Need help with OCI photograph requirements

[ksdj]

Hey,

I've submitted my OCI application twice and both times it has gotten rejected because they claim that my photographs did not meet specification. I submitted my application to the Washington DC embassy. Their site says that you can send 3 photographs that meet US passport specification.

So the first time I got 3 photographs from CVS that were 2" x 2" and had a white background. The second time I tried Walmart and again 2" x 2" with white background.

Do they really allow photographs that meet US passport specification or not?

[immihelp]

Check out
/oci-card/oci-photograph-instructions.html

Also read https:///do-it-yourself-photograph-i...visa-oci-card/

[ksdj]

Thanks. The OCI Photograph Instructions that you linked says that the face should occupy 75% of the photo area. The example photo on that page does not meet that requirement. The face is taking much less than 50% of the photo area. Also, looking at the US passport photo specification, their examples are also much less than 50%.

So does the face need to take 75% of the photo area or should I go by these examples?

[immihelp]

I don't know what to say.

That example photo is provided by the consulate and not something we came up with.

If you follow the steps at https:///do-it-yourself-photograph-i...visa-oci-card/, you can be reasonably certain that they would be accepted. And you can do it all yourself. Many people have used that facility. They have special option just for India - OCI. Of course, nothing is guaranteed as no one knows how the authorities would behave with each phto.

Towards the end of /oci-card/oci-photograph-instructions.html, you will see few links that shows the actual photographs accepted as well rejected by them.

That is the best I can tell you.

[ksdj]

By the way, do you know if they reject photographs with white backgrounds? Looking at some of the sample pictures, I wonder if that's why mine was rejected. Though if that's the case, I wonder why they say that they accept photographs that meet US passport specification since you can clearly use white backgrounds for US passports.

[immihelp]

White background photographs are not allowed for OCI. I am not sure why they say what they say.