India passport photo size (2026): 630 × 810 px, not 2 × 2
If you're applying for or renewing an Indian passport, including from the US through VFS, the photo rules changed with the move to Passport Seva 2.0 (GPSP 2.0). The Embassy of India in Washington now asks applicants to upload "an ICAO-compliant photograph" while filling in the portal, and links to the official Guidelines for ICAO Compliant Photographs (passportindia.gov.in, PDF).
The current specification
- 630 × 810 pixels, in colour (a 7:9 portrait shape, the same as 35 × 45 mm).
- White background.
- Close-up of head and top of shoulders, the face taking up 80–85% of the photo. That's a much tighter crop than US or UK photos.
- Full head from top of hair to bottom of chin, centred, not tilted.
- Unaltered by software, no shadows, no red eye, mouth closed, eyes open.
- Glasses off, to avoid reflections. Head coverings only for religious reasons, with the face from chin to forehead and both edges visible.
- Taken from about 1.5 m away. Too close distorts the nose and fails face matching.
What about the 2 × 2 inch photo?
Older documents, including the VFS USA photo specification and some embassy PDFs, still describe a 2 × 2 inch (51 × 51 mm) print. Some VFS checklists hadn't been updated when the portal changed. If a form you were given has a 2 × 2 photo box, ask your VFS centre which size they want for the physical copy. For the portal upload, use the 630 × 810 px file.
Three mistakes we see most
- Head too small. At 80–85% the crown nearly touches the top edge. PassPhotoSnap's India setting puts the head at about 36–38 mm of the 45 mm height.
- Off-white or grey walls. India asks for white, so use the auto white background or a white sheet.
- Wrong shape. A square 2 × 2 file stretched to 630 × 810 distorts the face. Crop to the 7:9 shape instead.
Make a 630×810 India passport photo →
PassPhotoSnap is not affiliated with the Ministry of External Affairs, Passport Seva or VFS Global. Check the portal's current file size limit before uploading.