JEE Main 2026 NTA Provides Relief in Identity Proof Validation

Photo Updates Can Now be Made Until January 15th

The NTA has provided relief to many students appearing for the first session of the JEE-Main, the country’s largest engineering entrance exam, regarding photo identification issues.

The NTA issued a notification on Friday informing them of this. The first major relief is that the deadline for uploading photos has been extended from January 7th to January 15th. Additionally, several options have been provided regarding the photo validation authority. The JEE-Main January exam is scheduled to be held between January 21st and 30th.

NTA Issued Advisory to Inform About the Relief

The National Testing Agency (NTA) in its advisory stated that it will be conducting the JEE (Main) 2026 in two sessions. The online application form registration for JEE (Main) – 2026, Session-1 was made live from 31 October 2025 to 27 November 2025.

NTA asserted that “Upon successful completion of the online application process, it was observed that certain candidates registered using identity proof documents other than the Aadhaar Card. In some cases, the live photographs captured by the candidates during the application process did not match with the photographs as per records available with UIDAI.

The NTA has provided such affected candidates with an opportunity to verify their identity by uploading a signed and attested certificate, along with a recent photograph duly certified by their School/College Principal or Headmaster.

This process was originally scheduled to be completed by January 7th, but these students stated that the principals or headmasters authorized by the NTA were not available by that date.

However, considering the grievances received from candidates regarding non-accessibility of few verifying authorities, candidates are now permitted to obtain attestation from a Class-I Gazetted Officer, such as Tehsildar, Revenue Officer, SDM, DM / Class-I Gazetted Officer of the Indian Embassy (for NRI candidates).

Additionally, a printed copy of the same must be produced at the examination centre for physical verification on the day of the examination.

Date of Submission of the Certificate Extended to 15 Jan

Career counseling expert at Allen Career Institute, stated that the NTA has issued a notification clarifying that among the students who used identity proof other than Aadhaar to fill out the form, many of the forms have photos that do not match the UIDAI.

These students have been asked to re-certify their photo identification via email. Consequently, The NTA has revised the last date of submission of the certificate in PDF format via the link sent to their registered email ID to 15 January 2026 to facilitate all such candidates. It is noteworthy that JEE Main has seen the highest number of registrations this year, with 1.41 million students.

NTA has issued this email to students who applied using DG Locker, PAN card, or passport. The photo details of many of these students did not match the live capture photo details. This email was issued in response to this situation. Now, students will have to upload their photo, certified by the relevant authority, to their login portal and send it to NTA.

In case any such candidate faces difficulty during the above process, they may contact 011-40759000 or 011-69227700, or email jeemain@nta.ac.in for assistance. Aspirants are advised to regularly visit the NTA official website at https://jeemain.nta.nic.in/ for further updates, instructions, or notices regarding the Joint Entrance Examination – 2026.

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