India visa photo requirements: the 51 × 51 mm square format
India's visa photo spec is administered by the Government of India / Bureau of Immigration through the Indian Visa Online portal. It is one of a handful of countries that still uses a square photo — 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), equal height and width — rather than the 35 × 45 mm rectangle common elsewhere. The same photo rule covers the e-Visa route and the embassy/consulate sticker-visa route; only the application process differs between them.
Quick answer
51 × 51 mm square JPEG, 10 KB to 1 MB for the e-Visa, no glasses
An Indian visa photo is a square JPEG — 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), equal height and width. The two routes cap the file differently: the e-Visa portal accepts 10 KB to 1 MB, while the regular visa portal used for consular applications accepts 10 KB to 300 KB. Head height runs 1 to 1⅜ inches (25–35 mm) from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin. Background must be plain, light-coloured or white with no shadows and no border. The e-Visa portal asks for the photo to be taken with the eyes open and without spectacles. Last reviewed .
The Indian visa photo specification
| Size | 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), equal height and width [1] |
|---|---|
| File format & size | JPEG — 10 KB to 1 MB on the e-Visa portal [2], 10 KB to 300 KB on the regular (consular) visa portal [1] |
| Head height | 1 to 1⅜ inches (25–35 mm) from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin [1] |
| Pose | Full face, front view, eyes open |
| Background | Plain, light-coloured or white; no shadows on the face or background; no border around the photo [1] |
| Glasses | The e-Visa portal asks for a photo without spectacles, prescription lenses included [2]; the regular visa instructions do not repeat the clause, but lens glare is a routine rejection reason See full rules → |
| Photo age | Recent — a clearly older photo is a common rejection reason |
The e-Visa upload itself only demands that height and width be equal — it sets no millimetre size. The 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 in) figure comes from the printed photo spec Indian missions publish for consular applications, and shooting to it satisfies both routes, which is why we use it throughout this page. Head height is published precisely — 1 to 1⅜ inches (25–35 mm) from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin. India publishes an eye-height figure too, in inches and incompletely: the instructions say eye height must be between 1-1/8 inches and "1-3", and the official sentence is cut off mid-number on the portal itself, with an upper bound almost certainly meant to read 1-3/8 inches — the same band the USA 2 × 2 in spec uses. Treat it as a target rather than a hard tolerance: centre the head in the square frame and keep the eyes roughly 28-35 mm above the bottom edge.
e-Visa vs embassy/consulate visa
Most short-stay applicants use the e-Visa at indianvisaonline.gov.in, open to 170+ nationalities for tourism, business and a handful of other purposes. It is fully online: the photo is uploaded with the form as a JPEG of 10 KB to 1 MB, and the scanned passport bio-page goes up separately as a 10-300 KB PDF. Apply at least 4 days before your date of arrival; the application window opens 120 days ahead. There is no official express or emergency e-Visa: the Government of India states that it charges no emergency or express fee, and warns that anyone selling "speedy grant" of an e-Visa for money is not authorised. Categories the e-Visa does not cover — employment, student and journalist visas among them — go through an Indian embassy or consulate instead, often via a visa service partner such as VFS Global or BLS International; on the consular portal the photo is uploaded as a JPEG of 10 KB to 300 KB. Processing time is set by the individual mission and is not published centrally, so check the timeline on the page of the mission covering your place of residence before booking travel. The photo requirement above is identical either way.
Sources
- [1] Government of India / Bureau of Immigration, Indian Visa Online — instructions — official photograph specification. indianvisaonline.gov.in ↗
- [2] Government of India / Bureau of Immigration, e-Visa India — photograph requirements and upload limits on the e-Visa route. e-Visa portal ↗
Verified . We monitor indianvisaonline.gov.in for changes to the photo specification and to the filing rules on both routes.
Frequently asked questions
What size is an Indian visa photo?
Both routes use a square photo, 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), equal height and width. The file limit is where they differ: on the e-Visa portal the photo is a JPEG of 10 KB to 1 MB, while the regular (consular) visa portal accepts a JPEG of 10 KB to 300 KB. A file under 10 KB is rejected on either route.
Can I wear glasses in my Indian visa photo?
The e-Visa portal requires a photo showing "full face, front view, eyes open and without spectacles", so remove your glasses for the e-Visa, prescription lenses included. The regular consular visa instructions do not repeat that clause, but glare on the lenses is a routine rejection reason, so taking them off is the safe choice on either route.
Why is the Indian visa photo square instead of rectangular?
India's visa photo uses the same 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm) square format as the USA, rather than the 35 × 45 mm rectangle common across much of Asia and Europe. A rectangular photo sized for another country's visa will not fit India's spec and is rejected.
What background does an Indian visa photo need?
A plain, light-coloured or white background with no shadows on the face or on the background, and no border around the photo. Full face, front view, with both eyes open.
Is the photo rule the same for every Indian visa category?
The same photo specification applies whether you apply through the e-Visa portal (available to 170+ nationalities, used for tourism, business and some other short-stay categories) or through an embassy or consulate for categories the e-Visa does not cover, such as employment, student or journalist visas. What differs by route is the application process and supporting documents, not the photo.
My photo file is too large for the upload — what do I do?
Re-compress it. The e-Visa portal accepts a JPEG of 10 KB to 1 MB; the regular visa portal stops at 300 KB, and most phone-camera photos are well past that straight out of the camera. Files under 10 KB are rejected on both routes, so don't over-compress either. One thing not to confuse: on the e-Visa route the scanned passport bio-page is a separate PDF with its own 10-300 KB limit — that limit is not the photo's.
Related cross-country guides
Check your photo against India's exact spec
Upload a photo and Anfas.Pro checks it against India's 51 × 51 mm square format, the file-size window for your route and the background rule before you submit it — including a glasses check, since the e-Visa portal asks for a photo without spectacles.