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India passport & visa photo 2×2 in, free

By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: July 2026

India's e-Visa, OCI and many photo submissions use a 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) square photo with a plain white background and the face centred. Upload any straight-on photo and PassportNinja crops it to the square format and whitens the background — free, with a printable sheet.

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The square 2×2 inch format

Unlike Europe's tall 35×45 mm rectangle, India's online photo (e-Visa, OCI, and many passport-related uploads) is a square: 2×2 inches, i.e. 51×51 mm, the same shape as a US passport photo. The face is centred and takes up roughly 70–80% of the frame, with a plain white background and even lighting.

• Photo shape: 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) square
• Plain white background, no shadows
• Face centred, looking straight at the camera, neutral expression
• Both eyes open and clearly visible, no hair across the face
• Recent photo, full face visible

Passport at a centre vs. online photo

Note the difference so you upload the right thing. When you attend a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) appointment in person, your photo is usually captured there — you don't submit your own. Where you do upload a photo yourself — the Indian e-Visa, OCI applications, and various online forms — the 2×2 inch square white-background format is what's expected, and that's exactly what this tool produces.

PassportNinja handles the mechanical part: it crops to the exact size, scales your head to the required height and replaces the background with plain white, then gives you a digital file at 600 dpi plus a printable 10×15 cm sheet. It does not judge lighting, expression or glasses, and it can't guarantee acceptance — that's always the issuing office's call. Follow the checklist for the things a tool can't see.

How to make it

1. Choose "India — passport & visa (2×2 in)" in the tool.
2. Upload a straight-on photo with a neutral expression and both ears/edges of the face visible.
3. Let PassportNinja centre your face in the square and whiten the background.
4. Download the digital square photo for the online form, or the print sheet.

Why India uses a square photo, and what that changes

India's passport and visa photos are 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm) square, the same geometry the United States uses and unlike almost everything in Europe. The practical consequences catch people out:

• A European 35 × 45 mm photo cannot be reused. Cropping a rectangle to a square either cuts the top of your head or leaves you off-centre. Start from the original photo and re-crop, don't trim a print.
• A square frame wants a centred head with air above it. In a 45 mm tall rectangle a head fills most of the height; in a 51 mm square the same head leaves more space at the sides, so a photo shot too close looks cramped in a way that reads as wrong even when the millimetres are right.
• Printing at home means cutting squares, which is harder to do neatly by eye than a rectangle. The 10 × 15 cm sheet with printed cut lines exists for exactly this: take it to a kiosk and cut along the lines.

Applying in India versus applying abroad

Where you apply changes what you need, and this is the part most guides skip.

• At a Passport Seva Kendra in India: for most applications the photo is taken on the spot during your appointment, so a photo you brought is not the deciding factor. What matters more is arriving with your documents in order.
• At a consulate or through a service centre abroad: you supply the photos yourself, usually two identical prints, and this is where the 2 × 2 in specification and a plain white background are checked properly.
• Online forms and appointment portals often want a digital file as well, with their own pixel and file-size limits stated on the upload page. Read those numbers on the portal itself — they differ per service and they change.

The photo requirements themselves are the familiar set: plain white background, taken within the last six months, full face looking straight at the camera, neutral expression with the mouth closed, both eyes open and clearly visible, no glasses, no head covering except for religious reasons, and even lighting with no shadow on the face or on the wall behind you. Print on glossy photo paper — plain-paper home printing is a frequent physical rejection.

One India-specific habit worth adopting: keep the digital file as well as the prints. Indian consular services and visa portals frequently ask for the same photo in both forms during a single application, and re-shooting to match a print you already submitted is a miserable job.

Common questions