Document Checklist for a Government Exam Application
A comprehensive checklist of documents commonly needed for an Indian government exam application — identity, photo, signature, certificates — with a size/format quick-reference table and tool links.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Government exam applications rarely ask for just a photo and signature — most also require a set of supporting documents, some at the application stage and others later at document verification. This checklist covers the categories of documents that commonly come up, so you can gather everything before you sit down to fill the form rather than discovering a missing document mid-application.
This is a general checklist of document categories, not a guarantee of what your specific exam requires. Always confirm the exact list, formats, and size limits against your exam's official notification — requirements differ by exam, post, and category.
Identity documents
- Aadhaar card, PAN card, voter ID, or passport (check which specific ID proofs your exam accepts)
- A valid, unexpired ID that matches the name and details you enter on the form exactly
Photo and signature
- A recent passport-style photo meeting your exam's exact pixel dimensions and KB range
- A signature scan or photo, signed in the ink and style (cursive vs. block letters) your form requires
- In some cases, a left/right thumb impression, required alongside the photo and signature for certain recruitment exams
Educational certificates
- 10th and 12th mark sheets and pass certificates
- Graduation/post-graduation mark sheets, degree certificate, or provisional certificate
- Any professional or technical qualification certificate specifically required by the post
Category and reservation certificates
- Caste/category certificate (SC/ST/OBC) issued in the prescribed format, often with a validity date
- Non-creamy layer certificate for OBC candidates, where required, often with its own separate validity window
- EWS (Economically Weaker Section) income and asset certificate, where applicable
Certificate validity windows trip up more candidates than the certificates themselves — an OBC non-creamy-layer certificate, for example, is often only valid for a specific period (commonly cited as around one year from issue, though this varies), and a certificate that was valid when you first obtained it can expire before your application's cutoff date. Check the validity date printed on the certificate itself against your exam's stated cutoff, and get a fresh certificate issued if there's any doubt.
PwD (Persons with Disabilities) certificate
- Disability certificate issued by a competent medical authority, in the format specified by the exam, for candidates claiming PwD reservation or age relaxation
Experience and other supporting documents
- Experience certificates from previous employers, for posts with a minimum experience requirement
- NOC (No Objection Certificate) from a current government employer, if you are already in government service
- Domicile or residence certificate, for state-specific quotas or posts
If you're currently a serving government employee, the NOC deserves extra lead time — it usually has to be issued and signed by your current department, which can take longer than a self-obtained certificate. Request it well ahead of the deadline rather than assuming it can be arranged quickly.
Size and format quick reference
Exact numbers vary by exam and change between notifications, but these are the general categories of size/format requirement you'll typically encounter, with links to the matching tool:
| Document | Typical format | Typical size range | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo | JPEG | 15KB–200KB (varies widely by exam) | Photo resizer |
| Signature | JPEG | 5KB–100KB | Signature resizer |
| Single certificate scan | ~200KB | 200KB PDF compressor | |
| Combined document bundle | ~1MB | 1MB PDF compressor |
These ranges are illustrative starting points based on common patterns across exams, not a confirmed spec for any specific exam — always check your own notification's stated numbers, which can fall outside this table.
A practical gathering order
- Confirm your eligibility numbers first (age, percentage, category) using our age calculator and percentage calculator so you know which category certificates you actually need.
- Scan or photograph every physical certificate now, even ones you're not sure you'll need — it's much faster to have them ready than to search for originals under deadline pressure.
- Resize your photo and signature to your specific exam's requirement using our photo and signature resizers.
- Compress your certificate scans to your form's PDF size limits using our PDF compressor tools.
- Do a final pass against your notification's exact checklist before submitting, since the official list always overrides any general checklist like this one.