Vietnam Visa Photo Size: Portrait and Passport Scan Requirements

The Vietnam visa photo size is 4x6 cm: a recent portrait in JPG or JPEG, under 2 MB, facing straight ahead on a white background, with no hat and no glasses, as Vietnam Immigration's eVisa instructions put it. The second upload is your passport data page alone, one clear image with no corners cut off and the two machine-readable ICAO lines at the bottom easy to read.

Both images go into the same Vietnam eVisa form, and Vietnam Immigration's system checks them the moment you upload, with a named warning for each kind of failure. If you're still gathering paperwork, start with what you need before you start.

The Portrait: Nine Rules From the Portal

Vietnam Immigration states the portrait rule in one sentence on its instruction page: a recent 4x6 cm image in JPG or JPEG, less than 2 MB, front-facing, no hat, no glasses, formal attire, white background. The upload note on the eVisa form adds two words: the photo must be "newly taken."

Rule	What the Portal Says	What It Means for You
Size	4x6 cm	Taller than wide, a 2:3 shape
File type	JPG or JPEG	No PNG for the portrait
File size	Under 2 MB	Resize large phone photos first
Background	White	Plain white, nothing behind you
Face	Front-facing	Look into the lens, head level
Headwear	No hat	Nothing on your head
Glasses	No glasses	Off, even if you always wear them
Clothing	Formal attire	What you'd wear to an office
Age of photo	Recent, newly taken	A new photo for this application

Nowhere does Vietnam Immigration put a number on "recent." Our own application checklist asks for a photo taken in the last 6 months, but that's our advice, not the portal's rule, and the portal's "newly taken" points to a photo shot for this application. Reusing your passport photo means scanning or photographing a print, and the eVisa portal checks for exactly that.

Headwear gets no published exceptions on the Vietnam eVisa portal: the rule is simply "no hat." If you wear a head covering for religious reasons, contact our team before you apply rather than guessing.

File Size and Format: 2 MB, Not 10 MB

Vietnam's eVisa portal contradicts itself on file size. One hint on the application form allows a portrait up to 10 MB, while the instruction page and the upload note both say under 2 MB. The upload checker sides with 2 MB: a bigger file gets "Image size exceeds 2mb" and goes no further.

Format is just as strict. JPG and JPEG are one format under two file extensions, and they're the only ones the portrait accepts. PNG appears on the form only for optional attachments (up to three extra images in JPG, JPEG or PNG, each under 2 MB). A portrait in any other format gets "The uploaded image format is not supported."

To get under the limit, crop to the 4x6 shape first, then export as a JPG below 2 MB. Don't overdo it: Vietnam Immigration's checker also flags soft or heavily compressed files with "The image quality is too low" or "The portrait photo does not meet the required resolution." The eVisa portal doesn't state a pixel minimum, so aim for a sharp JPG just under 2 MB.

Getting 4x6 Right: A Tall Photo, Not a Square One

A 4x6 cm photo is 4 cm wide and 6 cm tall, a 2:3 shape. A square photo, such as a 2x2-inch print, is the wrong shape: trimming it to 2:3 cuts off the sides, and padding it out leaves your face small in the frame. Start from a fresh photo and crop to 2:3 with your face centered. Since you're uploading a file, the printed size never comes into it; the 2:3 shape does.

You can take it on a phone. Stand against a plain white wall facing a window, and have someone else shoot at eye level from a step or two away. Keep your shoulders in frame so the formal attire shows, crop to 2:3 and keep the sharpest of several shots.

The Passport Scan: One Data Page, Every Corner

Your second upload is the passport data page, the one with your photo, name, passport number and dates. The eVisa form's upload note is blunt: "Only upload 1 passport data page, upload clear photos, no lost corners." No two-page spread, no cropped edge, no thumb over a corner.

The scan matters more than the portrait. According to Vietnam Immigration's instruction page, its system reads the passport image, fills in your passport fields automatically and tells you to "double-check the information automatically extracted from the passport." If the passport image is invalid, the system won't let you submit at all, so a blurry scan stops the form outright.

For a clean scan, lay the passport flat in daylight, tilt the laminate away from any lamp and shoot straight down. Zoom in before you upload: every character on the two ICAO lines should be crisp.

If Vietnam Visa by BDA files for you, the documents we ask for get a second look before anything reaches Vietnam Immigration. If we spot a typo, mismatch or photo issue, we email you to fix it before submitting, with no extra cost for corrections.

