China Visa Photo Requirements
China is one of the few countries that does not use 35 x 45 mm. The real 33 x 48 mm spec, the both-ears rule, and why the file-size numbers everyone quotes are not official.
A China visa photo is 33 x 48 mm on a plain white background, with your head 15 to 22 mm wide and 28 to 33 mm from chin to crown, both ears visible, taken within the last six months. The number that trips people up is the size: China is one of the few countries that does not use the 35 x 45 mm standard most of the world settles on. Two millimetres narrower and three taller sounds trivial, and it is exactly why a photo that would pass almost anywhere else gets sent back here.
This guide covers the photo for a Chinese tourist, business, or family visa: the real spec from the issuing authority, the both-ears rule that catches people out, and why the pixel and file-size figures every other site prints do not come from China's own pages. For the wider pattern of one country's spec not matching another's, see passport photo size by country.
The China visa photo spec at a glance
Every value below is stated by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. The same size covers Chinese passports and visas, so unlike most countries there is no passport-versus-visa trap to watch for.
| Size and shape | 33 x 48 mm, portrait rectangle (taller than it is wide) |
| Digital equivalent | 390 x 567 pixels at 300 DPI |
| Head width | 15 to 22 mm |
| Head height (chin to crown) | 28 to 33 mm |
| Background | White, no border or edge frame |
| Ears | Visible - hair must not cover the ears, eyes, or eyebrows |
| Recency | Taken within the last 6 months, colour, no red-eye or edits |
Why 33 x 48 mm is the whole story
The 35 x 45 mm photo you may already own from another application is the wrong shape for China, not just the wrong size. A photo tool cannot rescue it by scaling, because scaling a 35 x 45 rectangle to fit 33 x 48 either squashes your face or leaves strips that have to be cropped off. The fix is to re-crop from the original to the 33:48 ratio, then size that crop to 390 x 567 pixels.
The China visa photo maker does exactly this crop. You position an aspect-locked box over your photo and it outputs a 390 x 567 pixel JPEG on a white background - the 33 x 48 mm frame at 300 DPI. It runs in your browser using the Canvas API, so the photo is never uploaded. Because China shares one size across documents, the same tool covers a China passport photo.
The both-ears rule
China's standard requires the ears to be visible: the embassy guidance states hair must not cover the eyebrows, eyes, or ears. It is a small thing that passes unnoticed in countries with looser rules, and it catches out anyone who wears hair forward or down over the sides. Tuck it back so both ears show. This is the visual rule people most often miss on top of the size, and it is worth checking against why passport photos get rejected before you submit.
Glasses are a conditional case. The embassy allows them only with clear, colourless lenses and no glare, reflection, or frame shadow obscuring the eyes - but some application centres ask applicants to remove glasses entirely, so the safe move is to take the photo without them and check your centre's own checklist.
Why this page has no pixel or file-size number
Search for a China visa photo and you will find confident figures: 354 to 420 pixels wide, 40 to 120 KB. Those numbers do not appear on China's official visa or embassy pages. They are copied between third-party sites, and repeating an unsourced number as a requirement is how a reader ends up rejecting a perfectly valid photo, or trusting one that fails.
What is real: the physical size, the background, and the head measurements above. If the portal you apply through - COVA, or a centre such as VFS Global handling your region - states its own file limits at upload time, follow those, because that is the system actually checking your file. Everything else you read, including this page, is downstream of the issuing authority. When a number and its source disagree, the source wins. For the same reason the 35 x 45 mm figure is not an EU mandate, see Schengen visa photo requirements; for why a visa photo is rarely interchangeable with a passport one, visa photos are not passport photos.
FAQ
What size is a China visa photo?
33 x 48 mm, which is 390 x 567 pixels at 300 DPI - not the 35 x 45 mm size most countries use. Your head should be 15 to 22 mm wide and 28 to 33 mm from chin to crown, on a plain white background.
Is a China visa photo the same as a China passport photo?
Yes, on size - both are 33 x 48 mm. China is unusual that way. For most countries the passport and visa photos differ, but here the shape is shared, so one correctly sized photo covers both.
Can I reuse a 35 x 45 mm photo for a China visa?
Not as-is. A 35 x 45 mm photo is a different shape from China's 33 x 48 mm frame, so it has to be re-cropped from the original rather than scaled. Scaling one to fit the other distorts your face or leaves strips that get cropped off.
Do both ears really need to show?
Yes. The Chinese standard requires hair not to cover the ears, eyes, or eyebrows. Tuck your hair back so both ears are visible - it is a common reason an otherwise-fine photo is refused.
What file size does a China visa photo need to be?
China's official pages do not state one. Widely-quoted figures like 40 to 120 KB are not from the issuing authority, so this page does not repeat them. If your application portal states its own file limit, follow that.