Make Maldives Visa Photo

The Maldives grants a free visa on arrival to visitors of most nationalities, issued at the airport on presentation of a valid passport, onward ticket and confirmed accommodation. No photograph is submitted for it.

So if you are travelling as a tourist, the answer is usually that you need nothing from this page. It is worth saying plainly, because a lot of guidance online implies a Maldives visa photo is a standard travel requirement when for most visitors it is not.

Where the 35x45mm photo does matter is the permit routes: work permits, business visas, resident permits and extensions handled through Maldives Immigration, including submissions made through its online systems. If that is your situation, the requirements below apply.

Maldives Immigration publishes its photo standards at a 35 x 45mm frame — the same size used across Europe, India and much of Asia. Your head should measure between 32mm and 36mm from the bottom of your chin to the top of your hair, filling roughly 70-80% of the height.

Leave about 3mm of clearance between the top of your hair and the top edge of the photo. Sources differ slightly on the exact head figure at the low end, quoting 31mm in some places and 32mm in others; the guide on this page is set at 32-36mm, which sits safely inside every published reading.

Face the camera directly with your head straight, showing your head and the top of your shoulders.

For online submissions the photo should be a JPEG under 2MB. That is a generous ceiling compared with countries like Kazakhstan or Pakistan, which cap at tens of kilobytes, so you should not need to sacrifice quality to fit it.

Do keep working from the original camera file rather than a copy that has been through a messaging app. Recompression costs sharpness, and since you have 2MB to play with there is no reason to submit a soft image.

The background must be plain and uniform — white or light-coloured — with no patterns, textures, shadows or other people visible. White is the safe default and what this page produces. Stand about a metre clear of the wall so your shadow falls behind you.

Keep a neutral facial expression: no smiling, no smirking, no teeth showing. Mouth closed, both eyes open, looking straight into the lens.