Summary: Register, fill a long choice list in your true order of preference, and lock it. When a seat is allotted, complete every step of online reporting in that round, and choose freeze, float or slide. Missing any step in a round cancels the seat and ends your part in JoSAA. Check every rule and date on josaa.nic.in for your year.What JoSAA is
The Joint Seat Allocation Authority runs one common admission process for the IITs, NITs, IIEST Shibpur, IIITs and a group of other government-funded technical institutes (GFTIs). IIT seats are allotted on the JEE Advanced rank. Seats in the NITs, IIITs and GFTIs, which JoSAA calls the "NIT+ system", are allotted on the JEE Main rank.
A student who qualified JEE Advanced fills one list that can include both IIT and NIT+ programmes. In each round, the student gets at most one seat: the highest choice on the list that their rank and category allow.
The facts below come from the JoSAA 2025 FAQs and business rules and from the 2026 schedule. The rules are revised every year, so read the current business rules on josaa.nic.in before you begin.
The steps, in order
| Step | What happens | What you must do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Registration and choice filling | The portal opens after the JEE Advanced results | Register (it is mandatory), then add programmes to the choice list in order of preference |
| 2. Mock allocations | JoSAA ran two mock allocations in 2025, based on everyone's choices at that point | Look at the mock result and adjust your list if needed. Mock seats are not real |
| 3. Locking | Choices must be locked by the deadline | Lock your list. If you forget, the last saved list is locked automatically. No changes are allowed after the deadline |
| 4. Round 1 allotment | Seats allotted by rank, category and preference | If you get a seat, move to step 5 within the round's deadline |
| 5. Online reporting | Seat acceptance | Choose freeze, float or slide; upload documents; pay the seat acceptance fee; answer any queries from the verifying officer |
| 6. Further rounds | JoSAA had six rounds in 2025 and five in the 2026 schedule | Check each round's result. If you are moved up, the new seat replaces the old one automatically |
| 7. After the last round | For NIT+ seats, a partial admission fee was required after the final round in 2025 | Pay it on time, or the seat is treated as rejected |
| 8. CSAB special rounds | Vacant NIT+ seats are filled through separate CSAB rounds (csab.nic.in) | Optional; relevant only for NITs, IIITs and GFTIs |
In JoSAA 2025, the seat acceptance fee was Rs 30,000, or Rs 15,000 for SC, ST and PwD category candidates. Check the current figure in the business rules.
How to fill the choice list
This is where families spend the most anxious hours, and where a few principles save a lot of worry.
Put choices in your true order of preference
The allocation gives you the highest choice on your list that your rank allows. Putting a college you are unlikely to get at the top does not hurt your chances at lower choices. So do not try to guess what you will get and arrange the list around that. Arrange it in the order you would want the seats, and let the system do the rest.
Fill many choices
A short list is risky. If none of your choices is available at your rank, you get nothing in that round. A long list with a sensible spread, from ambitious to safe, costs nothing, because a choice you do not get passes to the next one.
Use last year's ranks as a rough guide only
JoSAA publishes the opening and closing ranks of every programme from past years on its website. Use them to see roughly where your rank falls, keeping in mind that closing ranks move every year. We do not quote cut-offs here for that reason.
Decide between college and branch before you start
Talk this through as a family before the portal opens. Some students care most about the branch, others about the institute. Our post on how IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs differ can help that conversation.
Freeze, float and slide
When a seat is allotted and it is not your first choice, you must pick one of three options while accepting it:
- Freeze: you accept this seat and leave the process. You will not be considered in later rounds.
- Float: you accept this seat, but want to be considered for any higher choice on your list, at any institute, in later rounds.
- Slide: you accept this seat, but want to be considered only for higher choices within the same institute.
If the allotted seat is your first choice, only freeze is available. You can change from float to slide or freeze, or from slide to freeze, in any round except the last. Once you choose freeze, you cannot change it.
An example makes the difference clear. Suppose a student's list starts like this, with made-up programmes for illustration:
| Choice | Programme |
|---|---|
| 1 | Institute A, Computer Science |
| 2 | Institute B, Computer Science |
| 3 | Institute B, Electronics |
| 4 | Institute C, Mechanical |
In round 1 the student is allotted choice 3, Institute B Electronics.
- With freeze, the student keeps Institute B Electronics and leaves the process.
- With float, the student keeps Institute B Electronics for now and can move up to choice 1 or 2 in later rounds if seats open.
- With slide, the student keeps Institute B Electronics and can move up only to choice 2, Computer Science at the same institute.
Float is the usual choice in the early rounds unless the family is fully satisfied with the seat. Slide suits students who like the institute and would only switch branch within it. Freeze makes sense when the seat is the one you want.
Mistakes to avoid
- Not completing online reporting. If any step (acceptance with an option, documents, fee, query response) is left incomplete by the round's deadline, the seat is cancelled and the candidate is out of JoSAA altogether. This is the costliest mistake, and it happens every year.
- Ignoring queries. Verifying officers can raise queries about uploaded documents. Log in daily during reporting and answer promptly.
- Documents not ready. Keep the Class 10 and 12 marksheets, category certificate in the prescribed format, state of eligibility proof and photographs scanned before the portal opens.
- Freezing too early out of nervousness, when a higher choice was realistic.
- Relying on hearsay. Rules and dates change. Read the business rules for your year and use only the official portal.
Withdrawal, exit and next year's JEE Advanced
A student who has a seat and no longer wants it can withdraw, within the window set for each year. A student without a seat can exit. Both end participation in JoSAA. For students who might write JEE Advanced again, the JEE Advanced rules exclude those already admitted to an IIT, with exceptions for withdrawals made before the deadline in the JoSAA schedule. If this applies to your child, read both the JoSAA business rules and the JEE Advanced brochure carefully before acting.
Common questions
Can we change the choice list after locking?
In JoSAA 2025, choices could be reopened with an OTP and edited before the choice-filling deadline. After the deadline, no changes were allowed. Check the current rules.
Can a student get both an IIT seat and an NIT seat?
No. In each round, a candidate is allotted only one seat, from a single combined choice list.
What if we get a seat in the first round but want to wait?
You must still accept it and complete all reporting steps, choosing float or slide. Doing nothing counts as rejecting the seat and ends your participation.
Does the Class 12 percentage matter at JoSAA?
Yes. In recent years candidates have needed at least 75% aggregate in Class 12 (65% for SC, ST and PwD), or a place in the top 20 percentile of their board, in addition to the JEE rank.