Saudi visa photo requirements — Visit Saudi MOFA rules

MOFA Visit Saudi portal spec

Saudi Arabia's MOFA eVisa portal at visa.visitsaudi.com handles tourist, business, transit and family visit applications. Religious pilgrimages — Umrah year-round and Hajj during the Hijri pilgrimage season — use related portals that share the same photo standard.

The square 51×51 mm format aligns with the US passport standard but with different head-position and background tolerances. Photos sized to European 35×45 mm will not pass the MOFA upload check.

Background and framing

Background must be plain white, uniform across the entire frame. No textures, shadows, props or other people. The MOFA portal's reviewer is strict on background uniformity — shadows behind the head are the most common rejection reason.

Head must be centered horizontally. Face occupies roughly 50-70% of the frame height. Eyes should sit between 56-69% from the bottom edge — the same head position as the US 2×2 spec.

Expression, glasses and accessories

Expression must be neutral with the mouth closed. Eyes open, looking directly at the camera. Smiles with visible teeth and any raised eyebrow are rejected.

Glasses are not permitted — clear prescription, sunglasses, tinted and photochromic. Hearing aids are accepted. Heavy facial makeup that alters geometry may be flagged for manual review.

Digital editing and recency

Photo must be taken within the last 6 months. MOFA compares the new photo against any prior eVisa record on file.

Light editing — crop, brightness, contrast, plain background swap — is acceptable. Beauty filters, AI face modification and any skin-smoothing artefact cause rejection. JPG file size up to 2 MB is allowed, giving comfortable margin for sharp colour reproduction.

Religious head coverings and Umrah considerations

Hijab and other religious head coverings are accepted by MOFA provided the face from chin to forehead is fully visible and not shadowed. This applies to tourist eVisas as well as Umrah pilgrimage applications. Headscarves should sit clear of the face and not cast shadow under the chin.

For Umrah pilgrims travelling with family, every family member listed on the application must have a conforming individual photo. Children of all ages follow the same square white-background spec with eased expression rules for under-5s.

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