India Visa photo requirements

India e-Visa photo requirements, in plain English

The India e-Visa photo specification is short and geometry-focused. The official e-Visa portal (run by the Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs) states only a handful of rules — about shape, framing, background, and shadows — and is silent on several topics that other countries spell out (expression, glasses, headwear, red-eye). Where the portal says nothing, we fall back to the international ICAO best-practice default and flag it as such, rather than inventing an India-specific rule.

Shape, file, and framing

The India e-Visa photo must be square — its height and width must be equal — supplied as a JPEG between 10 KB and 300 KB, without borders. Within that square:

• Centre the head in the frame and show the **full head from the top of the

hair to the bottom of the chin**.

• The head should measure 1 inch to 1-3/8 inches (25 mm to 35 mm).
• Eye height should be between 1-1/8 inches and 1-3/8 inches.

Snapassport crops and scales your photo to land inside this head-size and eye-line window automatically.

Pose and gaze

The portal requires a full face, front view, with eyes open. Face the camera directly with both eyes open — that is the one pose rule the source states.

Background and shadows

Use a plain light-coloured or white background, and make sure there are no shadows on the face or on the background. Snapassport standardises your background to a clean, compliant colour for you, so a slightly off-colour or busy wall is corrected automatically.

What the portal does not specify

India's e-Visa instructions do not mention expression, glasses, hats or head coverings, or red-eye. For these we apply the widely used ICAO defaults so your photo is safe internationally:

• Expression — a neutral expression with the mouth closed and both eyes open.
• Glasses — best removed; if worn, keep the eyes clearly visible with no

glare, no tint, and no frames covering the eyes.

• Hats and head coverings — remove hats and caps; a head covering worn daily

for religious reasons is generally fine as long as the full face stays visible.

• Red-eye — use diffused lighting or reposition the flash so the eyes look

clear and natural.

These are honest best-practice fallbacks, not rules quoted from the Indian government. The portal's own hard requirements are the square shape, the head-size and eye-height framing, the plain light/white background, and the no-shadows rule.