ETS Announces Temporary Acceptance of Aadhaar Card as ID for Indian Students Taking TOEFL® and GRE ® Tests

ETS today announced that beginning July 1, 2021, the Aadhaar Card will be temporarily considered as an acceptable form of identification for applicants taking TOEFL^® and GRE^® tests in India until further notice. The exception is applicable to the TOEFL iBT^® test, TOEFL iBT^® Home Edition, TOEFL^® Essentials™ test (beginning Aug. 2021), GRE^® General Test, GRE^® General Test at home and GRE^® Subject Tests (beginning Oct. 2021).

ETS continues to closely follow the global public health situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in India. In light of the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and sporadic lockdowns imposed in various states of India, ETS’s Office of Testing Integrity has made this provision to assist test takers.

Ray Nicosia, Executive Director of the Office of Testing Integrity at ETS, said, “With most cities in India facing some form of restriction due to imposed lockdowns, students are not able to apply for a passport or even renew their existing passports. Since the Aadhaar Card is now one of the most widely accepted forms of identification in India, we are confident that accepting this form of ID will be helpful for Indian students who are interested in registering for TOEFL and GRE tests.”

Indian students will be required to furnish an original full version of their Aadhaar Card as received in the mail, which can be used for TOEFL and GRE tests either taken in-person from a third-party test centre, or at home. Photocopied or printed documents will not be accepted, and documents cannot be presented on a mobile phone or any other electronic device.

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually - including the TOEFL^® and TOEIC^® tests, the GRE^® tests and The Praxis Series^® assessments - in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org.