SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria 2025, Age Limit and Qualification

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) conducts the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination every year to recruit candidates for various Group B and Group C posts in central government departments, ministries, and offices. Candidates planning to appear for the SSC CGL 2025 examination must carefully go through the eligibility criteria before applying. Knowing the age limit, educational qualification, nationality, and physical standards required for different posts helps ensure that candidates meet all necessary conditions and can start their preparation in the right direction.

SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria 2025

Before applying for SSC CGL 2025, candidates should ensure they meet all eligibility criteria including nationality, age, educational qualification, and physical requirements (if applicable). Failing to meet any of these conditions may result in disqualification at any stage of the recruitment process.

SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria 2025 Summary

Failing to satisfy the SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria 2025 will lead to the candidate’s disqualification at any stage of the recruitment process. As SSC recruits for many posts through SSC CGL, the minimum & maximum ages are different for different posts. Check the details mentioned below for SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria 2025.

SSC CGL Age Limit 2025 (01.08.2025)

A Candidate who is planning to prepare for the SSC CGL exam must be a minimum of 18 years of age and must not be more than 32 years of age. SSC CGL Age Limit is set post-wise by the Staff Selection Commission. Candidates who are above 30 years, just have the option to apply for Junior Statistical Officer posts.

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Pay Level-6 (₹ 35,400 to ₹ 1,12,400)

Pay Level-5 (₹ 29,200 to ₹ 92,300)

Pay Level-4 (₹ 25,500 to ₹ 81,100)

SSC CGL 2025 Age Remarks

Candidates must understand the age remarks as mentioned below before applying for the SSC CGL 2025.

SSC CGL 2025 Age Relaxation

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) typically provides age relaxation for certain categories of candidates as per government guidelines. Common categories eligible for age relaxation include Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities (PWD), and others as specified by the government. This relaxation is aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for all sections of society.

SSC CGL Educational Qualification 2025 (01.08.2025)

If you want to apply for SSC CGL 2025 recruitment then you must check Educational Qualification criteria. SSC CGL educational qualifications criteria for all posts related to SSC CGL 2025 are provided in the following table. Candidates should make sure that they possess all the minimum educational qualifications to be eligible for SSC CGL 2025.

SSC CGL 2025 Nationality

Apart from the educational qualifications and age limits, the candidates should also ensure that they satisfy the nationality criteria as mentioned in the official notification. To be eligible to apply for SSC CGL 2025, candidates must satisfy the following nationality criteria:

• The candidate must be a citizen of India, Nepal, or Bhutan.
• If a candidate is a citizen of Nepal or Bhutan, they should possess a Certificate of Eligibility issued by the Government of India
• Tibetan refugees who arrived in India before January 1962 are also eligible.
• Candidates of Indian origin who have migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Vietnam intending to settle in India permanently are eligible.

SSC CGL 2025 Physical Fitness

Most of the posts under SSC CGL are not required for physical fitness. However, there are some posts in which the selected candidate will have to satisfy a particular physical fitness standard. The process of examining this will be based on the Physical Standard Test and Physical Efficiency Test the details of which will be provided in the official notification. The posts for which these criteria are applicable are as follows:

Post-Wise Physical Standard and Physical Efficiency Test

The SSC CGL exam is conducted in Tier I and Tier II stages to recruit suitable candidates across various departments of the Indian government. The posts offered in these departments are of various kinds. Some of these are uniformed posts and some are non-uniformed. The detailed notification contains the physical requirements for some of the uniformed posts.

While most of them are desk jobs limited to the office and do not require the candidates to clear a particular medical standard, some of these posts are field jobs and require the selected candidates to satisfy respective physical standards and clear the prescribed physical efficiency tests as mentioned in the official notification.

Post – Inspector (Central Excise/ Examiner/ ]Preventive Officer), Inspector & Sub-Inspector in CBN

Post – Sub Inspector in CBI

Post – Sub Inspector in NIA

Post – Sub Inspector/Junior Intelligence Officer in NCB, MHA

SSC CGL 2025 Exam Pattern – Click Here to Check 

SSC CGL 2025 Reservation

The official notification for SSC CGL Notification 2025 provides the following details regarding the reservation policy followed by the commission for the recruitment process.

• Reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Ex-Servicemen (ESM) and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidates for all the categories of posts/services, wherever applicable and admissible, would be as determined and communicated by the Indenting Ministries/ Departments/ Offices/ Cadres, as per extant Government Orders.
• Vacancies for ESM are reserved for only Group “C” posts.
• The Commission will consider the suitability of posts for various benchmark disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 following Notification No. 38-16/2020-DD-III dated 04.01.2021 issued by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment or as identified and intimated by the Indenting Departments/Organizations for specific posts.

Are You Preparing for SSC CGL 2025? – Click Here to Clear All Your Doubts

Related Queries for SSC CGL Eligibility Criteria

Q. How much percentage in Graduation is necessary to be eligible for the SSC CGL Exam?

Ans. The official notification for the SSC CGL exam does not specify any percentage that the candidates need to obtain in graduation to be eligible for most of the posts. However, in the case of the Junior Statistical Officer post, the candidates need to have the following:

Bachelor’s Degree in any subject from a recognized University or Institute with at least 60% Marks in Mathematics at 12th standard level OR Bachelor’s Degree in any subject with Statistics as one of the subjects at degree level.

Q. Do candidates with higher degrees such as MBA or M.Tech get any preference in getting selected for the SSC CGL Exam?

Ans. The minimum educational qualification required to be eligible for the SSC CGL Exam is a Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university.

The candidates will be assessed on the fact that whether they satisfy the eligibility criteria and their performance in the Tier 1 & Tier 2 exams. So, no preferences will be given based on higher degrees.

Q. Is the Physical Efficiency Test mandatory for all the posts in the SSC CGL Exam?

Ans. The candidates need to pass a Physical Efficiency Test only if they qualify for the posts of Inspector (Central Excise/Examiner/Preventive Officer), Inspector, or sub-inspector in CBN and SI (CBI, NIA & NCB).

Q. Can a UR candidate with more than 30 years of age apply for the SSC CGL Exam?

Ans. Even though the UR candidates who have crossed the upper age limit of 30 years are not eligible for most of the posts offered in the SSC CGL Recruitment, they can apply for the post of Junior Statistical Officer till the age of 32 years.

Q. Is there any relaxation in the eligibility criteria for widowed or divorced women who wish to apply for the SSC CGL Exam?

Ans. The Widows/ Divorced Women/ Women judicially separated and who are not remarried can apply for the SSC CGL Exam up to 35 years of age and such women belonging to the SC/ST category can apply for the exam up to 40 years of age. Apart from this other aspects of the eligibility criteria remain the same.