Foreign service / diplomacy (IFS)
Last updated · Confirm dates, fees and eligibility on the official website before you apply.
via UPSC
- Route in
- Typically Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Master of Arts, entered through Civil Services Examination. 2 courses lead here
- Entrance
- Civil Services Examination
What the work involves
Day to day
Representing India abroad - political and economic reporting, negotiation, consular services to citizens, trade and cultural promotion, and managing the relationship with the host country.
Who this suits
Fit
People with intellectual range, composure and genuine interest in the world. It is among the most prestigious outcomes of the civil services examination, the work is substantive from early on, and few careers offer this breadth of experience.
The honest reality
Read this one
The service takes very few officers each year and requires a high rank in an already brutal examination. Postings rotate every few years, including to hardship locations, which is disruptive for children's schooling and makes a spouse's independent career very difficult to sustain - this is the cost officers cite most. You represent government policy whether or not you agree with it. Consular work involves distressing cases of citizens in trouble abroad.
The route in, step by step
6 steps from where you are now.
Class 12, any stream Required
Any stream. The subject you take at degree level matters more, and international relations, history, economics and political science all help.
A bachelor's degree in any discipline Required
Three or four years. The UPSC Civil Services Examination is open to graduates of any subject, and engineers and doctors enter the Foreign Service regularly.
Understand that IFS is allocated by rank, not chosen Required
There is no separate Foreign Service examination. You sit the Civil Services Examination and IFS is allocated to a small number of candidates near the top of the list who preference it. Typically only around thirty to forty officers are recruited a year.
Prepare for the Civil Services Examination Required
Preliminary, then Mains with essay, general studies and an optional subject, then the personality test. Two to three years of dedicated preparation is typical, and multiple attempts are the norm rather than the exception.
Clear the examination with a rank that reaches IFS Required
The rank required is high. Candidates who preference IFS and fall short are allocated to other services, which is worth accepting as a likely outcome rather than a failure.
Training, a compulsory foreign language, then postings Required
Foundation training at LBSNAA, then the Foreign Service Institute, then a compulsory foreign language you are assigned rather than choosing. A career of rotating postings abroad and at headquarters, with family disruption as a permanent feature.
Courses that lead here
2 mapped routes into this career.
Exams on the way
What is required, and what is optional.
Exam rules and eligibility are revised regularly. Check the current official notification for your admission year before you act on anything here.
The roles this becomes
2 lanes out of the same starting point.
Common questions
The ones people actually ask about this work.
How does one join the Indian Foreign Service?
<p>Through the UPSC Civil Services Examination, the same examination as the IAS and IPS, with IFS allocated to candidates at the top of the merit list who opt for it. There is no separate examination and no other entry route into the service.</p>
How many people are selected?
<p>A very small number each year — typically a few dozen from around a million applicants to the examination. It is among the most competitive selections in the country, and the rank required is high enough that it cannot be planned for so much as achieved.</p>
What does the career involve?
<p>Postings abroad in embassies and missions alternating with terms at headquarters, compulsory foreign language training in an assigned language, and work across political reporting, trade and economic diplomacy, consular services and looking after Indian citizens abroad. It means a life of moving every few years, which suits some families and is hard on others.</p>
Is there other work in diplomacy and international affairs?
<p>Yes, and it is worth knowing since IFS itself is so small. International organisations and UN agencies, think tanks and policy research institutions, the international divisions of ministries, trade bodies and chambers of commerce, and international development organisations. A master's in international relations or public policy is the usual route into those.</p>
Test this against your own priorities
Pay, hours and entry route matter differently to different people. Compare this against the alternative you are actually weighing, rather than against the average.