India passport photo size: 45×35 mm print & 600×600 px e-Visa (official)

Published 2026-08-16 · Rules verified live against the official portals: Passport Seva (passportindia.gov.in), indianvisaonline.gov.in and ociservices.gov.in (verified ✓ 2026-08-12)

India is one of the few countries where "passport photo size" means two completely different things: a printed photo for the passport form and a digital photo for the e-Visa and OCI. Mixing them up is the most common mistake we see — here are the exact official sizes for all three.

The three sizes at a glance

Document	Photo size	Background
Passport (printed)	4.5×3.5 cm (45×35 mm), colour	White
e-Visa (digital)	600×600 px square JPEG, 10 KB – 1 MB	Plain light / white
OCI (digital)	2×2 in (51×51 mm) @300 dpi, max 200 KB	Plain light, no shadows

India passport: the printed photo rule

Passport Seva's official FAQ states the printed photo must be "passport size coloured photographs (4.5 cm length x 3.5 cm width) with white background".

Most adults don't need a printed photo at all — when you apply at a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK), your photo is captured digitally on site.
Printed photos are required for: children under 4, Camp applications, and Diplomatic/Official forms.
Black & white, polaroid and dark-glasses photos are rejected; the background must be white, not grey or off-white.

If you need the printed version, print it at 45×35 mm — the 4×6 inch photo-paper layout most shops use is not an official size for this form.

India e-Visa: the digital photo rule

The e-Visa portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in) requires a square JPEG, exactly 600×600 pixels, between 10 KB and 1 MB, on a plain light or white background.

Head height about 64.5% of the photo height (crown to chin) — much larger in frame than a US-style passport crop.
Full frontal view, both eyes open and visible, plain expression.
Photo must be recent and recognisable; no AI editing, filters or retouching — the portal explicitly rejects edited photos.
File size matters: export at 600×600 and check it stays under 1 MB (our compressor handles this in your browser).

OCI: 2×2 in with exact head measurements

OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) applications use the US-style 2×2 in (51×51 mm) photo at 300 dpi, max 200 KB — but with stricter face framing:

Head height (top of hair to bottom of chin): 1 to 1-3/8 in (25–35 mm)
Eye height: 1-1/8 to 1-3/8 in from the bottom of the photo
Full face front view, head centred, natural expression, no retouching
Head coverings only for religious reasons — face from chin to forehead and both edges must be clearly visible

The 6 most common reasons India photos get rejected

Wrong dimensions. e-Visa photos must be exactly 600×600 px — phone photos are rarely square. Passport prints must be 45×35 mm, not 2×2 in.
Head too small or too large. The e-Visa crop needs the head at about 64.5% of photo height; OCI uses the 25–35 mm band.
File size out of range. e-Visa rejects files over 1 MB; OCI over 200 KB.
Wrong background. Coloured walls, patterns or shadows fail the "plain light / white" rule.
Edited or filtered photos. Background replacement apps and beauty filters are grounds for rejection.
Glasses, closed eyes or looking away. Sunglasses are always rejected; eyes must be open and visible.

Check and fix your India photo — free

Check it: run the free 11-point checker and pick "India e-Visa" or "India Passport" — it verifies size, head height, background, lighting, blur and more, quoting the official rule for anything that fails.
Fix the file: use the free photo compressor to export a square 600×600 JPEG under 1 MB (or 200 KB for OCI), processed locally in your browser.
Print if you need to: the free print tool lays out the 45×35 mm print or 2×2 in photo at exact real size.

Check my photo free India e-Visa spec India passport spec

Common questions

Is the e-Visa photo really 600×600? Yes — square JPEG, exactly 600×600 pixels, 10 KB to 1 MB, per indianvisaonline.gov.in.

Can I use the same photo for passport and e-Visa? No. The passport print is 45×35 mm and the e-Visa is a 600×600 px digital file; the head framing rules also differ.

Can I remove my background with an app? No. Edited photos are rejected; the plain light background must already be in the photo you took.

Is a printed photo needed for every passport application? No — adults are photographed digitally at the PSK. Printed 45×35 mm photos are for children under 4, Camp applications and Diplomatic/Official forms.