Indian passport photo size — 35×45 mm (2026 rules)

An Indian passport photo is 35 × 45 mm with a plain white background, a neutral expression, and no glasses. For online submission, a 630 × 810 pixel JPEG matches that same 7:9 portrait ratio.

The four things that get photos rejected

1. The background isn't actually white. A wall that looks white to your eye is usually light grey or cream in a photo, and it fails on inspection. Shadows behind the head are the most common version of this. The fix is to replace the background outright rather than photograph a white wall.

2. The face is the wrong size in the frame. This is the one most people miss. India requires an unusually large face — roughly 36–38 mm from chin to crown, which is about 80–85% of the frame height. A normal selfie framing leaves the face far too small.

3. Glasses. Glasses have not been permitted in Indian passport photos since 2020. Remove them, including thin frames and clear lenses.

4. Expression and head angle. Neutral expression, mouth closed, no smile. Head straight to the camera, both ears roughly level, eyes open and clearly visible.

How to make one

1. Take a photo against any background in even, front-facing light. Avoid overhead light — it casts shadows under the eyes and behind the head.
2. Upload it above. The background is replaced with white, the face is cropped to the required height, and the file is sized to spec.
3. Download the digital file for online submission, or a print sheet for the counter.

Everything runs in your browser. Your photo is not uploaded anywhere.

Printing

For physical submission, use the 4×6 inch print sheet — it lays out multiple copies at exact size for a local print shop. Print at actual size with no scaling, or the millimetre dimensions will be wrong.

Do not use AI to edit your face

Beautification filters, face-slimming, skin smoothing and AI-generated portraits can cause a photo to be flagged. Your photo needs to be a real, recent photograph of you. Replacing the background and cropping is fine — altering your face is not.

FAQ

What is the Indian passport photo size in pixels? 630 × 810 pixels is the common digital equivalent of 35 × 45 mm at the correct 7:9 ratio. Confirm the exact requirement on the portal you are submitting to, as different portals sometimes state different pixel values.

Can I use a selfie? Yes, if it is sharp, evenly lit, front-facing and recent. Hold the phone at eye level, not above, and use the rear camera if you can — it is sharper.

Is a white shirt a problem? It can be. A white or very light top can blend into a white background. Wear a darker colour so your shoulders are clearly defined.

How recent does the photo need to be? Within the last six months, and it should look like you do now.

Can I smile? No. Neutral expression with the mouth closed.

Related: Passport photo rejected — how to fix it · Face size in passport photos · Take a passport photo at home · 10 rejection reasons · OCI photo size

PhotoFix is an independent private utility. We are not affiliated with the Government of India, UIDAI, MEA, any passport authority or any embassy. Requirements change — always confirm on the official portal before you submit.

India adopted the ICAO 35 × 45 mm photo standard and retired the older 51 × 51 mm square format. If your photo is square, it is using the old specification.

What changed

The move aligns Indian passport photos with the international ICAO standard that most countries already use — which is why the same 35 × 45 mm photo now also works for UK, Schengen and Australian visa applications.

official portal before submitting.*

Why this catches people out

Two reasons, both outside your control:

Studios that haven't updated. Many local photo studios still cut 51 × 51 mm prints because that's what they've always done. A recent print is not necessarily a current-spec print.

Online tools that haven't updated. A lot of free passport photo sites still list the square size in their India preset. The tool completes successfully, the file looks fine, and it fails at submission.

How to check your photo in ten seconds

Look at the shape. A current Indian passport photo is taller than it is wide — a 7:9 portrait rectangle. If yours is square, it's the old format.

If you have the file, check the pixel dimensions: a 7:9 ratio (for example 630 × 810) is correct. Equal width and height is not.

What did NOT change

The rest of the requirements are unchanged:

• Plain white background
• Neutral expression, mouth closed
• No glasses (unchanged since 2020)
• Taken within the last six months
• Face roughly 36–38 mm chin to crown

So if your photo was rejected and it's already the right shape, the cause is one of those — most often the background or the face size.

Fixing an old square photo

You can usually re-crop a square photo to 35 × 45 mm if there's enough image around the head. Upload it above and it'll be re-cropped to the correct ratio and face height.

If the original was tightly cropped, there may not be enough headroom, and you'll need to retake it.

FAQ

Is my existing passport affected? No. This is about photographs submitted with new applications. An already issued passport is unaffected.

Are the old square prints from my studio useless? For a new passport application, yes — they're the previous specification. Ask for 35 × 45 mm, or make the file yourself and print it.

Does the same photo work for visas? Often. 35 × 45 mm is the common size for UK, Schengen and Australian visa applications, though each has its own background and face-size rules. Always check the specific requirement.

Related: Indian passport photo size · Passport photo rejected · OCI photo size

PhotoFix is an independent private utility, not affiliated with the Government of India, MEA or any passport authority. Requirements change — confirm on the official portal before you submit.

630 × 810 pixels is the digital file size for an Indian passport photo — the pixel equivalent of the 35 × 45 mm print size, at the correct 7:9 portrait ratio.

Why 630×810 specifically

35 mm × 45 mm scales to 630 × 810 px at roughly 457 pixels per inch, which keeps the file sharp enough for printing while staying well inside typical upload limits. The number that actually matters is the ratio — 7:9 — not the exact pixel count. A photo at 700 × 900 px is the same shape and usually still accepted; a photo at 630 × 700 px is not, even though the width matches.

specification before submitting.*

The mistake that causes most rejections here

Resizing a photo to exactly 630 × 810 px without first cropping to the 7:9 ratio stretches or squashes the face. The portal accepts the file — it matches the pixel count — but a human reviewer or an automated face-ratio check flags it later. Crop to the ratio first, then resize; never resize first and stretch to fit.

