Vietnam Visa Photo Size and Specifications

The Vietnam visa photo size is 4 x 6 cm, and for the e-visa you upload it as a JPG or JPEG file: a recent, front-facing photo on a white background, with no hat, no glasses and formal attire (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09). Those are the complete official Vietnam e-visa photo requirements from the government portal’s application guide; every specification on this page was verified against it on 2026-07-09. The one spec official pages disagree on is the file-size cap; the note under the table explains what to do about it.

This reference is maintained by Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered general insurer in India and part of the Zurich Insurance Group. It covers the photo and upload specs only; for routes, documents and timelines, start with our guide to Vietnam visa for Indians .

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Vietnam visa photo size and requirements at a glance

Every requirement in the table below comes from the official e-visa portal’s application guide and was verified on 2026-07-09 (Vietnam Immigration Department). If you see different Vietnam visa photo dimensions or file caps elsewhere (a 1,024 KB limit and a 2 x 2 inch size circulate widely on agent sites), trust the portal.

A note on the file cap: the current application portal’s instruction page states less than 2 MB for the portrait (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09), but the Immigration Department’s older guidance page still lists far smaller caps, portrait under 50 KB and passport image under 200 KB (National Immigration Portal, accessed 2026-07-09). Official pages have shown different caps at different times; keep your file small, and treat the upload screen’s own error messages as the final word.

The portal publishes no DPI figure and does not accept PNG or PDF for the portrait, whatever third-party guides claim. Keep the print proportions (a 2:3 ratio, matching 4 x 6 cm) when you crop the digital copy.

Photo rules that matter beyond size

Getting the size right is not enough: the portal also requires a front-facing pose, no glasses of any kind, no hat, formal attire and a plain white Vietnam visa photo background (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09). In practice that means eyes open and looking at the camera, a neutral expression, hair clear of the eyes, and head and shoulders filling the frame without heavy shadows.

Two implicit points. “Recent” matters because the system checks your portrait against your passport page, so a years-old photo invites manual review. And the published headwear rule is simply “no hat”, with no religious-headwear exemption on the portal; applicants who wear a turban or headscarf in their passport photo should keep it consistent in the visa photo and allow for possible manual review.

Passport bio-page upload specs

The second upload is a photo of your passport’s bio page (the data page with your photo and the two machine-readable lines), and the portal reads it automatically: if the image is invalid, the system will not let you submit the application at all (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09). The portal auto-fills your passport details from this image, so its legibility decides whether your form even goes through.

The portal publishes no separate dimensions for this upload, so the working rules are about readability: capture the full page flat, all four corners visible, the two ICAO lines at the bottom sharp and unobstructed. Glare off the laminated page is the most commonly reported killer; travellers describe applications returned as “portrait image and passport image incorrect” until they re-shot the page without flash (Tripadvisor Vietnam forum, accessed 2026-07-09). Shoot in daylight, flash off, phone parallel to the page, and confirm every character of the bottom lines is readable before uploading.

Common reasons e-visa photos get rejected

The most common rejection causes are glasses in the portrait, a non-white or cluttered background, glare or cut-off corners on the passport page, and files in the wrong format or over the size cap (official rules per Vietnam Immigration Department; failure patterns as reported by applicants on the Tripadvisor Vietnam forum, both accessed 2026-07-09). Each has a quick fix:

·       Glasses on. Retake without them; the rule covers prescription glasses too.

·       Background not white. Re-shoot against a plain white wall; even pale blue or grey fails the written spec.

·       Hat or cap. Remove it and retake; the published rule is no hat.

·       Wrong file type (PNG, PDF, HEIC). Convert to JPG/JPEG before uploading; iPhone users can set the camera to “Most Compatible”.

·       File over the cap. The current portal instruction puts the Vietnam e-visa photo upload size limit at under 2 MB, but older official guidance has shown much smaller caps; compress the file rather than cropping into the face, and follow the on-form error messages.

·       Blurry or shadowed portrait. Retake in even daylight; no filters or editing.

·       Glare, tilt or cropped corners on the passport page. Re-shoot flat, flash off, all four corners and both machine-readable lines visible.

·       Old photo reused from the passport. Take a fresh portrait; the portal asks for a recent image.

A rejected upload is recoverable, but each correction round adds days; getting both images right first time is the biggest thing you control in the timeline.

How to take a compliant photo at home

A phone photo is fully acceptable if it meets the spec: stand against a plain white wall in daylight, flash off, camera at eye level about 1.5 m away, frame head and shoulders, then crop to 2:3 (4 x 6 cm proportions) and export as a compact JPG. Your phone’s built-in editor handles the crop, and any image compressor shrinks the file well under whatever cap the form enforces without visible quality loss.

If you prefer a studio, note that Indian studios default to the 35 x 45 mm and 51 x 51 mm (2 x 2 inch) passport formats, not Vietnam’s size (Consulate General of India, Toronto, accessed 2026-07-09). Ask explicitly for “a 4 x 6 cm visa photo, white background, plus a compact digital JPG”; the soft copy is the part you actually need.

Photo done? Finish the application

With a compliant portrait and a clean passport-page image, the hard part of the Vietnam e-visa is done; the rest is a form. Our Vietnam e-visa application walkthrough takes you through the portal screen by screen. While the application processes, sort the trip’s protection: cover arranged before you book non-refundable tickets protects the money a visa hiccup would otherwise strand.

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FAQ

Q: What is the photo size for a Vietnam visa?

A: 4 x 6 cm; for the e-visa you upload it as a JPG or JPEG file within the portal’s file cap (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09). The photo must be recent, front-facing and on a white background.

Q: What background colour does the Vietnam visa photo need?

A: White. The official portal specifies a white background for the portrait photo (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09); off-white, grey or blue backgrounds risk rejection against the written spec.

Q: Can I wear glasses in my Vietnam visa photo?

A: No. The portal’s published rule is no glasses, and applicant reports indicate this includes prescription glasses (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09). Remove them and retake the photo.

Q: What file size does the e-visa portal accept?

A: The current portal instruction says under 2 MB, in JPG or JPEG format only (Vietnam Immigration Department, accessed 2026-07-09), but the Immigration Department’s older guidance page has shown far smaller caps (photo under 50 KB, passport image under 200 KB), so keep the file small and follow the on-form error messages. PNG, PDF and HEIC files must be converted before upload, and oversized files should be compressed rather than cropped.

Q: Why was my Vietnam e-visa photo rejected?

A: The most commonly reported cause is a non-compliant image the system or reviewing officer cannot accept: glasses, a non-white background, or glare on the passport bio page that hides the machine-readable lines (Tripadvisor Vietnam forum, accessed 2026-07-09). Fix the specific fault (retake without glasses, re-shoot against white, re-photograph the passport flat with flash off) and resubmit when the portal returns the application for correction.