What is the minimum height to join the Sri Lanka Police?

Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026 sets 5 feet 4 inches (162.56 cm) for the Apprentice Police Constable post, 5 feet 1 inch (154.94 cm) for the Apprentice Women Police Constable post, and 5 feet 2 inches (157.48 cm) for the Police Constable Driver post. Height is measured on arrival for the first interview.

What is the age limit for a Police Constable in Sri Lanka?

Between 18 and 24 years as at the closing date for applications, for both the Apprentice Police Constable and the Apprentice Women Police Constable posts. The Police Constable Driver post runs to 28. Age is counted in completed years on the closing date, so you are still inside a 24 band on the day before your 25th birthday.

Can a married person join the Sri Lanka Police?

No. The 2026 notice requires every applicant for the Constable, Women Constable and Constable Driver posts to be unmarried, and it is checked again on the date of recruitment. Of the ten posts on this page, only the Navy's Direct Entry officer route and the Air Force's Direct Entry airman route accept married candidates.

What O/L results do you need to become a Police Constable?

Either six subjects with credit passes in five including Mathematics, Science, Sinhala or Tamil and English, in not more than two sittings; or six subjects with credit passes in five including Mathematics and Sinhala or Tamil in not more than two sittings, plus two A/L subject passes at one sitting. The checker tests both routes and tells you which one you are closer to.

What are the Sri Lanka Army Officer Cadet height and weight requirements?

Officer Cadet Short Course 26 asks for a male candidate not less than 5 feet 6 inches (167 cm), not less than 52 kg, a chest of not less than 32 inches and a body mass index between 18.5 and 25. The Lady Officer Cadet Course 21 asks for 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm), 45 kg and the same BMI band, and publishes no chest measurement.

Why does the same 5 feet 6 inches convert to a different number of centimetres per service?

Because each notice rounds its own conversion. The Army prints 167 cm, the Air Force 167.5 cm and the Navy 167.64 cm for the same imperial figure. This tool compares your height against the centimetre number the notice itself publishes, since that is the one a recruiting board would hold you to.

Do I need A/L results to join the Sri Lanka Air Force as an airman?

The Air Force publishes its airman and airwoman educational requirements per trade rather than as one rule, so this page resolves the age and physical criteria for those two posts and leaves the examination criterion open rather than guessing. Call the Command Recruiting Office on 011-2495900 for the trade you want.

I wear spectacles — am I automatically out?

No. Notices that publish a vision standard measure uncorrected acuity, not whether you own glasses, so this tool flags those posts as “check at the medical” rather than failing them. The Navy's Artificer notice goes further and says a candidate with distant vision 6/12 corrected to 6/6 with lenses may still be considered.

Are these vacancies open right now?

Some are closed. Notices open and shut constantly, so each row shows the notice it was transcribed from and, where that window has already shut, the closing date. The Police notice closed on 1 June 2026 and the two Army cadet courses on 31 July 2026. Check joinus.police.lk, army.lk, navy.lk and airforce.lk for what is open today.

Does this tool predict whether I will be selected?

No, and it never will. Meeting the published standard puts you in the pool; it does not put you in the intake. Selection runs through an endurance test, a written examination, a structured interview, a background check and a medical board, and none of those marking schemes is published as a pass/fail table. This page answers eligibility only.

Does this cover Prisons, Customs or the Civil Security Department?

No. Those are separate recruiting authorities with their own notices. For clerical and administrative public-service posts — Development Officer, Management Assistant, SLAS and the rest — use the Sri Lanka Government Job Eligibility Checker linked below. This page covers uniformed entry to the Police and the three armed services only.

Sri Lanka · Police & Tri-Forces

Sri Lanka Police Recruitment Requirements & Tri-Forces Eligibility Checker

Enter your date of birth, height and exam results and see which of ten Police, Army, Navy and Air Force entry posts you currently meet the published standard for. Posts you miss name the single rule that blocks you and the date you age out. Every figure is cited to its own notice.

