You can’t upload your own photo for a Nepal passport — not with IDPhotoBy, and not with any self-service tool. Nepal’s Department of Passports (DoPS) issues the general ePassport only through mandatory in-person Live Enrollment: after you fill in an online pre-enrolment form, you attend an Enrolment Center in person, and department staff take your photo and biometric details on the spot as part of registration. DoPS’s own FAQ confirms that a passport applicant does not need to bring a photo. Because no application channel accepts a self-made, uploaded or software-cropped photo, IDPhotoBy does not prepare photos for a Nepal passport.
This page explains why, how Live Enrollment actually works, and where IDPhotoBy can help with document photos online instead.
DoPS is direct about this in its own FAQ. Asked whether an ePassport applicant needs to bring a photo, the answer is:
« पर्दैन।राहदानी आवेदन गर्ने Enrollment Center मा नै प्रत्यक्ष दर्ता (live Enrollment) गर्दा कर्मचारीले फोटो खिच्ने हुनाले राहदानी आवेदकले फोटो साथमा ल्याउनु पर्दैन। »
“No. Since staff take the photo during in-person registration (Live Enrollment) at the Enrollment Center where the passport application is made, the applicant does not need to bring a photo.”
Registration itself is defined, in DoPS’s own materials, as covering both steps together:
« दर्ता गर्ने (फोटो खिच्ने र जैविक विवरण दिने) »
“Registering (taking the photo and providing biometric details)”
In other words, the photo isn’t a document you prepare and hand over — it’s captured by DoPS staff at the same moment as your other biometric data, using the department’s own equipment. There’s no step in the process, online or in person, where you supply your own photo file, so DoPS hasn’t published an applicant-facing photo size or background specification for this process either. You may see online tools advertise a specific “Nepal passport photo” size or template — those figures aren’t drawn from a DoPS specification for the general Live Enrollment process, because no such specification for applicant-submitted photos exists.
Two narrow exceptions do call for a pre-existing photo, but neither is the general adult passport this page covers: children under five who can’t sit still for the photo, and some minors born abroad applying for their first passport without a minor’s ID card, who submit a “recently taken, passport-size photo” — DoPS states the requirement without giving exact millimetres. If either applies to you, confirm the current requirement directly with your nearest Enrolment Center or Nepali diplomatic mission before applying.
To apply for a Nepal ePassport:
- Fill in the online pre-enrolment form. Choose an Enrolment Center and fix an appointment date/time; after you submit it, DoPS issues a form copy with a barcode/QR code — print it, or carry the original saved form file on your phone (not a screenshot).
- Attend that Enrolment Center in person, at your appointment. DoPS runs Enrolment Centers at its headquarters, at District and Area Administration Offices around the country, and at Nepali diplomatic missions abroad.
- Complete registration on site. This covers your booked form being verified, paying the fee, and registration itself — where staff take your photo and record your biometric details together.
- Collect your passport from the same Enrolment Center once DoPS notifies you it’s ready, by email or SMS — Nepali missions abroad may instead arrange delivery by post or in-person collection.
If you’re applying as, or on behalf of, a child under five, or a minor born abroad applying for a first passport, ask your Enrolment Center or diplomatic mission about the photo you may need to bring for that specific exception — it isn’t part of the standard adult process above.
IDPhotoBy prepares document photos online only where the issuing authority accepts a self-prepared, uploaded photo. A Nepal passport isn’t one of those — DoPS captures the photo itself, in person, as part of Live Enrollment. There is nothing for IDPhotoBy to prepare for a Nepal passport.
If you’re preparing a different document whose authority does accept an uploaded photo, IDPhotoBy can help — see the documents we support.
See the documents IDPhotoBy supports →
Processes and locations can change — check the Department of Passports’ own ePassport process page or its FAQ before you apply, and treat DoPS and your chosen Enrolment Center as the final authority.
