Nepal passport photo
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The requirements
| Print size | 35 x 45 mm |
|---|---|
| Head height, chin to crown | 29-34 mm Department of Passports dimension diagram in Annex 1 of the passport brochure: the head must be at least 29 mm and no more than 34 mm on the 45 mm high photo. |
| Background | Plain light coloured background with no border |
| Glasses | Allowed, as long as the eyes are fully visible with no glare and no tint. |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open. |
| Head covering | Only for religious or medical reasons, and the face must be visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead. |
| Ears | Yes |
| Photo age | 6 months |
| Also required |
|
At the Department of Passports itself, and at Nepali missions abroad that run the Live Enrollment System, the applicant appears in person and the photograph is taken there, so no photo needs to be brought. The 35 x 45 mm standard applies where printed photos are still submitted, for example applications filed through District or Area Administration Offices and missions without live enrolment, and 4 copies taken within the last 6 months are asked for. The Department publishes no pixel size or file size for a digital photo, so the digital block is omitted.
Applying in Nepal
Whether you need a photograph in Nepal depends on where you file. At the Department of Passports itself, and at Nepali missions abroad that run the Live Enrollment System, you appear in person and the photograph is taken there, so nothing needs preparing. Applications filed through District or Area Administration Offices, and through missions without live enrolment, still take printed photographs: four copies, taken within the last six months.
The standard is published as Annex 1 of the department's passport brochure, and it is a dimensioned diagram rather than a paragraph. The frame is 35 by 45 with the head between 29 and 34, on a plain light coloured background with no border. That last phrase is worth reading literally: no white edge, no printed frame, nothing around the image.
Two rules are unusual enough to catch people. Nepal asks for no jewellery in the photograph, which very few authorities mention at all. And where glasses have to be worn, it does not stop at the eyes being visible: the frames must be thin and light coloured, with the eyes clearly visible and free of glare. Both ears must show, the expression is natural rather than rigid, and the image must not be digitally processed or altered in any way.
Why photos get rejected here
A printed border around the photograph
The standard asks for a plain light background with no border. A print that comes off a home printer with a white margin, or out of a template with a hairline frame, fails on the edge rather than on the face.
Jewellery
Nepal excludes jewellery from the photograph, which is a rule almost nobody else publishes. Earrings and a visible necklace are the everyday cases, and neither occurs to most applicants.
Heavy or dark spectacle frames
Where glasses are worn the frames must be thin and light coloured. This goes beyond the usual condition that the frame must not cover the eyes, so a dark, chunky pair fails even when the eyes are perfectly visible.
An ear hidden by hair
Both ears must be visible, alongside a straight gaze at the camera. Long hair worn forward, a high collar or a scarf across the jaw each hide one without anything else being wrong.
A digitally processed image
The photograph must not be digitally processed or altered, and only natural marks may appear on the face. Phone beauty modes remove exactly the natural marks the standard expects to see.
Red eye or an uneven exposure
The standard names even lighting on the face, no shadows, correct exposure and no red eye from the flash as separate requirements. A direct flash in a dim room produces the last two at once.
What helps
Find out whether your office runs live enrolment
The Department of Passports and missions with the Live Enrollment System photograph you on the spot. District and Area Administration Offices and missions without it take prints, and that decides whether there is anything to prepare.
Print four, with no border
Four copies taken within the last six months is the published requirement. Check the printer is not adding a margin, since the standard asks for a photograph with no border.
Take off earrings and necklaces
The no jewellery rule is explicit and widely overlooked. It costs nothing to remove them for one photograph.
Wear the lighter pair if you have one
Thin, light coloured frames are what the standard asks for. If your only glasses are heavy, a photograph without them satisfies the eyes-visible requirement more reliably.
Turn off every automatic enhancement
No digital processing is allowed at all. Beauty modes, skin smoothing and automatic portrait retouching are the common ways a home photograph breaks that without anyone choosing to.
Tie hair back on both sides
Both ears have to show. Check the preview rather than the mirror, since a parting that looks even in a mirror often covers one side in a straight-on frame.
Babies and young children
Nepal publishes no separate photograph rule for babies or young children in Annex 1, so the same standard applies: the 35 by 45 frame, a head between 29 and 34, both ears visible, eyes open and clearly visible, no jewellery, no border and no digital processing. The ears requirement is the one that makes an infant sitting difficult, because a baby lying down almost always has hair or a blanket edge across one side. Where the office runs the Live Enrollment System the child is photographed there, which removes the problem; where it does not, four prints are needed like everyone else's.
Glasses
Nepal's wording starts from the assumption that you would rather not wear them: if glasses must be worn, then the frames must be thin and light coloured, the eyes clearly visible and free of glare. That is three conditions where most authorities publish one. The frame colour requirement is the unusual one and it is not about coverage: a dark frame reads as a heavy line across the face in a small print, which is what the standard is trying to avoid. If you have a choice of pairs, the lightest and thinnest is the one to wear. If you do not, a photograph without glasses meets the requirement more easily.
Head covering
The head must be uncovered except for special religious reasons. The standard uses the word special, which reads as a narrower permission than the general religious exception several neighbouring countries publish, and it gives no accompanying visibility test of the kind Bulgaria and Croatia write out. Since the rest of the standard requires both ears to be visible and the eyes to be clear, a covering that leaves the ears and the whole face showing is the one most likely to be accepted. Nothing in the brochure asks for a written declaration or a certificate, and we could not find a Nepali page that describes an application process for the exception.
Applying online
There is no photograph upload for a Nepali passport. Where the Live Enrollment System is in use, at the Department of Passports and at missions that run it, the applicant appears in person and the photograph is taken there. Where it is not, at District and Area Administration Offices and at missions without live enrolment, four printed photographs taken within the last six months are submitted. We could not verify a current fee or a processing time from an official page, so this page publishes neither.
Questions about Nepal photos
Do I need photographs if I apply at the Department of Passports?
No. The Department runs the Live Enrollment System, so you appear in person and the photograph is taken there, as at missions abroad that run the same system.
Why does Nepal ask for thin, light coloured spectacle frames?
Because a dark, heavy frame reads as a line across the face at print size. The standard adds that condition on top of the usual requirement that the eyes are clearly visible and free of glare.
What does the Nepali no jewellery rule cover?
The standard says no jewellery without qualifying it, so earrings and anything visible at the neck are the practical cases. Removing them for the one photograph is the simplest reading.
Where do printed photographs still get used in Nepal?
At District and Area Administration Offices, and at Nepali missions that do not run live enrolment. Four copies taken within the last six months are asked for.
Can I edit the photo before printing it?
No. The standard says the photograph must not be digitally processed or altered, and that only natural marks may appear on the face.
Why must a Nepali passport photo have no border?
The published wording asks for a plain light coloured background with no border, so the image runs to the edge of the print. A white margin from a home printer breaks it.
Where these numbers come from
Official sourceEvery measurement on this page comes from the issuing authority's own published requirements.
- Passport brochure, Annex 1: photo standard required for a passportchecked September 2, 2026
- Department of Passports downloads (passport brochure)checked September 2, 2026
Reviewed by Editorial teamHow we check our numbers