How to make one

1. Upload your photo above. It's cropped to 7:9 automatically, not stretched.
2. The background is replaced with pure white and the face is sized to the 36–38 mm chin-to-crown requirement.
3. Download the 630 × 810 px JPEG for online upload, or the 4×6 inch print sheet for a local shop.

FAQ

Is 630×810 the only accepted pixel size? No — it's the common reference size. What actually matters is the 7:9 ratio and a file size inside the portal's stated KB range. Confirm the exact figure on the form you're using, since some portals restate it slightly differently.

Can I upload a bigger photo, like 1200×1543? Usually yes, as long as the ratio is correct and the file size is within range — but check the specific portal's upload rules first.

Does DPI matter for the digital upload? Not usually — DPI matters for print sheets, not for the pixel file itself. The pixel dimensions and file size are what the upload form checks.

Related: Indian passport photo size — full spec · Passport photo white background · Passport photo print sheet · Passport photo hub

PhotoFix is an independent private utility. We are not affiliated with the Government of India, UIDAI, MEA, any passport authority or any embassy. Requirements change — always confirm on the official portal before you submit.

An Indian passport photo needs a plain, evenly lit white background — not an off-white wall, not a shadow-streaked one. The reliable way to get it is to replace the background digitally rather than photograph one.

Why "just find a white wall" doesn't work

Cameras don't record white the way your eyes see it. A wall that looks white in the room usually comes out light grey, beige or slightly blue in a photo, depending on the light. Add a shadow — which happens whenever you stand close to the wall — and the area right behind your head reads as grey or even dark, which fails the check outright.

The three usual culprits:

1. Ambient light temperature. Warm indoor bulbs tint "white" walls yellow; cool bulbs tint them blue.
2. Shadow behind the head. Standing 30 cm from a wall with an overhead light casts a visible shadow directly behind you.
3. JPEG compression. Heavy compression shifts a near-white background toward grey in blocky patches, which is easy to miss on a small phone screen.

The fix

Photograph yourself against any background in good, even light — a plain wall is still fine for framing, it just doesn't need to be white. Upload the photo above and the background is replaced with pure white (#FFFFFF), with no shadow artifacts left behind.

specification before submitting.*

What if I've already been rejected for this?

Retake the photo rather than trying to lighten the existing background in an editor — brightening a grey background in a basic photo editor usually blows out the exposure on your face and skin tone at the same time, which creates a new problem. Take a fresh photo, then replace the background properly.

FAQ

Does the background have to be pure white, or is off-white acceptable? Plain white is the requirement — a visibly cream or grey tone is a common rejection reason. When in doubt, replace it digitally rather than guess.

Can I use a white bedsheet as a backdrop? It can work, but folds and shadows in fabric often show up as texture that isn't perfectly uniform. Background replacement avoids that entirely.

What about the OCI card — is the background the same white? No — OCI accepts a light-colored background, not strictly pure white. See OCI photo size for the exact difference.

Related: Indian passport photo size — full spec · Passport photo rejected — how to fix it · Background not white — rejected · Passport photo hub

PhotoFix is an independent private utility. We are not affiliated with the Government of India, UIDAI, MEA, any passport authority or any embassy. Requirements change — always confirm on the official portal before you submit.

A print sheet lays out several 35 × 45 mm passport photos on one 4×6 inch page, sized exactly, so a local print shop can print it as a normal photo without you paying for a full studio session.

Why a print sheet instead of one photo

Some counters — PSK, POPSK, and several exam or licence offices — still want a physical printed photo, not just a digital upload. Printing a single small photo yourself is fiddly and easy to get wrong on scale. A print sheet solves this: it repeats your photo at the exact 35 × 45 mm size across a standard 4×6 inch page, which any photo printing counter already knows how to print.

How to make one

1. Upload your photo above and confirm it passes the compliance checklist (white background, correct crop, no glasses, neutral expression).
2. Download the 4×6 inch print sheet option instead of the single digital file.
3. Take the file to a print shop, or print it at home on photo paper.

The one setting that ruins it

Print at actual size — turn off "fit to page" or "scale to fit." Print sheets are built at exact millimetre dimensions. If your printer or the shop's printer scales the image to fill the page, every photo on the sheet comes out the wrong size, and it will be rejected at the counter even though it looked correct on screen.

specification before submitting.*

Printing at home vs. a shop

A shop's photo printer produces more consistent color and sizing than a home inkjet, which is usually the safer choice if the photo will be scrutinized at a counter. If you do print at home, use photo paper, not plain paper — plain paper often reads as too grey for the white background requirement.

FAQ

How many photos fit on one sheet? Typically 4 to 8 copies of the same photo, depending on layout — enough for multiple applications or a spare in case one gets damaged.

Do I still need the digital file separately? Yes, if you're also submitting online. Download both — the print sheet for the counter, the single JPEG for the online upload.

Does this work for OCI or visa photos too? Print sheets are most commonly needed for passport counters, but the same principle — print at actual size — applies to any physical photo requirement.

Related: Indian passport photo size — full spec · Passport photo 630×810 pixels · Passport photo hub

PhotoFix is an independent private utility. We are not affiliated with the Government of India, UIDAI, MEA, any passport authority or any embassy. Requirements change — always confirm on the official portal before you submit.