Vietnam visa photos: what the official sources say

Read on 2026-10-24. Quotes are exact; where official sources disagree, the stricter value is the one Travel enforces.

The e-visa portal (evisa.gov.vn)

The National Electronic Visa portal is a single-page app; its text is in its script bundle (/assets/js/index-f59f2c1b.js, read 2026-10-24). Its English strings:

• Upload note: "Recent photo, size 4x6cm, jpg/jpeg format, file size ≤ 2MB, face looking straight, no hat, no glasses, polite clothes, white background"
• Step 1 instructions: "Upload a portrait and biometric passport photo. ... The visa applicant's photo must be a recent 4x6 cm image in JPG or JPEG format, with a file size of less than 2MB. The photo should be a front-facing image with no hat, no glasses, in formal attire, and with a white background."
• Upload help: "Photo of the person requesting an electronic visa (newly taken, photo size 4x6 cm, jpg, jpeg format, size <2MB, straight face, no hat, no glasses, formal clothes, white background). Only upload 1 passport data page, upload clear photos, no lost corners"
• The error a too-large file gets: "Image size exceeds 2MB". One other string says "file size ≤ 10 MB"; the enforced limit is 2 MB.

The portal checks both images automatically when they are uploaded ("The system automatically verifies the portrait and passport images"). The problems it reports:

Code	What it says
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_NO_FACE	No face detected in the portrait photo
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_MANY_FACE	Too many faces detected in the portrait photo
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_WRONG_HEAD_POSE_FACE	Face not looking straight in the portrait photo
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_SMALL_FACE	The portrait photo does not meet the required resolution
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_FAKE_FACE	Portrait photo was captured from another source (a photo of a photo or a screen)
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_INVALID_FORMAT	The uploaded image format is not supported
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_CARD_NO_FACE	No face detected in the passport image
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_CARD_NO_MRZ	No MRZ (machine-readable zone) detected in the passport image
EVISA_ERROR_IMAGE_CARD_TOO_SMALL	The passport photo does not meet the required resolution
warning_img_card	The portrait and passport photos have a low match rate; the application may be rejected
Image_quality_low	Image quality is too low

The paper form (NA1)

The Ministry of Public Security's form NA1 (Circular 04/2015/TT-BCA, e-services.mps.gov.vn), used at embassies and for visa on arrival, asks for two photos: "Kèm 02 ảnh mới chụp, cỡ 4x6cm, phông nền trắng, mặt nhìn thẳng, đầu để trần, không đeo kính mầu (01 ảnh dán vào tờ khai, 01 ảnh để rời)": two newly taken 4x6 cm photos, white background, facing straight, head uncovered, no tinted glasses; one glued to the form, one loose. The paper form allows clear glasses; the e-visa does not allow any.

What no official source says

• How large the head is in the frame. Third-party guides give "70 to 80 percent" or "32 to 36 mm"; those are ICAO figures for a 35 x 45 mm passport photo, not for 40 x 60 mm. Travel aims for the head (chin to crown) at 50 to 70 percent of the height, with the top of the shoulders in the picture (the usual Vietnamese 4x6), and only warns outside that.
• How recent "recent" is. Guides say six months; the portal says only "recent" and "newly taken". Travel says six months.
• Pixel dimensions. None are given. Travel makes 945 x 1417 pixels (4 x 6 cm at 600 dpi), which keeps a JPEG well under 2 MB and the face far above any resolution check.