tech CSE, Open GN, Other State Quota)
These are JEE Main CRL ranks for B.Tech Computer Science Engineering, Open (GEN) category, Other State (OS) quota, from the final round of JoSAA 2025.
| Institute | Opening Rank 2025 | Closing Rank 2025 | Closing Rank 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIT Tiruchirappalli | 659 | 1,449 | 1,224 |
| NIT Karnataka, Surathkal | 1,191 | 1,827 | 1,615 |
| NIT Warangal | 1,521 | 2,409 | 2,186 |
| NIT Rourkela | 2,442 | 3,431 | 2,940 |
| MNIT Jaipur | 3,027 | 5,601 | 4,711 |
| NIT Calicut | 3,651 | 5,222 | 4,482 |
| NIT Delhi | 2,363 | 7,651 | 8,018 |
| NIT Silchar | 8,010 | 12,665 | 11,930 |
Source: josaa.nic.in official allotment data, Final Round 2025. Ranks are for B.Tech CSE, Open/GEN Category, Other State (OS) Quota, Gender-Neutral. Home State quota closing ranks are typically more relaxed for the same branch.
A few things I noted from this NIT data:
- NIT Trichy has the tightest CSE cutoff among all NITs, closing around CRL 1,450 in OS quota. This roughly requires 99.5 to 99.7 percentile in JEE Main
- NIT Surathkal and NIT Warangal form a strong second tier, both closing under CRL 2,500
- The Home State quota advantage is real. For home state candidates, the same branch often closes at considerably higher rank numbers
- Round 1 and Round 6 closing ranks for top NITs had a gap of 8 to 15% in 2025, so do not give up on a target based on Round 1 data alone
JoSAA GFTI Opening and Closing Ranks 2025
GFTIs generally have more accessible closing ranks compared to NITs and IITs. A few examples from 2025 final round data for reference:
| Institute | Program | Category | Closing Rank 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BIT Mesra, Ranchi | B.Tech CSE | Open, AI | 15,000 to 18,000 |
| PEC Chandigarh | B.Tech CSE | Open, AI | 12,000 to 16,000 |
| Tezpur University | B.Tech CSE | Open, AI | 35,000 to 45,000 |
| Assam University, Silchar | B.Tech CSE | Open, AI | 50,000 to 65,000 |
Check: JEE Advanced College Predictor
What I Found About the JoSAA Seat Matrix
The seat matrix is the total number of seats available across all programs, institutes, categories, and quotas in JoSAA counselling. It is published on josaa.nic.in at the start of each year.
The seat matrix is split into Program-Sections:
- OPEN, GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST
- OPEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD
For NIT+ institutes, each of these sections is further split by quota (Home State, Other State, or All India depending on the institute). JoSAA itself does not decide the seat matrix. Each participating institute provides its own seat data to JoSAA.
Participating Institutes in JoSAA Counselling 2026
I pulled the complete list from Annexure 1 of the official business rules document. The table below covers all four categories of institutes participating in JoSAA counselling 2026.
IITs and IISc (24 Institutes)
| S.No. | Institute |
|---|---|
| 1 | Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai |
| 2 | Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi |
| 3 | Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar |
| 4 | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay |
| 5 | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi |
| 6 | Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar |
| 7 | Indian Institute of Technology Goa |
| 8 | Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati |
| 9 | Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad |
| 10 | Indian Institute of Technology Indore |
| 11 | Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad |
| 12 | Indian Institute of Technology Jammu |
| 13 | Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur |
| 14 | Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur |
| 15 | Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad |
| 16 | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur |
| 17 | Indian Institute of Technology Madras |
| 18 | Indian Institute of Technology Mandi |
| 19 | Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad |
| 20 | Indian Institute of Technology Patna |
| 21 | Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee |
| 22 | Indian Institute of Technology Ropar |
| 23 | Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati |
| 24 | Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru |
NITs and IIEST Shibpur (32 Institutes)
| S.No. | Institute |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar |
| 2 | Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur |
| 3 | Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal |
| 4 | Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad |
| 5 | National Institute of Technology Agartala |
| 6 | National Institute of Technology Andhra Pradesh |
| 7 | National Institute of Technology Calicut |
| 8 | National Institute of Technology Delhi |
| 9 | National Institute of Technology Durgapur |
| 10 | National Institute of Technology Goa |
| 11 | National Institute of Technology Hamirpur |
| 12 | National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal |
| 13 | National Institute of Technology Meghalaya |
| 14 | National Institute of Technology Nagaland |
| 15 | National Institute of Technology Patna |
| 16 | National Institute of Technology Puducherry |
| 17 | National Institute of Technology Raipur |
| 18 | National Institute of Technology Sikkim |
| 19 | National Institute of Technology Arunachal Pradesh |
| 20 | National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur |
| 21 | National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra |
| 22 | National Institute of Technology Manipur |
| 23 | National Institute of Technology Mizoram |
| 24 | National Institute of Technology Rourkela |
| 25 | National Institute of Technology Silchar |
| 26 | National Institute of Technology Srinagar |
| 27 | National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli |
| 28 | National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand |
| 29 | National Institute of Technology Warangal |
| 30 | Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology Surat |
| 31 | Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur |
| 32 | Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur |
IIITs (26 Institutes)
| S.No. | Institute |
|---|---|
| 1 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee IIITM Gwalior |
| 2 | Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad |
| 3 | IIITDM Kancheepuram |
| 4 | IIIT Dharwad |
