Ethiopia photo specifications
Photo sizes and rules for 4 documents issued in Ethiopia, taken from the issuing authorities and linked to their official pages.
At a glance
Ethiopia's photo rules differ by document. Passport: in Ethiopia ICS takes the picture at your appointment, and renewals attach one passport-sized photo. e-Visa: a 2 x 2 inch colour photo on white, uploaded as JPEG, JPG or PNG under 2 MB. Embassy visa: 3 x 4 cm on the Brussels form, a JPEG upload in Washington. Origin ID (Yellow Card): one recent passport-sized photograph for ICS, three colour prints in Paris.
Overview
One agency, the Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS), issues all four Ethiopian documents covered here, but the photo arrives in a different way for each. For a first passport applied for inside Ethiopia, nothing is printed or uploaded: ICS captures your picture with your fingerprints at the immigration office on the appointment day. Renewals inside Ethiopia attach one passport-sized photo during online registration.
The e-Visa is the opposite case: everything happens on evisa.gov.et, where you upload a 2 x 2 inch colour photo with a white background, under 2 MB, with no selfies, filters or retouching. Embassy visas, now issued by fewer missions, follow each embassy's own form, and the Ethiopian Origin ID, or Yellow Card, for foreign nationals of Ethiopian descent uses printed photos handed in with the application.
ICS rarely states print dimensions, so embassies fill the gap with their own lists. Paris, for instance, asks for colour photos on white without glasses for passports and identity cards, so check the list of the mission handling your file.
Photo specifications by document
Passports
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passport | 30 × 40 mm | — | White |
Visas and travel authorisations
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| eVisa | 2 × 2 in | — | White |
| Visa | 30 × 40 mm | — | Not stated by the embassies |
Identity cards
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin ID card | — | — | White |
Frequently asked questions
There is no single published size. ICS photographs first-time passport applicants itself and asks for passport-sized photos elsewhere without dimensions. The e-Visa photo tips show 2 x 2 inches, and the Brussels embassy's visa form asks for 3 x 4 cm (30 x 40 mm).
For a first passport in Ethiopia, yes: ICS says the appointment day is the only day you give fingerprints and have your picture taken. For a renewal, you attach one passport-sized photo online, and ICS may text you from 7876 to come in for a photo.
The e-Visa (JPEG, JPG or PNG under 2 MB on evisa.gov.et), a passport renewal registered online in Ethiopia, and a visa requested through the Washington embassy's online form (JPG or JPEG up to 2 MB). Paper applications at embassies such as Paris use printed photos.
Where a colour is published, it is white: the e-Visa photo tips show a white background, and the Paris embassy asks for white on passport and identity-card photos. ICS publishes no background colour for its passport and Origin ID photos.
Nearby countries
Other countries in Eastern Africa:
- Comoros
- Djibouti
- Eritrea
- Kenya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Mozambique
- Réunion
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Somalia
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Official sources
- Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS). How to Obtain a New Ethiopian Passport ics.gov.et. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS). Apply for e-Visa evisa.gov.et. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS). Ethiopian Origin ID ics.gov.et. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Embassy of Ethiopia, Brussels. Visa Application Form (PDF) ethiopianembassy.be. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Embassy of Ethiopia, Washington DC. Service Details - Visa consular.ethiopianembassy.org. Checked 2 November 2026.
Cite this page
"Ethiopia photo specifications". WorldPhotoSpecs. Last updated 4 November 2026. https://worldphotospecs.org/ethiopia