Turkey Visa Photo Size and Requirements: e-Visa, Consulate and Work Permit

Turkey Visa Photo Size in cm, mm and Inches by Mission (2026)

The visa information pages of Türkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs do not give a photo size; where a size is given, it appears in the checklist of the embassy, consulate or authorised application centre that receives your application. The table above shows the sizes found in those texts, with their dates. Texts can differ even within one country: in Pakistan, the Embassy in Islamabad's 2019 notice says 5×5 cm, while the Consulate General in Karachi's 2025 list and the specification of Anatolia, the authorised application centre, ask for 50×60 mm. When texts disagree like this, the current checklist of the centre that will take your application is the one to follow.

Converting between units: 50×60 mm is 5×6 cm, or about 1.97×2.36 inches; at 300 DPI that is 591×709 pixels, and at 600 DPI 1181×1417 pixels (this is a calculation, not an official pixel requirement). The 2×2 inch size asked for by the Miami, Houston and Boston consulates is a 51×51 mm square, covered in the 2×2 inch photo guide; for the 5×5 cm square size, see the 50×50 mm guide. The rules for the 50×60 mm biometric size are on the 5×6 cm (50×60 mm) page.

Two more figures need care. The 2.5×2.5 inch size appeared in a 2021 notice by the Turkish Embassy in New Delhi, and that notice is no longer published on the embassy's website. 35×45 mm, meanwhile, does not appear in any of the Turkish mission visa texts we reviewed. We also found no published pixel or KB limit for consular visas; if you come across such a limit, check whether it appears in your mission's own text.

Does the Turkey e-Visa Require a Photo? e-Visa vs Consular Visa

Yes, according to the portal's own warning. On the e-Visa portal, the application starts with creating a profile, and the portal shows this warning: "A profile photo is required. Please upload a biometric photo to your profile." It adds: "Your face should be in the center of the photo, and the photo should cover the area from your shoulders to the top of your head." The portal does not accept images smaller than 200×200 pixels, takes only JPG, JPEG and PNG files, and has a 4 MB file limit (Türkiye e-Visa portal). So have your file ready before you apply.

The ICAO standards document that the portal links to as its photo rule asks for a photo taken within the last six months, a face height of 32–36 mm and a plain, shadow-free background: white for dark hair, mid-grey for fair hair. The document itself refers to residence permit transactions, but the e-Visa portal points to it as its photo standard. If you have dark hair, a white background matches both this document and the mission texts that name a background; for fair hair, the document specifies a mid-grey background.

The e-Visa is not valid for every trip. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the e-Visa is only valid when the purpose of travel is tourism or commerce; for other purposes, such as work and study, visas are issued by Turkish embassies and consulates (Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa information). The pre-application for a consular (sticker) visa is made at visa.gov.tr, and the photo size is set by the mission that receives the application, which is where the differences in the table above come from. The same Ministry page also lists the nationalities that are exempt from a visa; it is worth checking before you apply.

Turkey Visa Photo Rules: Background, Glasses, Headscarf and Children

Among the mission texts we reviewed, the most detailed on rules other than size is the biometric photo note of the Consulate General in Los Angeles: it asks for a plain white background, a photo taken within the last six months, a fully visible face and a neutral expression with lips closed; it states that "Accessories such as glasses, earrings, hats should not be used" and that the rules also apply to children and babies (Los Angeles Consulate General biometric photo note). The specification of Anatolia, the authorised application centre in Pakistan, adds the face height: 32–36 mm.

On glasses, the texts differ. Los Angeles counts glasses as an accessory and does not want them; the biometric photo note of the work permit system, by contrast, allows glasses the person must wear, provided there is no reflection on the lenses, the lenses are not tinted and the frame does not cover the eyes. Whichever mission you apply to, the safest option is to take the photo without glasses. With a headscarf, the same note says the face must be visible from the tip of the chin to the forehead, with no shadows on the face. Details are in the glasses rules and headscarf rules guides.

According to the Los Angeles note, the same rules apply to photos of children and babies; the work permit note adds that no other person or object may appear in a small child's photo. The easiest way is to lay the baby on its back on a white sheet and hold the phone directly above; the step-by-step method is in the baby passport photo guide.

Beyond the Visa: Work Permit, Residence Permit, Citizenship and Scholarship Photos

A foreigner who will work in Türkiye applies for a work permit through the e-İzin system, and the photo is uploaded there. The biometric photo note of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security gives the size as 50 mm × 60 mm with a plain white background, and states that if a photo of a different size or background is uploaded, the application cannot be completed or may be cancelled at the assessment stage (Ministry of Labour biometric photo note, in Turkish). The Ministry's 2022 announcement asks for a colour photo taken within the last 6 months, uploaded in full to the photo box without cutting, cropping or shrinking; the 2024 e-İzin guide sets a 2 MB limit for the file.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "If you have a valid visa, you do not need a residence permit up to 90 days." The photo rules for a residence permit application and the number of photos required are explained on the residence permit photo page.

For a Turkish citizenship application, the application documents of the General Directorate of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs (NVİ) ask for 2 biometric photos, 50×60 mm, with a plain white background. A Türkiye Scholarships application, by contrast, asks for "a photograph of the candidate taken within the last 1 year"; the scholarship site gives no size (Türkiye Scholarships application steps), so a 50×60 mm biometric photo can be used here too. If you win the scholarship and apply for a student visa, the photo size is again set by the mission.

Preparing a Turkey Visa Photo Online: Digital File and Prints

Choose the Turkey Visa (50×60 mm) format in the wizard and upload a single photo; the system checks the rules first: framing and head ratio, background, shadows on the face, expression and sharpness are each reported separately as "Suitable", "Warning" or "Not Suitable", and the analysis is free. A photo rated "Suitable" is moved onto a white background and cropped to the 50×60 mm ratio. The digital file is delivered as a JPEG and kept under 2 MB, which is below both the e-Visa's 4 MB limit and e-İzin's 2 MB limit.

If the mission you will apply to wants 2×2 inches or 5×5 cm, choose that size's format in the wizard; the framing is then done for that size. For an application that needs printed photos, the 10×15 cm print sheet is shipped to addresses within Türkiye; if you are applying from abroad, you download the digital file and use that.

Visa photo sizes for other countries are listed country by country in the visa photo guide. A "Turkish passport photo" is a different thing: if you are a Turkish citizen renewing your passport, the visa rules on this page do not apply; the Turkish passport's own biometric standard does, and its rules are on the passport photo page.