# Policy precedence and override rules

Type of document: Concept
Product: NGINX Ingress Controller

---


When more than one policy of the same type applies to a resource, NGINX Ingress Controller uses precedence rules to decide which policy takes effect.

## VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute

Policy precedence goes from broader scope to narrower scope:

- `VirtualServer.spec.policies`
- `VirtualServer.route.policies`
- `VirtualServerRoute.subroute.policies`

If the same policy type appears at multiple levels, the more specific level wins. For example:

- Route-level `accessControl` overrides spec-level `accessControl`.
- Subroute-level `cors` overrides route-level `cors`.

## Ingress and mergeable Ingress

For Ingress:

- Policies apply to the whole Ingress.
- With mergeable Ingress, minion policies override master policies of the same type.

## What's next

See the [policy type reference](/nic/configuration/policy-resource/policy-reference.md) for the fields and merging behavior of each policy type.