Signature rejected on an exam form — the real causes

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A rejected exam-form signature is almost always one of: wrong ink color, a file size outside the (usually very small) allowed range, a shaky or angled scan, or — for UPSC specifically — not stacking three signatures the way the form asks for.

The causes, in order

1. Ink color

Most portals want black ink only — blue ink, which is what most people default to for everyday signing, is a common and avoidable rejection reason. Check the notification's exact wording before you sign.

Fix: re-sign in black ink on plain white paper.

2. File size — usually a very small range

Signature uploads have some of the tightest KB limits on any Indian exam portal — SSC asks for roughly 10–20 KB, and Sarathi's driving licence signature has a hard 20 KB cap. A signature photographed at normal camera resolution is almost always far above this before compression.

Fix: upload above and let the tool crop and compress it — cropping tightly to just the signature, before compressing, keeps it legible at a small file size.

3. Angled or shaky scan

A signature photographed at an angle, or with the paper not flat, distorts the proportions and can blur under compression. Some portals also check that the signature isn't rotated.

Fix: photograph straight-on, with the paper flat and evenly lit — no shadow across the ink.

4. UPSC's triple-signature format

UPSC's OTR/DAF signature upload asks for three signatures stacked in a single image, not one signature repeated or three separate files. Many rejections here are simply the wrong file structure, not a bad signature itself.

Fix: use the UPSC OTR signature preset, which composes three uploaded signature photos into the correct stacked format automatically.

Filename rules

Some portals — UPSC among them — specify an exact filename (like signature.jpg) in the notification. A correctly sized file with the wrong filename can still be rejected on upload.