India e-Visa Photo Requirements (Exact Size and Specs)

The Indian e-Visa application (indianvisaonline.gov.in) is one of the stricter photo uploads out there — it rejects files that don't match its spec almost immediately, with no preview of what went wrong. Here's every requirement in one place.

The exact specs

• Dimensions: 2×2 inches (51×51mm), square, with your face taking up 50-70% of the frame.
• Background: plain white or off-white, no patterns, no shadows.
• Format: JPEG.
• File size: under 1MB (some guidance says under 10KB for the older paper-form photo spec — for the e-Visa online portal, 1MB is the practical ceiling; check the current upload page, as this has changed before).
• Recency: taken within the last 6 months, front-facing, neutral expression, no glasses with glare or tinted lenses.

Why applications get rejected on the photo alone

1. Non-square aspect ratio — a phone photo is rectangular by default; the portal expects an exact 1:1 square.
2. Background isn't plain enough — a slightly textured wall or visible shadow behind you can trigger a manual rejection days later, not an instant error.
3. File too large — a photo straight off a phone camera is often 3-8MB; the portal caps it far lower.

How to prepare the photo

1. Take the photo against a plain wall, evenly lit, facing the camera directly.
2. If the background isn't clean, use a background remover to strip it and replace it with solid white.
3. Crop it to a square with your face centered and filling roughly 50-70% of the frame — a passport/ID photo tool with guide lines makes this easier to eyeball correctly.
4. Compress it under 1MB — for the stricter old paper-form limit, target the under-100KB preset instead to be safe.

Always double-check the current file size limit on the actual application page before submitting — Indian government portals have changed these numbers before, and the official page is the source of truth.