By Induwara Ashinsana— Executive Director, Ryzera TechnologiesUpdated Sep 22, 2026

Check what you can apply for10 uniformed entry posts

Notice-cited · verified 2026-09-22

Answer what you can. Every row below is checked against the notice that service actually published — the age band on its own reference date, the height floor in its own centimetres, and the exact examination wording. Posts you miss name the one rule that blocks you.

Date of birth

As printed on your birth certificate — every band counts completed years.

Application closing date

Age is counted on this date, not today. The two Army cadet courses override it with their own published date.

Sex

MaleFemale

The notices publish different age bands, height floors and chest rules per sex, and some posts open to one sex only.

Civil status

UnmarriedMarried

Every entry post here except the two Direct Entry routes requires an unmarried candidate.

Measurements

Height

165.0 cm · 5′ 5″ — measured without shoes, 120–220 cm.

Weight (optional)

30–150 kg. Leave blank and the weight and BMI rules are skipped.

Chest, unexpanded (optional)

Inches on breathing out, 26–50. The Women Police Constable and Lady Officer Cadet notices publish none.

I am a citizen of Sri LankaI wear spectacles or contact lensesFlags the posts that publish an unaided-vision standardI hold a driving licenceLight or heavy motor vehicles — required for the Driver post

G.C.E. (Ordinary Level)

Subjects passed

Total at any level, 0–12.

Credit passes

Total credit (C) passes.

Sittings

How many attempts, 1–4.

Mathematics

Science

English Language

Sinhala / Tamil Language

These four are the subjects the notices name individually. Everything else you passed counts only towards the totals above.

G.C.E. (Advanced Level) and above

Subject passes

0–4, excluding the Common General Test.

Sittings

How many attempts, 1–4.

Common General Test

Percentage. Blank if not sat.

A/L stream

The Navy asks for a named stream; the Police does not.

I hold a UGC-recognised degreeRequired for the Navy's Direct Entry officer branches

Try a case

You meet the standard for

1 of 10

10% of the posts in this set

Needs one more check

An unaided-vision standard or a trade-set rule

Blocked

Each row names the single blocking rule

Window closing first

2029-06-11

You age out of Sri Lanka Police — Apprentice Police Constable

Apprentice Police Constable
Sri Lanka Police · Sri Lanka Police & Police Special Task Force
Meets the standard
Front-line policing after three years' apprenticeship, posted anywhere on the island.
17band 18–24 · you 2225
Published age band
18–24 years
Minimum height
162.6 cm (5′ 4″)+2.4 cm
You age out on
2029-06-11(age counted on 2026-10-31)
Every criterion this notice publishes
- Met.Citizenship: Citizen of Sri Lanka
- Met.Age band: not less than 18, not more than 24 completed years
- Met.Qualification: Option 01 — O/L with five credits including English
- Met.Civil status: Applicants must be unmarried.
- Met.Minimum height: 162.6 cm (5′ 4″)
- Not published.Minimum weight: Not published
- Not published.Body mass index: Not published
- Met.Minimum chest: 30 inches unexpanded
- Not published.Vision: Not published
Option 01 — O/L with five credits including English
- Met.6 O/L subjects passed — you reported 6
- Met.5 O/L credit passes — you reported 5
- Met.a credit pass in Mathematics, Science, Sinhala / Tamil Language and English Language at O/L — you reported all of them
- Met.the O/L passes in not more than 2 sittings — you reported 2 sittings
- The chest figure is measured on breathing out — 30 inches (76.2 cm) on expiration.
- Selection after the published entry standard runs through a preliminary interview, an endurance test, a written examination and a structured interview. None of those marking schemes is a pass/fail table and none is modelled here.
- The 2021 Police Constable notice published a vision standard (one eye not less than 6/12 unaided; if one eye is 6/6 the other must be 6/18). The 2026 notice does not repeat it, so no vision rule is tested — expect one at the medical board.
Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026, Part I : Section (IIa) — Police Constable / Special Task Force Police ConstableLast advertised — closed 2026-06-01

Every figure above is transcribed from the notice cited on that post's row — Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026 for the Police posts, the Army's published enlistment criteria, the Navy's 2026 gazette notifications and the Air Force's published entry criteria. All four are linked under Sources below.

