Need an India visa photo? For a regular (sticker) Indian visa — the visa you apply for from outside India and collect at an Indian Mission — the photo is a 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) colour photograph, square, on a plain white background. Upload a recent portrait with the tool on this page and IDPhotoBy sizes and crops it to that standard, with the India Visa document already selected. It is free — no payment required.
This is the regular visa photo, not the fully-online e-Visa photo. Foreign nationals fill in the application on the Indian Visa Online portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs) and submit the printed form with the photograph to the concerned Indian Mission or its outsourcing agency, such as VFS Global. If you are applying for the fully-online e-Visa instead, use our India e-Visa photo page — the file rules are different.
The regular Indian visa is applied for from outside India, so the printed 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) square colour photograph is submitted with your form at the concerned Indian Mission / consulate or its outsourcing agency (for example VFS Global). It is the same square size a US passport photo uses. IDPhotoBy formats that 2×2 inch photo and places it on the plain white background the specification asks for.
Check your photo against this checklist before you print. These are the requirements published by the Bureau of Immigration (Ministry of Home Affairs) on the Indian Visa Online portal and on the VFS Global photo specification for Indian missions:
- 2×2 inches (51×51 mm) — a colour photograph; the height and width must be equal (square).
- Plain white background — a plain light-coloured or white background, with no distracting shadows on your face or behind you, and no borders.
- Head 25–35 mm — about 1 to 1-3/8 inches, measured from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin, with your head centred in the frame and the full head shown.
- Full face, front view, eyes open — look straight at the camera with a natural expression.
- Coloured attire — wear clothing that is not patterned, textured or pure white (for example a medium-blue shirt) so it contrasts with the white background.
- Head coverings — permitted only for religious reasons, and your face from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must stay clearly shown.
- Unaltered — the photograph must not be retouched, enhanced or softened.
- Babies under one year — infants below one year of age do not have to have their eyes open.
A common reason ID photos are rejected is tinted or dark glasses and glare on the lenses — keep your eyes clearly visible.
The India visa photo size is 2×2 inches — that is 51×51 mm, a square, with the height and width equal, and your head at 25–35 mm from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin. IDPhotoBy outputs a 1205×1205 px file at 600 dpi, which prints at exactly 51×51 mm — the print photograph the regular-visa specification describes.
India has two visa channels, and their photo rules differ — this page is for the regular (sticker) visa. When you complete the regular-visa online form, the same photograph is uploaded as a JPEG file of 10 KB to 300 KB, and the printed 2×2 inch copy goes to the Indian Mission. The fully-online e-Visa is a separate channel with a larger file limit — do not apply the 300 KB figure to an e-Visa upload. If you are applying for the e-Visa, use our dedicated India e-Visa photo page instead; this page prepares the 2×2 inch regular-visa print photo and its 10 KB–300 KB companion upload.
- Upload a recent, well-lit portrait with the tool on this page — the India Visa document is already selected.
- IDPhotoBy resizes and crops your photo to 2×2 inches (51×51 mm) with your head 25–35 mm from chin to crown, and places it on the plain white background the specification requires.
- Preview the result — check the size, the head position, the plain white background, that your eyes are open and your expression is natural.
- Download the finished photo, free, and use the printable sheet to print the copies you submit with your application.
The free India visa photo maker also works as a size checker and resizer for a 2×2 photo you already have — it runs online in your browser, with no app to install.
IDPhotoBy sizes and crops the photo you upload to the 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) standard and places it on the plain white background the requirements ask for. It does not retouch, beautify or AI-edit your face — the specification says the photograph must not be retouched, enhanced or softened, so your features are left exactly as they are.
We also make no acceptance promise. No online tool can promise a visa photo will be accepted — your file is prepared to the published 2×2 inch requirements, and the Indian Mission or VFS makes the final decision. What you get here is a correctly sized, correctly shaped file, free, with no paid "studio" upsell.
A baby or infant India visa photo follows the same rules: a 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) square photo, plain white background, full face and no shadows or borders. The one exception in the specification is that babies under one year do not have to have their eyes open. Lay the child on a plain white sheet or hold them against a plain backdrop, take the shot from directly in front, then upload it and let the tool crop it to the 2×2 inch square.
Requirements can change — check the official application portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in) and your Indian mission's instructions before you submit; they are the final authority on whether a photo is accepted.
