Indian passport photo requirements, and why yours keeps getting rejected
There are two different photos in an Indian passport application and people get caught by the gap between them. The printed photo is 2 by 2 inches (51 by 51 mm) on a plain white background. The photo you upload to the portal must be 630 by 810 pixels, which is a rectangle, with the face filling about 80 to 85 percent of the frame.
If the portal keeps rejecting yours, it is almost certainly because you stretched a square print into a rectangle. You get roughly twelve upload attempts before you are locked out.
The two photos, side by side
| Printed photo | Portal upload | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Square | Rectangle |
| Size | 2 x 2 inches, 51 x 51 mm | 630 x 810 pixels |
| Background | Plain white | Plain white |
| Face | Centred, facing the camera | About 80 to 85% of frame height |
| Where it goes | Glued to the printed form | Uploaded before you print |
Why the drugstore photo fails
CVS, Walgreens and most US photo counters produce a square 2 by 2 inch print, because that is the US passport standard. That print is correct for the paper form. It is wrong for the upload. When you scan it and resize it to 630 by 810, you are stretching a square into a rectangle, the face distorts, and the portal detects it on the first try.
The fix is not a better scanner. Start from a photo with enough space around the head that it can be cropped to both shapes.
What the error messages mean
| Error | What it means | What to change |
|---|---|---|
distortionCheck failed | The image has been stretched or squashed. Almost always because a square 2 x 2 photo was resized into the 630 x 810 rectangle the portal wants. | Start from an original photo with room around the head and crop to 630 x 810, rather than stretching a square. |
postureCheck failed | The head is tilted, turned, or not centred within the frame. | Face straight at the camera, shoulders square, head centred with even space on both sides. |
Face Width / Length Ratio | The face is too small or too large in the frame. | The face should fill roughly 80 to 85 percent of the frame height. |
isMobileDeviceDetected failed | The portal believes the image came straight off a phone camera. | Use a properly prepared file rather than an unedited phone capture. |
The OCI photo is different again
If you are also applying for an OCI card, do not reuse the passport photo. The OCI portal asks for a plain light background that is specifically not white, and its own size rules: at least 51 by 51 mm, between 200 and 900 pixels square, and a JPEG under 200 KB. People who reuse their white-background passport photo get sent back.
Before you print anything
- Take or find a photo with space around the head, not a tight crop
- Make the upload version first, at 630 x 810, and check the face fills 80 to 85 percent
- Make the print version second, square, 2 x 2 inches on white
- Keep both files. You will need them again for the next application
We check photos against the real specification before anyone prints or uploads, because this one step causes more returned files than anything else in the process. It is part of passport renewal preparation and of every other service we run.
Where these numbers come from
- VFS Global application checklist (PDF) — the 2 x 2 inch printed photo and the white background (checked 2026-08-19)
- Passport Seva / GPSP 2.0 upload screen — the 630 x 810 upload requirement, as enforced by the portal (checked 2026-08-19)
We re-check every fee and rule on this page monthly. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it the same day.