India e-Visa photo — a square JPEG between 10 KB and 1 MB

The Indian e-Visa asks for one digital photograph: a JPEG of at least 10 KB and no more than 1 MB, with height and width equal, showing your full face from the front, eyes open, without spectacles, your whole head from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin, centred, on a plain light-coloured or white background with no shadows and no border. Those are the words of the “Instructions for Applicant” on indianvisaonline.gov.in, checked on 21 October 2026. The page gives no pixel size and no head measurement, so anything beyond that list is a choice, and this page tells you where it has made one.

The e-Visa photo rules, line by line

The head guides are this page’s own framing, not an Indian rule: the top of the hair about 7.1 mm below the top edge and the chin between 32.5 and 42.1 mm, on a 51 mm square. That leaves room above the hair and shows the shoulders, which suits the request for the full head centred in the frame.

Photo, passport page and other documents

The e-Visa form takes three kinds of upload, and only the photo is an image file:

If your passport scan is a picture, JPG to PDF turns it into a PDF, and Compress PDF to 300 KB brings a heavy scan under the cap. Business cards, invitation letters and other papers must be in English, or the application can be rejected.

e-Visa or the regular visa form

Some travellers cannot use the e-Visa, for example for employment, and fill in the regular online visa form instead. Its photo guide, also on indianvisaonline.gov.in, is stricter: JPEG, 10 KB to 300 KB, square, at least 350 × 350 and at most 1,000 × 1,000 pixels. The 600 × 600 file made here is inside that pixel range, but at top quality it can be larger than 300 KB. For the regular form, take the file into Resize Image in KB and set 300 KB as the target.

Making the photo on this page

1. Stand in front of a plain white or very light wall, lit evenly from the front so no shadow falls behind you. Remove your glasses.
2. Choose the file. Photo type is already set to India e-Visa — square JPEG, 10 KB–1 MB.
3. Frame your head. Keep Show face-position guides ticked, put the top of your hair on the yellow line and your chin in the blue band, and keep your nose on the vertical centre line.
4. Fine-tune with Zoom, Horizontal position and Vertical position, or drag the preview. The arrow keys move it, plus and minus zoom, and 0 resets.
5. Background. “Keep the original” is the default and the safer option. The e-Visa page says nothing about edited photos either way, but an AI cut-out can leave hard or haloed edges around hair.
6. Press Make passport photos. The button has that name on every photo type.

The file to upload is the one ending in “-india-evisa-digital-600x600.jpg”. The download also includes a 2-inch print file and a 4 × 6 inch sheet, which the e-Visa does not need.

When to apply and what follows

The e-Visa FAQ allows you to apply from 120 days before your planned travel date up to four days before you arrive, for the tourist, business, medical, medical attendant and conference types alike, and the fee has to be paid at least four days before travel. You get an email confirming submission. After that the application is checked, and if an image or document is unsuitable you may be emailed, usually within 24 hours, with a request to upload it again through the re-upload tab at the bottom of the e-Visa page. Before the final submit, check your photo, name, passport number and date of birth: the FAQ makes the applicant responsible for any discrepancy, and the fee is non-refundable whatever the outcome.

Problems to avoid

Based on the rules on the e-Visa page:

• a photo that is not clear, or not as per the specification, which makes the application liable to rejection;
• spectacles of any kind;
• shadows on the face or on the background;
• a border, a frame, or a dark or patterned background;
• a crop that cuts off the top of the hair or the chin, or a head off to one side;
• a file that is not JPEG (phone HEIC photos need converting first with HEIC to JPG), not square, under 10 KB or over 1 MB.

What this page cannot check

• Your face. There is no face detection: the lines are fixed positions and you decide where your head sits.
• Quality. Focus, lighting, glasses and expression are not assessed.
• The decision. Only the Indian authorities decide whether the photo and the e-Visa are accepted.

People of Indian origin who qualify for an Overseas Citizen of India card, which works as a lifelong multiple-entry visa, apply with different photo rules covered on the OCI photo page, and the Passport Photo Maker covers other countries.