The ICAO Line: Why the Bottom Two Rows Matter

The eVisa form asks for your full name "as in passport data page ICAO lines; in capital letters." The ICAO lines are the two lines of characters across the bottom of the data page. ICAO is the International Civil Aviation Organization, whose Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, sets the specifications for machine-readable passports, which is why the lines look alike on passports from different countries.

Copy your name from those lines, in capitals, rather than from the printed name beside your photo; the form's instruction is "Enter name as on the ICAO line in the passport." Vietnam Immigration's system also reads the lines to fill in your passport fields. When it can't, you get "No MRZ detected in the passport image. Your application may be rejected." MRZ, short for machine-readable zone, is the portal's other name for the same two lines, and glare or a crop that clips them is enough to trigger it.

If your passport shows only a surname or only given names, the form says to "just enter Given names." That matters for travelers from countries where single names are common, because the name you type has to match what the system reads from the ICAO lines.

Automatic Photo Checks: What Each Warning Means

Vietnam Immigration's portal checks each image as you upload it. Each warning below is quoted from the application form, with the fix:

• "No face detected in the portrait photo." Crop closer so your face fills more of the frame, or re-shoot in even light.
• "Face not looking straight in the portrait photo." Re-shoot looking into the lens with your head level.
• "Too many faces detected in the portrait photo." Someone else, or a face on a poster or shirt, is in the frame. Crop it out.
• "Portrait photo was captured from another source." It's a photo of a print or a screen. Take a new one.
• "The portrait photo does not meet the required resolution." Export again at higher quality, still under 2 MB.
• "No MRZ detected in the passport image." The ICAO lines are unreadable or out of frame. Re-shoot the whole page without glare.
• "The passport image does not meet the required resolution." Re-shoot closer, with the page filling the frame.
• "The uploaded image format is not supported." Convert the file to JPG.
• "The portrait and passport photos have a low match rate." Re-shoot the portrait facing straight, in even light, without glasses.

Several of these end with "Your application may be rejected." Then Vietnam Immigration's portal lets you keep going anyway. When images don't match or quality is poor, it asks: "Image being uploaded does not match or has insufficient image quality. The profile may be rejected. Do you still want to continue?"

Children on a Parent's Passport: A Portrait Each

On Vietnam Immigration's form, children under 14 who are issued with the same passport as a parent can be added to the parent's eVisa application, each with their own portrait. A child who has their own passport goes on a separate application instead.

Hold each child's portrait to the adult rules: 4x6 cm, JPG or JPEG, under 2 MB, white background, facing straight, no hat. Sit the child against the white wall alone, because a parent's face at the edge of the frame is exactly what "Too many faces detected" catches, and take more shots than you think you'll need.

Vietnam's National Electronic Visa System: Where the Images Go

"Vietnam National Electronic Visa system" is what evisa.gov.vn calls itself, and it's where these uploads land. Its footer names the operator as the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security. Since 8 a.m. on November 11, 2024 (Vietnam time), it has run on two addresses, evisa.gov.vn and thithucdientu.gov.vn, according to an Immigration Department notice. The Immigration Department tells applicants to use those two addresses to apply and to check results.

Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. You can upload both images yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the $25 single-entry or $50 multiple-entry stamp fee. Our prices start at $54 per applicant for a 1-month single-entry eVisa, with the Vietnam Immigration stamp fee included. We prepare, check and file the application; Vietnam Immigration decides it and issues the eVisa.

A Last Check Before You Upload

Run through this with both files open before you pay the Vietnam Immigration fee:

• The portrait is new, a 2:3 shape taller than wide, saved as JPG or JPEG, under 2 MB.
• White background, face straight and centered, no hat, no glasses, formal clothes, nobody else in frame.
• It came straight from a camera, not from a print or a screen.
• The passport image is the data page only, whole page in frame, no glare, both ICAO lines sharp.
• Your name is typed as the ICAO line spells it, in capitals.
• Each child under 14 on your passport has a portrait of their own.
• Neither upload showed a warning.

Then read the auto-filled passport fields against the passport itself before you pay. Vietnam Immigration's portal asks you to, and a wrong digit in those fields is yours to own.

The same form also asks for your religion, which surprises people; here's why the Vietnam visa asks and what to put.