Cross-checks: 14/14 height floors reconcile against their own imperial figure, 11/11 age cases agree across two independent methods, and 8/8 worked examples still produce their hand-computed verdict.

Eligibility is a published rule. Selection is competitive, and this tool does not predict it — no cut-off marks, no merit order, no medical opinion.

How it works

Recruitment notices for the Sri Lanka Police and the three armed services are published as gazette notifications and PDF criteria sheets, usually in all three languages, with the physical standards buried in a numbered clause. The figures differ per service, per post and per sex, which is why the simple question — am I tall enough, old enough, do my O/Ls count — so often gets answered by rumour. This page transcribes the clause and does the comparison.

Every test below is a deterministic comparison against a number a notice actually published. There is no scoring, no ranking and no prediction.

Age on the reference date.Notices word the band as “not less than 18 years and not more than 24 years” as at the closing date, so the tool counts completedyears calendar-exactly — comparing month and day, never dividing elapsed days by 365.25. A candidate is still inside a 24 band on the day before their 25th birthday. The two Army cadet courses name their own reference date (1 October 2026) and override the closing date you enter, because that is what those notices say.
Age-out date.The last day inside the band is the day before the candidate's (maximum age + 1)th birthday, shown on every row so the window that shuts first is obvious.
Height.Stored as the centimetre figure the notice itself prints, not as a fresh conversion of its imperial figure. The notices disagree: 5′ 6″ is 167 cm to the Army, 167.5 cm to the Air Force and 167.64 cm to the Navy. The stored constant keeps full precision, so 162.5 cm does not round its way past a 162.56 cm floor.
Weight and body mass index.BMI is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. The Army officer courses publish a weight floor (52 kg male, 45 kg female) and a band of 18.5–25.0 kg/m²; the Navy publishes 17–27 and the Air Force a floor of 17 with no ceiling. Posts publishing no weight rule skip the step entirely.
Chest. Compared unexpanded, in inches. Where a notice also publishes an expansion requirement it is shown as an at-medical condition and not tested, because no web form can measure expansion.
Vision.Where a post publishes an unaided standard, ticking “I wear spectacles” flags that post as check at the medicalrather than failing it — the board tests uncorrected acuity, not whether you own glasses.
Civil status and citizenship. Applied only where the notice itself says so. Eight of the ten posts require an unmarried candidate; all ten require citizenship.
Qualification.Each post carries one or more routes, and a route is a conjunction of transcribed clauses — credit count, named subjects at a named level, sitting limit, A/L passes, stream, Common General Test mark, degree, driving licence. Satisfying any one route satisfies the requirement, and the failing clause of the nearest-miss route is what gets reported.

The gates run in the order citizenship → sex → age → qualification → civil status → height → weight → BMI → chest, and the firstdefinite failure is the one reported — so the message names the criterion furthest upstream, the thing you would have to fix first. A criterion a notice does not publish is shown as “not published” and left out of the verdict rather than borrowed from another service.

Worked examples

A male school leaver, 22, 165.0 cm

DOB 2004-06-12 · closing date 2026-10-31 · male · 165.0 cm · chest 32″ · unmarried · O/L 6 subjects, 5 credits including Maths, Science, English and Sinhala, 2 sittings · no A/L

Age: birthday 2026-06-12 has passed → 22 completed years. Band 18–24 → inside.
Age-out: 2004-06-12 + 25 years = 2029-06-12, minus one day = 2029-06-11.
Qualification Option 01: 6 ≥ 6 subjects, 5 ≥ 5 credits, all four named credits held, 2 ≤ 2 sittings → satisfied.
Height: 165.0 ≥ 162.56 cm → clear by 2.44 cm. Chest: 32 ≥ 30 inches.
Verdict: ELIGIBLE — Apprentice Police Constable.
Same candidate, Army Officer Cadet: age 22 is inside 18–23 on the notice's own 2026-10-01 date, so the blocking rule reported is QUALIFICATION (3 A/L passes + Common General Test 30%), not the 167 cm height floor further down the order.

