Quick answer
Can I wear glasses in my Indian passport photo?
For applications abroad, the ICAO guidelines Indian missions publish say glasses should be taken off to avoid reflections, and the portal flags glasses reflections. At a Passport Seva Kendra, staff take your photo and will tell you what to adjust. The e-Visa photo must be without spectacles.
Quick answers about Indian passport photos and other Indian ID, exam and visa photos. For the full rules and official sources, follow the links to each guide.
No, unless you are applying for a child under 4. Passport Seva captures your photo and fingerprints at the Passport Seva Kendra or POPSK. For a child under 4, bring one recent 4.5 × 3.5 cm colour photo with a white background. See Indian passport photo rules.
4.5 × 3.5 cm (45 mm high, 35 mm wide), in colour on a white background, on most forms that print a size, including PAN Form 93 and voter ID Form 6. See the India photo size chart.
For Indian passport uploads abroad, the missions' ICAO guidelines say to take glasses off to avoid reflections. The India e-Visa photo must be without spectacles, and the US visa photo bans glasses too. Tinted glasses are never accepted.
White for Indian passports, PAN and voter ID photos. The e-Visa and e-FRRO accept plain light-coloured or white, and the OCI FAQs ask for a plain light colour, not white. See the OCI photo guide.
A 630 × 810 pixel colour JPG of up to 250 KB with a white background, uploaded on Global Passport Seva Portal 2.0, plus a scanned signature of up to 100 KB. See applying abroad. If the file is not a JPG, such as a HEIC photo from an iPhone, convert it with the free 123PhotoTool JPEG converter.
The portal's automatic ICAO check flags problems such as an open mouth, glasses reflections, red eyes, a non-uniform background, blur, a tilted head or the wrong face size. See photo rejected? errors and fixes.
Yes, for uploads and for a child's printed photo. Ask someone to take it from about 1.5 metres against a plain white wall in daylight, glasses off. See taking it at home.
Only for religious reasons, with your face visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face showing. Missions such as Bern add that a turban must leave the forehead visible.
No. Your Aadhaar photo is biometric data, captured live at an Aadhaar Enrolment Centre or Aadhaar Seva Kendra. See Aadhaar card photo.
It depends on the country: 2 × 2 inches for the US, 35 × 45 mm for Schengen countries and Singapore, 33 × 48 mm for China, while the UK takes your photo at the visa centre. See visa photos for Indians.
No. This is an independent guide, not a government website. Each guide links to the official Passport Seva, Ministry of Home Affairs, UIDAI, ECI, Parivahan, exam body or embassy pages it is based on. Always confirm the current rules there before you apply. See about this site.
Official sources
- Passport Seva: Getting Started
- Global Passport Seva Portal 2.0
- Embassy of India, Washington DC: Guidelines for ICAO compliant photographs (PDF)
- Indian Visa Online: e-Visa photo requirements
- Ministry of Home Affairs: OCI FAQs
Last checked . Requirements and fees can change, so always confirm with the issuing agency before you apply. This site is independent and not affiliated with any government agency.