OCI photo — a square 600 × 600 px JPEG under 200 KB and 51 × 51 mm prints

An OCI photo is square, at least 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), in colour, with your face filling 80% of the frame against a plain light-coloured background that is not white, with no border. For the online form it must be a JPEG or JPG of 200 KB or less, from 200 × 200 to 900 × 900 pixels, and the signature image follows the same format and 200 KB cap. These figures come from question 9 of the FAQ on the Ministry of Home Affairs OCI portal, ociservices.gov.in, checked on 21 October 2026.

The official OCI photo and signature specification

The two official documents do not agree on one point. The Photo Specifications PDF, still linked from the portal menu, dates from 2010 and shows a head of 1 to 1 3/8 inches from chin to top of hair, which is only half to two thirds of a 2-inch photo. The FAQ and the Paris embassy’s current table ask for 80% coverage instead. This page follows the newer rule, so the guides place the head at 40.6 to 43.2 mm of the 50.8 mm height (80 to 85%; the 85% ceiling is our choice, to keep the hair and chin inside the frame). If the checklist from your own Indian mission states a head size, follow that.

Making the OCI photo on this page

1. Take the picture against a light grey wall. Use soft, even light from in front, with no shadow behind your head. Keep your expression natural and your eyes open; glasses, if worn, need clear lenses, with the head tilted slightly up or down to avoid glare.
2. Choose the file. Photo type is already set to OCI card — 51 × 51 mm / 600 × 600 px.
3. Line up your head. With Show face-position guides ticked, put the top of your hair on the yellow line, about 3.4 mm below the top edge, and your chin inside the blue band, 44.0 to 46.6 mm down. That tight framing leaves little room for shoulders, which is what 80% coverage means.
4. Adjust with Zoom, Horizontal position and Vertical position, by dragging the preview, or with the arrow keys, plus, minus and 0 to reset.
5. Leave Background on “Keep the original”. MHA’s guide says not to retouch, enhance or soften the photo. The replace option would paint the light grey this preset uses, but a real wall avoids edited edges around the hair.
6. Pick a Print sheet format and press Make passport photos (the button keeps that label for every photo type).

You get three files: the upload image, whose name ends in “-oci-digital-600x600.jpg”; the same photo as a 300 DPI print file; and a 4 × 6 inch sheet of six 2-inch photos printed edge to edge, so print it borderless at actual size.

The signature upload

The portal treats the signature as a second image with the same rules as the photo: JPEG or JPG, no larger than 200 KB. The FAQ sets no pixel size or shape for it. A practical route is to sign in black or dark blue ink on clean white paper, photograph or scan it, then run it through the Signature Extractor to remove the paper texture and crop tightly. If the result is still over the limit, the Resize Image in KB tool can bring it under 200 KB. Check your mission’s checklist for who signs for a young child, because the portal FAQ does not cover it.

After you upload

The online form is only the first half. You then take the original supporting documents to the Indian Mission, Post or FRRO that has jurisdiction over you for verification, and the Paris embassy’s checklist, for one, asks applicants to attach a printed photograph that meets the OCI specification. That is where the 4 × 6 inch sheet helps. If the office finds a deficiency in the uploaded photo, it emails you, and the replacement you supply is uploaded by the office rather than by you.

Photos come up again later. Holders who registered young upload a new passport and a fresh photo each time a passport is issued up to age 20, and once more after 50, all within three months of getting the passport. Spouse-based holders do so with every new passport.

Common reasons OCI photos are sent back

Drawn from the FAQ and the do’s and don’ts in MHA’s photo guide:

• a white background, a border, or a busy or patterned backdrop;
• the head not centred, or too small for the 80% coverage rule;
• shadows on the face or on the wall behind;
• blur, visible pixels, ink marks, creases or washed-out colour;
• unnatural skin tones from fluorescent or unbalanced lighting;
• eyes closed, hair across the eyes, frames covering the eyes, tinted lenses or flash glare;
• a head covering worn for reasons other than religion, or one that hides the face between chin and forehead;
• for children, toys, chair backs or another person in the frame;
• an upload that is not square, smaller than 200 pixels, larger than 900 pixels, or over 200 KB.

What this page cannot check

• Face position. The guides are fixed lines; there is no face detection, and the eye line is an estimate.
• Picture quality. Sharpness, exposure, shadows, glasses and expression are your call.
• The verdict. Acceptance rests with the mission, post or FRRO reviewing your file.

For other sizes, the Passport Photo Maker lists every preset; visitors applying for a tourist or business visa instead need the India e-Visa photo, and an Indian passport renewal uses the Passport Seva photo resizer.