| 5 | IIIT Guwahati |
| 6 | IIIT Kalyani |
| 7 | IIIT Kota |
| 8 | IIIT Kottayam |
| 9 | IIITDM Kurnool |
| 10 | IIIT Lucknow |
| 11 | IIIT Manipur |
| 12 | IIIT Nagpur |
| 13 | IIIT Pune |
| 14 | IIIT Ranchi |
| 15 | IIIT Sonipat |
| 16 | IIIT Sri City, Chittoor |
| 17 | IIIT Tiruchirappalli |
| 18 | IIIT Una |
| 19 | IIIT Vadodara |
| 20 | IIIT Bhagalpur |
| 21 | IIIT Surat |
| 22 | IIIT Bhopal |
| 23 | PDPM IIITDM Jabalpur |
| 24 | IIIT Agartala |
| 25 | IIIT Raichur |
| 26 | IIIT Vadodara International Campus (Diu) |
Other-GFTIs (56 Institutes)
Some of the notable Other-GFTIs participating in JoSAA counselling 2026 are listed below:
| S.No. | Institute |
|---|---|
| 1 | Assam University, Silchar |
| 2 | Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi |
| 3 | Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Chandigarh |
| 4 | Tezpur University, Tezpur |
| 5 | University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad |
| 6 | School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi |
| 7 | School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal |
| 8 | School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada |
| 9 | IIIT Bhubaneswar (International Institute of IT) |
| 10 | Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar |
| 11 | Puducherry Technological University |
| 12 | Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology, Malda |
| 13 | North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Itanagar |
| 14 | Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Vadodara |
| 15 | Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra |
| 16 | Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar |
| 17 | Mizoram University, Aizawl |
| 18 | Central University of Rajasthan |
| 19 | North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong |
| 20 | Institute of Chemical Technology-IOC Bhubaneswar |
JosAA Counselling: The Withdrawal and Exit Process
Both terms come up in JoSAA counselling but they mean different things. This distinction directly affects JEE Advanced 2027 eligibility.
Withdrawal is for candidates who have already been allocated and accepted a seat but want to leave the process. Key details:
- Available from Round 2 to Round 4
- For IITs/IISc: deadline is July 14, 2026, 17:00 IST
- For NIT+: deadline is July 20, 2026, 17:00 IST
- Seat acceptance fee is refunded minus Rs. 7,000 withdrawal processing charge
- Candidates who withdraw in Rounds 1 to 4 remain eligible for JEE Advanced 2027
Exit is for candidates who have not yet been allocated a seat and want to stop participating. Available from Round 2 to Round 4, before the last round.
Both actions mean you forfeit JoSAA counselling for 2026-27 entirely. If you do not exit before Round 5 and receive a seat in Round 5, you are deemed to have accepted it and lose JEE Advanced 2027 eligibility.
JoSAA and CSAB: What Is the Difference?
- JoSAA counselling runs the main seat allocation process across five rounds, covering IITs, IISc, and the entire NIT+ system.
- CSAB (Central Seat Allocation Board) runs additional special rounds after JoSAA ends. These are for filling vacant seats that remain after all five JoSAA rounds. CSAB also runs supernumerary counselling and NEUT counselling separately. The CSAB schedule is announced at csab.nic.in.
What I Found on the State of Eligibility Proof
State of eligibility is used in JoSAA counselling to determine Home State quota eligibility for NIT+ system institutes.
Your state of eligibility is the state from where you first appeared for Class XII. It has nothing to do with where you live or your native state. So if you appeared for Class XII in Delhi but live in Noida, your state code is Delhi.
This matters because NITs and IIEST Shibpur have 50% Home State quota and 50% Other States quota. If your state of eligibility matches the state where the NIT is located, you compete in the HS pool, which usually has more relaxed cutoffs.
Conclusion
Going through the full JoSAA 2026 business rules and schedule made it clear that JoSAA counselling rewards candidates who prepare well in advance. The choice filling window is just 10 days, the fee payment deadlines are round-specific, and missing any step costs your seat with no exceptions.
The most important things to carry into this process: lock your choices based on your final round 2025 cutoff reference (not Round 1 data), use the Freeze/Float/Slide options carefully, keep your category documents updated and valid, and check the JoSAA portal regularly during each reporting window. No separate intimation is sent by JoSAA for queries or allotments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Registration starts on June 2, 2026. The first round of seat allocation happens on June 13, 2026.
Registration and choice filling are free. The seat acceptance fee is Rs. 15,000 for SC/ST/PwD candidates and Rs. 30,000 for all others. This is paid only after a seat is allocated.
There is no registration fee. Choice filling is free. The seat acceptance fee is a separate payment made only after a seat is allocated.
Partially. The Rs. 5,000 processing charge is always deducted. If you withdraw, Rs. 7,000 is deducted. If JoSAA cancels your seat due to document issues, Rs. 5,000 is deducted. Pre-paid fee is fully refunded if no seat is allocated.
Mock seat allocations are trial runs on June 8 and June 10 based on the choices filled so far. They give a preview of where you might land but do not confirm any seat.
AI stands for All India quota. Some NIT+ institutes have only an All India quota with no Home State or Other State split. Candidates from any state compete equally for these seats.
Non-payment is treated as rejection of the allocated seat. You are removed from all subsequent JoSAA rounds
There are five rounds. Round 5 is the final round for IITs and IISc. NIT+ candidates have additional CSAB special rounds after this.
After your documents are verified and accepted, a Provisional Seat Allotment Letter is available for download on josaa.nic.in. This confirms your seat but you still need to report to the institute for final admission.
OBC-NCL candidates are considered first for OPEN seats if their CRL rank qualifies, then for OBC-NCL category seats. The OBC-NCL certificate must be issued on or after April 1, 2026. If found invalid, the category tag changes to GEN.
For IITs and IISc: josaa@iitr.ac.in or +91-1332-284272. For NIT+ system: info.csab2026@iiests.ac.in or +91-9230189233