JEE Main 2027 form: dates, fee, photo and signature sizes

The National Testing Agency published the Information Bulletin for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) 2027 on 24 October 2026 and opened the Session 1 application the same day. The form closes on 22 November 2026, and the part that trips most candidates is not the eligibility section but the uploads: a live photograph through the webcam, a scanned photograph, a signature and one or more PDFs, each with its own size range. This page quotes the bulletin’s dates, fee table and upload rules, and explains how to get each file inside its range on the first attempt.

Session 1 dates

Session 2 follows the same pattern: application from 5 January to 3 February 2027, late fee 4 to 7 February, correction 8 to 10 February, city slip 12 March, admit card 25 March, and the examination on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 April 2027. A candidate may appear in one session or both; the better of the two NTA scores is used for the rank.

The uploads and their size ranges

The bulletin lists the images and documents in one place. Every range has a lower limit as well as an upper one, which is unusual: a file that has been squeezed too far is refused just like one that is too large.

The bulletin does not ask for the candidate’s name or the date to be printed on the photograph, and it gives no pixel dimensions for either image. What it does insist on is that the photograph, signature and certificates are the candidate’s own; using anyone else’s is listed as an unfair means practice, and the bulletin adds that no correction facility is given after the correction window closes.

Getting the photograph right

1. Take or choose a recent colour head and shoulders picture against a plain white wall, in daylight, facing the camera, ears visible, no cap, no mask, no glasses glare.
2. Crop it to passport shape (35 × 45 mm, slightly taller than wide) so that the face fills about four fifths of the frame.
3. Save it as JPG between 10 kB and 200 kB. The tool linked under this guide does the crop and the size in one step and aims at about 150 kB, which keeps the face sharp while leaving a margin under the limit.
4. Use the same picture for the live capture setup: sit in front of a white background with the light in front of you, not behind, so the two photographs match.

The signature file

Sign with a black or dark blue pen on plain white paper, in the size you normally sign. Photograph the paper from directly above in good light, or scan it, and crop close to the signature with a small white margin all round. Save as JPG between 10 kB and 100 kB. A tightly cropped signature photo often comes out under 10 kB once compressed, which the portal refuses; the tool on the JEE Main page keeps the file above the lower limit as well as below the upper one.

The PDF documents

A scan app on a phone saves a one page PDF at 1 to 3 MB, far above the 300 kB ceiling. Compress it until it is under 300 kB and check two things afterwards: that the file is still above 50 kB, and that the marks and the seal are readable when you open it at normal zoom. The compress PDF tool on this site works in the browser, so the certificate never leaves your device. If the first result is too small or too soft, compress the original again at a higher quality setting rather than compressing the compressed copy.

Application fee

For centres outside India the fee is higher: Rs 5,000 for a general male candidate for one paper, Rs 4,000 for a general female, Rs 4,500 and Rs 4,000 for Gen-EWS and OBC (NCL), and Rs 2,500 for SC, ST, PwD and third gender candidates; two papers cost Rs 10,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. Processing charges and GST are added by the payment gateway. The late fee of Rs 500 is the same for every category.

Before you pay

• Open each uploaded image on the review screen and look at it at full size. A soft or tilted photograph passes the size check but can be questioned at the centre.
• Match the details on the form with the Aadhaar card; the bulletin advises updating the photograph, name, date of birth, gender and address on Aadhaar before applying, because NTA may verify them.
• Keep the confirmation page and the uploaded files. The same photograph is needed again for the admit card and on the day of the examination.
• If the fee status does not show as OK or the confirmation page does not appear after payment, the bulletin tells candidates to contact NTA before paying again.