A female A/L candidate, 19, 158.0 cm

DOB 2007-03-15 · closing date 2026-10-31 · female · 158.0 cm · 47 kg · unmarried · O/L 8 subjects, 5 credits at one sitting · A/L 3 passes at one sitting, Bio Science · Common General Test 42%

Age: birthday 2026-03-15 has passed → 19 completed years.
BMI: 47 ÷ 1.58² = 47 ÷ 2.4964 = 18.83 → inside 18.5–25.0.
Women Police Constable: age inside 18–24, Option 01 satisfied, height 158.0 ≥ 154.94 cm by 3.06 cm, no chest rule published → ELIGIBLE.
Army Lady Officer Cadet: A/L 3 passes and 42% ≥ 30% at one sitting → pass. O/L 8 subjects with 5 credits → pass. Height floor is 160 cm and she is 158.0 → BLOCKED, short by 2.0 cm.
Her weight (47 ≥ 45 kg) and BMI (18.8 inside the band) would both have passed — but height sits upstream of them, so height is what the tool reports.
Air Force Airwoman: the trade-set education rule is unknown, but 158.0 < 160 cm is a definite fail, and a definite fail outranks an unknown → BLOCKED on height.

The boundary case — 24 on the last day, 0.06 cm short

DOB 2001-11-02 · closing date 2026-10-31 · male · 162.5 cm · chest 31″ · unmarried · O/L 6 subjects, 5 credits, 2 sittings

Age: the 25th birthday falls on 2026-11-02, one day after the closing date → 24 completed years, still inside a 'not more than 24' band.
Age-out: 2001-11-02 + 25 years − 1 day = 2026-11-01.
Height: 162.5 cm against a floor of 162.56 cm → short by 0.06 cm. The stored constant keeps full precision, so 162.5 does not round up into a pass.
The tool reports: 'Height 162.5 cm — minimum 162.6 cm (5′ 4″). Short by 0.1 cm.'
Move the closing date to 2026-11-02 and he is 25, one year over, and AGE is reported instead of height — the upstream rule wins.

Published entry standards at a glance

Every figure below is transcribed from the notice cited on that row. A dash means that notice publishes nothing for that criterion — it is not a zero and not an exemption.

Post	Service	Age (M / F)	Height (M / F)	Chest	Civil status
Apprentice Police Constable	Sri Lanka Police	18–24 / —	162.6 / —	30″	Unmarried
Apprentice Women Police Constable	Sri Lanka Police	— / 18–24	— / 154.9	—	Unmarried
Police Constable Driver	Sri Lanka Police	18–28 / 18–28	157.5 / 157.5	30″	Unmarried
Officer Cadet — Short Course 26 (Diploma)	Sri Lanka Army	18–23 / —	167.0 / —	32″	Unmarried
Lady Officer Cadet Course 21 (Diploma)	Sri Lanka Army	— / 18–22	— / 160.0	—	Unmarried
Recruit Sailor — Artificer Branch	Sri Lanka Navy	18–24 / —	165.1 / —	32″	Unmarried
Direct Entry Officer — Executive Branch	Sri Lanka Navy	—–29 / —	167.6 / —	32″	Married or unmarried
Officer Cadet / Lady Officer Cadet	Sri Lanka Air Force	18–22 / 18–22	167.5 / 162.5	32″	Unmarried
Airman / Airwoman (Regular, Recruit)	Sri Lanka Air Force	18–24 / 18–23	165.0 / 160.0	32″	Unmarried
Direct Entry Airman / Airwoman	Sri Lanka Air Force	18–28 / 18–26	165.0 / 160.0	32″	Married or unmarried

Age in completed years, height in centimetres as each notice prints them, chest unexpanded in inches. Last read against source on 2026-09-22.

How the figures are cross-checked

Three checks run every time this page renders, and their output is printed below rather than asserted. If a transcription changes and an example stops reconciling, it shows up here instead of failing quietly.

