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The Indian Visa for foreign nationals uses a 51×51mm (2×2 inch) square format with 600×600 pixels — NOT the new 35×45mm Indian-passport format that took effect in September 2025. The same square spec covers both the paper visa (issued at Indian Missions and VFS Global centres) and the e-Visa portal at indianvisaonline.gov.in. Here is how the common options compare.
The e-Visa is the most popular path for tourists, business travellers, and conference attendees from 160+ eligible countries. Applications run at indianvisaonline.gov.in: you fill out the form, upload a JPEG meeting the 51×51mm / 600×600 pixel spec along with a passport bio-page scan, and pay the e-Visa fee online. The e-Visa PDF arrives by email within 72 hours typically. Print and carry it at the port of entry.
Paper visas (long-term, employment, student, journalist, and other categories not eligible for e-Visa) require a visit to the Indian Mission of your country, or to the VFS Global / BLS International visa application centre that serves that Mission. You bring two printed 51×51mm photos along with the application form, passport, and supporting documents. The Mission applies a sticker visa in the passport.
The 51×51mm square format for Indian visas was retained when India switched its passport photo to ICAO 35×45mm in September 2025. The asymmetry is deliberate: visa photos for foreign nationals follow the US-style square spec (which most foreign applicants already use for their home passport), while Indian citizens producing photos for their own passport use the ICAO 35×45mm portrait spec.
Since September 2025 the Indian passport switched to ICAO 35×45mm, but the Indian Visa for foreign nationals remained at 51×51mm. Applicants who research "Indian passport photo size" and find the new 35×45mm guidance use that for their visa upload — and the indianvisaonline.gov.in portal rejects the file. The visa keeps the older US-style square format. Confirm 51×51mm / 600×600 px before upload.
The Indian Mission requires plain white. Off-white, cream, light grey — all rejected. The indianvisaonline.gov.in portal has an automated background check that flags any non-white pixel cluster behind the head.
India banned glasses for visa photos in 2018 — same as the passport. There is no medical exemption for visa photos (unlike Indian-citizen passport photos which allow an ophthalmologist exemption). All foreign-national visa applicants must remove glasses for the photo.
Beyond the passport-vs-visa confusion above, photo studios that default to "ICAO 35×45mm" or other portrait formats produce a photo the visa portal rejects. The Indian Visa is square (51×51mm) — same proportions as a US passport photo. Ask explicitly for "US passport size" or "2 by 2 inch" at the studio.
The head must occupy 70–80% of photo height — about 36–41mm in the 51mm tall photo. Selfies are usually too small; close-up studio portraits are often too large. The indianvisaonline.gov.in automated check measures face height and rejects out-of-range photos with a specific error code.
The e-Visa portal requires JPEG between 10 kB and 1 MB, exactly 600×600 pixels. Photos larger than 1 MB or smaller than 10 kB are rejected at upload. The 600×600 dimension is enforced exactly — 599×600 or 601×600 fail. The AI normalises both dimensions and file size.
Neutral expression required — mouth closed, no teeth visible, eyes open looking at the camera. The Indian Mission enforces this strictly to support biometric matching at the port of entry.
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