Bhutan Passport Photo: 45 × 35 mm, Face at 70–80%
Bhutan is the only document in this set where the specification reads like a printing shop order and the application is submitted online. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade lists eleven rules for a "passport-size photograph" — national dress, a white background without a border, no thick frames on your glasses, photo-quality paper, glued rather than stapled — and then tells you to upload that photograph through the G2C system. There is no file size, no pixel count and no named format anywhere on the page: the words KB, pixel and JPEG do not appear. So the honest position is this. The framing is fixed and precise (45 mm by 35 mm, face at 70% to 80%). The bytes are not regulated at all, which means no compression target can be wrong — and no compression target can rescue a photo that breaks one of the eleven rules. Set the target to whatever your upload will accept, keep the shape, and spend your attention on the dress, the border and the frames.
Bhutan passport photo requirements (official)
| Photograph size | 45 mm tall × 35 mm wide, in colour |
|---|---|
| Face in frame | Your facial image should take up 70% to 80% of the photograph — the page gives a percentage, not a head height in millimetres |
| Background | White, and without a border |
| Dress | National dress — Tego with Wonju for women, Toetse for monks and nuns. Children below 3 are exempt |
| Framing | Portrait style, eyes open, forehead and ears clearly visible |
| Glasses | No flash reflection, no tinted lenses and no thick frames |
| Lighting and focus | No shadow, sharp and clear focus |
| Paper | Photo-quality paper for photographs taken with a digital camera |
| Condition | No ink marks, creases or smudge marks |
| How it is attached | Glued — not stapled and not pinned |
| Freshness | Not older than six months |
| File size, pixels, format | None published — Bhutan states a physical size and framing rules only, with no KB limit, no pixel count and no named file format |
| Where it is uploaded | The G2C online system (citizenservices.gov.bt), together with a signature uploaded on the Application Signature form |
| The in-person route | The Passport Office at Changangkha takes paper applications only for emergencies or where the applicant cannot use the online system |
| If you apply in person | Also bring Nu. 1,000 and a valid online Security Clearance Certificate |
Type the exact limit your form gave you. The tool searches for the highest quality that still fits under it.
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Target size: 250 KB
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How to use
- Frame it first: 45 mm tall by 35 mm wide, face filling 70% to 80% of the frame.
- Check the three rules people actually fail: national dress, white background with no border, no thick frames on glasses.
- Compress to a size your upload will accept. Bhutan publishes no ceiling, so 250 KB is this tool's starting point, not a Bhutanese rule — change it freely.
- Keep the file a standard photo format. No format is named, so JPEG is the safe choice.
- Upload it through G2C together with the signature form.
- If you are applying in person instead, print it on photo-quality paper and glue it to the form — do not staple or pin it.
Frequently asked questions
What file size does Bhutan require?
None is published. The page gives a physical size (45 mm × 35 mm), a framing ratio (face at 70–80%), and eleven rules about dress, background, glasses, lighting, paper, condition, attachment and age. It never gives a KB limit, a pixel count or a file format — KB, pixel, dpi and JPEG appear zero times. That is why the target here is editable: 250 KB is a starting point chosen to be small enough for a typical government upload form, not a number taken from the ministry. Do not quote it as a Bhutanese requirement.
Do I really have to wear national dress?
The official page says so: the photograph must be "in national dress with exception to children below 3 (Tego and Wonju mandatory for female. Toetse for monk and nun)". No other document on this site imposes a dress code — most ask only that clothing be dark, or say nothing at all. In practice: men wear the Tego, women wear the Tego with the Wonju, monks and nuns wear the Toetse, and children under three are exempt. This is the single rule most likely to get a Bhutanese application sent back, and no amount of compression fixes it.
What does "white background without border" mean?
Two things, and the second one is unusual. White is common — Singapore, India and Pakistan all ask for it. "Without border" is not: it rules out the thin frame that some photo booths and phone apps add by default, and it also rules out a dark edge left behind by a careless crop. If your photo has a visible outline around the white area, that outline is a border and the photo does not match the rule. Bhutan is the only page in this set that mentions a border at all.
Why are thick frames banned?
The page lists three separate glasses problems: "without flash reflection, tinted lenses and thick frames". The first two are standard across passports. The third is not — most authorities say only that the frame must not cover the eyes. Bhutan goes further and rules out thick frames outright, which catches the heavy acetate styles that are currently fashionable. If your frames are chunky, the safe move is to photograph without glasses rather than argue about where thick begins.
How do I measure a face that fills 70% to 80%?
The page gives a percentage of the photograph, not a head height in millimetres — the same phrasing Pakistan uses, and a different algorithm from the US visa rule, which measures the head as 50% to 69% of the image height. Percentage of the whole frame and percentage of the height are not interchangeable: on a 45 × 35 mm portrait they produce visibly different crops. Take the measurement across the area your face occupies, chin to the top of the head, and aim for the middle of the range — around 75% — so a small error in either direction stays inside the rule.
The rules talk about paper and glue, but I am uploading a file. Which applies?
Both, depending on the route. Online, through G2C, you upload a photograph — the paper, glue and staple rules describe the paper application you would hand in at Changangkha. They still matter as a quality statement: "printed on photo-quality paper for photographs taken with a digital camera" is the ministry telling you what a digital photo has to look like when it is printed, which is a fair description of the sharpness and lack of smudge marks it expects in the upload too. What you must not do is photograph an already-printed, already-glued photo and upload that — the page asks for the photograph itself, and a photo of a photo will show the paper texture.
Can I apply at the Passport Office instead?
Only in narrow cases. The page states that the Passport Office at Changangkha "will assist with offline/in-person applications only in case of an emergency or where the applicant is absolutely not able to use the online system". So the online route is the default, not an option. If you do go in person, the page adds two things you need beyond the photograph: the Nu. 1,000 fee and a valid online Security Clearance Certificate.
Is my photo uploaded to a server?
Not by this tool. The compression runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device — you can confirm it in the network panel, where the only requests are for the page itself. For a document photo this is the point, and it matters more than usual here: a Bhutanese passport photo is a picture of you in national dress, which is about as identifying as a photograph gets.