Indian Visa Photo: Tips to Avoid Photo Rejection [And a Hassle-Free Visa Photo Tool]

Looking for organized and easy-to-follow information about Indian visa photos? You’ve come to the right place! Discover the requirements you must follow when taking an Indian visa picture—baby and eVisa photos included—and where you can get your photo both on-site and online.

Understanding Indian visa photo requirements

In the table below, we’ve compiled the most important criteria for an acceptable Indian visa photo. These follow the guidelines from the International Standards Organization (ISO) and ICAO, which the Indian government follows for both passport and visa pictures.

Indian Visa Photo Requirements: Explained

Your visa photo must reflect your current appearance and natural skin tones. Therefore, avoid using social media filters or digital editing software that can significantly alter your looks. Ensure you take your biometric photograph six months before applying for a visa.

Speaking of appearance—there are more aspects worth discussing. Take a look at some of the categories that may have a crucial impact on your Indian visa photo. Follow these tips to ensure your photograph will get accepted by the authorities.

• Facial expression: Maintain a neutral facial expression and look directly at the camera. You can smile, but ensure that it’s natural, gentle, and doesn’t alter your facial features (e.g., doesn’t cause significant wrinkles or squinting)
• Pose: Keep your head straight. Otherwise, your pose should be relaxed and natural
• Clothing: Choose the everyday clothes you feel comfortable in. Avoid light-coloured attire, as it’ll blend with the picture’s background
• Head covering: While generally unacceptable, you can wear a head covering that has religious or medical purposes
• Glasses: Eyeglasses are allowed as long as you’ll ensure there’s no flash reflection or glare visible. Also, they cannot cover your eyes or any facial features, so you must avoid sunglasses or glasses with thick or big frames
• Hair: You can wear any hairstyle you like as long as it doesn’t cover your face or go beyond the picture’s frame

With these tips, you can be sure your Indian visa photo will pass the test!

Indian eVisa photo: requirements & specifications

Applying for your Indian visa online is now possible thanks to the government eVisa platform. To complete the application, you need to submit a digital image that follows all the abovementioned requirements and also ticks off these technical criteria:

• File size: 10 MB–300 MB
• Photo format: JPEG
• Dimensions: 350x350–1000x1000 pixels

Indian visa photo requirements for infants

While most requirements are the same, there are a few exceptions regarding babies and young children:

• Babies aged one year or younger can keep their eyes closed
• Children aged ten or younger have more relaxed requirements regarding their head height or eye position
• Babies and infants have more flexible requirements regarding their facial expressions and eyes

With these few exceptions, keep in mind that your children’s Indian visa photographs must show their full face. Also, your baby must be the only person in the photo, and there can’t be any toys or other objects visible. Your child’s facial expression should be as neutral as possible with a closed mouth, looking directly into the camera.

Unacceptable: Another person is visible in the photo.	Unacceptable: The child's mouth is open and there's a toy in the photo.	Acceptable: The child is looking directly at the camera with a gentle smile and a fully visible face.

Where to get Indian visa photos

If you prefer visiting physical locations, you can get your Indian visa photos in most places that offer biometric photo-taking services. In the US, it’s possible to get your Indian visa-size picture in any photography studio and most retail stores, pharmacies, and post offices. Moreover, Indian embassies and consulate offices would always be a safe option.

But what if you don’t have enough time to make appointments and travel to a specific location? Keep reading to find out a more convenient solution!

Can I take an Indian visa photo by myself?

The short answer is: Yes!

As it’s possible to apply for your eVisa online, you can also prepare your Indian visa photo on your own and complete the application entirely from the comfort of your home!

How does it work? Follow these three easy steps that’ll ensure you a smooth visa photo-taking experience:

1. Use a dedicated app that will help you create a biometric photograph. We recommend trying our Passport Photo Booth App for iOS or Passport Photo Maker App for Android.
2. Snap a photo—you can repeat this process until you take the perfect shot.
3. Wait only 3 minutes for your image to be checked against all official requirements.

Done! Thanks to our Indian visa photo app, you don’t have to worry about manual resizing, changing the background color, or printing your pictures. Just take a photo, and we’ll take care of the rest!