JoSAA 2026 Counselling Registration Begins: IIT, NIT, IIIT Admission Process Explained

The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) has officially commenced the online registration and choice-filling process for JoSAA 2026 counselling. Candidates who qualified in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026 and JEE Advanced 2026 are eligible to participate. This joint process manages admissions into India's premier technical institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), and other Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs).

Mandatory Choice Filling & Seat Rules

To secure a seat, eligible candidates must actively register and input their preferred combinations of courses and institutes on the official JoSAA portal. Choice locking is crucial, as seat allocation relies entirely on the candidate's merit rank and their submitted preferences.

The finalized list of academic programs for the 2026–27 session will be visible during the choice-filling phase. Authorities note that some courses from the previous academic year may be altered in content or title, while others might be discontinued. Furthermore, individual IITs are tasked with allocating supernumerary seats to guarantee a minimum of 20% female enrollment across all undergraduate programs.

Crucial Timelines

The JoSAA 2026 schedule features strict deadlines that candidates must track closely to avoid disqualification:

June 2, 2026 (5:00 PM): Candidate registration, choice filling, and seat acceptance fee pre-payment begin.

June 8, 2026 (2:00 PM): Display of Mock Seat Allocation 1.

June 10, 2026 (1:00 PM): Display of Mock Seat Allocation 2.

June 11, 2026 (5:00 PM): Registration and choice-filling window closes permanently.

June 13, 2026 (10:00 AM): Round 1 seat allotment results declared.

June 13 – 26, 2026 (5:00 PM): Online reporting, document upload, and fee payment for Round 1.

Eligibility and Verification

The JoSAA business rules maintain strict guidelines regarding previous admissions. Any student who accepted an IIT seat during JoSAA 2025 and reported—regardless of whether they dropped out later—is barred from participating in JEE Advanced 2026 and the subsequent IIT admission loop. However, candidates who withdrew before the final round or whose seats were canceled prior to the last round remain eligible.

Official document verification will be conducted online by the respective authorities, but only after a candidate receives and accepts a seat allocation during the regular rounds. Candidates must keep their academic transcripts, category certificates, and JEE scorecards ready for instant digital submission.