Height floors reconciled

14 / 14

Published centimetres against feet × 12 × 2.54, tolerance 0.7 cm

Age cases agreeing

11 / 11

Two independent methods, including 29 February birth dates

Worked examples holding

8 / 8

Hand-computed verdict and blocking rule, re-run

The height check is a genuine second source rather than a restatement: a notice that prints both “5′ 6″” and “167 cm” is giving the same number twice, so multiplying its own imperial figure by 2.54 tests the transcription. The widest gap in this set is the Army's 167 cm for 5′ 6″, which sits 0.64 cm below the exact conversion because that notice rounds down to a whole centimetre. The tool compares against the published centimetres, which is the more generous of the two readings and the one a board would apply.

The age check computes completed years two ways — by comparing month and day, and by walking anniversaries forward one at a time — across eleven cases including the day before a birthday, the birthday itself, a 29 February birth date in a leap year and in a non-leap year, and both year boundaries.

Worked example	Expected	Produced
Example A — 22, male, 165.0 cm, five O/L credits: Apprentice Police Constable	eligible	eligible
Example A — the same candidate blocked on qualification, not height	not-eligible · qualification	not-eligible · qualification
Example B — 19, female, 158.0 cm, A/L with Common General Test 42 %	eligible	eligible
Example B — the same candidate 2.0 cm under the Army's 160 cm floor	not-eligible · height	not-eligible · height
Example C — 24 on the last day of the band, 162.5 cm against a 162.56 cm floor	not-eligible · height	not-eligible · height
Example C — the same candidate one day later, now age-barred	not-eligible · age-too-old	not-eligible · age-too-old
Example E — 28, married graduate, Navy Direct Entry Executive Branch	eligible	eligible
Example E — the same candidate blocked on age, not civil status	not-eligible · age-too-old	not-eligible · age-too-old

Where each figure comes from

Apprentice Police Constable · Sri Lanka Police
Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026, Part I : Section (IIa) — Police Constable / Special Task Force Police Constable
Official notice Notice text read for this buildVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-06-01
Apprentice Women Police Constable · Sri Lanka Police
Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026, Part I : Section (IIa) — Women Police Constable / Special Task Force Women Police Constable
Official notice Notice text read for this buildVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-06-01
Police Constable Driver · Sri Lanka Police
Gazette No. 2482 of 27 March 2026, Part I : Section (IIa) — Police Constable Driver / Special Task Force Police Constable Driver
Official notice Notice text read for this buildVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-06-01
Officer Cadet — Short Course 26 (Diploma) · Sri Lanka Army
Sri Lanka Army — Enlistment Criteria, Officer Cadet Short Course 26 (Diploma)
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-07-31
Lady Officer Cadet Course 21 (Diploma) · Sri Lanka Army
Sri Lanka Army — Enlistment Criteria, Lady Officer Cadet Course 21 (Diploma)
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-07-31
Recruit Sailor — Artificer Branch · Sri Lanka Navy
Sri Lanka Navy — Vacancies for Sailors in the Artificer Branch, gazette notification of 21 August 2026
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22Closed 2026-09-15
Direct Entry Officer — Executive Branch · Sri Lanka Navy
Sri Lanka Navy — Regular & Volunteer Short Service and Direct Entry Officers Vacancies 2026, gazette notification of 8 September 2026
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22
Officer Cadet / Lady Officer Cadet · Sri Lanka Air Force
Sri Lanka Air Force — Basic Qualification for Officers
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22
Airman / Airwoman (Regular, Recruit) · Sri Lanka Air Force
Sri Lanka Air Force — Basic Qualification for Airmen / Airwomen
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22
Direct Entry Airman / Airwoman · Sri Lanka Air Force
Sri Lanka Air Force — Basic Qualification for Airmen / Airwomen
Official noticeVerified 2026-09-22

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

Every age, height, weight, chest, vision and examination figure on this page was last read against the notice cited on its row on 2026-09-22. Where a notice publishes nothing for a criterion, the page says “not published” and the verdict skips it. The page is reviewed whenever a new recruitment gazette appears for any of the four services.

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Comments & feedback

Spotted a bug or want an improvement? Tell us — our team reviews every comment, and good ideas get built. Comments are public and anonymous.

Spotted a figure that does not match the notice you are holding?

Email me at [email protected] with the gazette number — corrections ship within 24 hours.