The IIT entrance exam – JEE Advanced – will not be held abroad this year. Usually, there are many exam centres abroad to facilitate candidates living outside India to appear for IIT entrances, however, due to the pandemic the facility will not be offered this year.

“Considering the prevailing pandemic situation due to COVID-19, in India and abroad, it has been decided not to conduct the JEE Advanced 2021 in any of the foreign centres/countries. The foreign national candidates, however, may appear for JEE (Advanced) 2021 examination at any of the Indian centres of their choice at their own expenses (including travel etc.) after adhering to the required travel norms of Govt. of India and their respective countries of residence,” IIT Kharagpur, the exam conducting institute said in an official statement.

While this might put some foreign aspirants off and decline the number of foreign nationals applying for admissions to IITs, the IITs are also offering relaxations for foreign nationals, NRIs etc. Students who were registered for JEE Advanced 2020 but could not take the exam will be eligible to take the test this year as well. Such candidates will have to register for the JEE Advanced 2021 at jeeadv.ac.in. This is a one-time relaxation offered to IIT aspirants.

This facility is also available for Indian students. Those who were eligible for IIT entrance but could not take the exam in 2020 can apply for 2021 directly. Usually, only those who appear in the top 2.5 lakh of JEE Main results are eligible for taking the IIT entrance test. Experts believe with more students, the competition for admission to IITs – might go even higher, however, it would be only a slight increase.

IITs offer 10% supernumerary seats for foreign nationals. This means, a maximum of 10% of seats will be created in addition to each course. These seats will be added on top of the existing seats for Indian students.

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