You passed. Now get your Certificate of Eligibility

Your name is on the list. Before anything else: that is the hard part, and it is done. What follows is administrative, and none of it can be taken away from you now.

But there is one distinction worth getting straight immediately, because almost every confusion in the next few months comes from collapsing it.

The eligibility and the certificate are two different things

The eligibility is a status. You acquired it by passing. It exists whether or not you are holding any piece of paper, it does not expire, and it does not need renewing.

The Certificate of Eligibility is a document. It is the CSC’s written proof of that status, and it is what an appointing office asks to see when you apply for a permanent position.

Passing the examination confers the eligibility. The Certificate of Eligibility is the document that proves it, issued by the Civil Service Commission on request. You have the eligibility from the moment you pass; you have the certificate once you claim it.

This is why “my certificate has not arrived, so I am not eligible yet” is the wrong way round, and it matters at exactly the moment it is most stressful - when a vacancy closes in three weeks and the document is not in your hand.

Where to get the procedure, and why it is not on this page

You will find pages listing the exact requirements, the fee, and how many working days it takes. We are not going to add another, and the reason is practical rather than principled.

Those details are administered by the CSC and are handled through its regional and field offices. They are the kind of detail that changes between issuances and can differ by office. A page that states them confidently is right until it is not, and it gives no sign of when that happened. If you arrive at a CSC office having prepared from a list we copied from somewhere else eighteen months ago, and are turned away for a document that page did not mention, we will have cost you a morning.

Get the requirements, the fee and the processing time from the CSC itself, or from the regional office you will actually be dealing with. Any third-party page - including this one - is a copy of a copy.

The one piece of general advice that survives every version of the procedure: deal with the office that serves the region where you sat the examination, and ask them directly what they need before you travel. A phone call is cheaper than a second trip.

If you passed in August 2026

For this sitting the CSC has said it directly, in Examination Advisory No. 17, s. 2026, dated 6 October 2026. Read with the caveat above - it is the CSC’s wording for this one examination, quoted, and the advisory is the version to trust if anything differs.

• The letterhead certificate is free and can be secured "by 12 November 2026" from the CSC Regional or Field Office where you sat. The advisory asks passers to check it is ready before going.
• Claim it in person, with an original ID - preferably the one you used when you applied - and your application receipt or official receipt if you still have it. The advisory lists the IDs it accepts.
• If you live far from that office, you can ask in writing for it to be forwarded to the field office nearest where you live or work, and claim it there.
• A copy on security paper is separate, carries a fee, and has its own requirements. It can be had from any of the 16 regional offices, also by 12 November.

Two things worth doing this week

Save your own record of the result. Take a screenshot of your rating when you view it, and note the examination date and the region you sat in. None of this replaces the certificate, and all of it is what you will be asked for when filling in a form.

Do not wait for the certificate to start applying. Vacancies close on their own schedule. If a posting you want closes before your certificate is in hand, apply anyway and say plainly that you passed the August 2026 examination and the certificate is being processed. You hold the eligibility. The document is evidence of it, not the source of it - and the advisory notes that for appointment, proof of eligibility can include a screen capture from the CSC’s own Civil Service Eligibility Verification System.

What the eligibility actually buys you

Less than most people are told, and more than they expect in one specific respect. It does not raise your salary, and it does not entitle you to a position. What it does is make you eligible for a permanent appointment in the career service - which is where security of tenure, the salary grade, and the leave and pension coverage actually live. That post is worth ten minutes now that the thing is real rather than hypothetical.

If you sat Subprofessional and are now wondering whether to take Professional as well: the eligibility you hold covers first level positions, and Professional covers first and second. Nothing you have just earned is wasted by sitting the other one later.