Maldives Residence Card Photo — Prepared to the Official Imuga Standard

A valid photograph for a Maldives residence permit or work-authorisation document must meet the national photo standard administered by the Maldives Immigration Department and submitted through the Imuga online portal. Getting the dimensions, background colour, and face framing exactly right before you upload prevents delays and avoids automatic rejection at the file-validation stage.

All residence and work-visa permits for foreign nationals in the Maldives are processed exclusively through Imuga — the government's end-to-end immigration platform, covering application, processing, and document issuance. The photo specification applied here is identical to the Maldivian passport standard: 35×45 mm on a pure white background. No separate residence-card format exists; the same precise national specification governs both document types. This matters in practice: a slightly warm background tone, a shadow cast on the wall behind you, or a face that fills less than 70% of the frame height are all grounds for automatic rejection at the Imuga upload stage — before an immigration officer ever opens your file.

• Size: 35 mm wide × 45 mm tall (827 × 1063 px at 600 dpi)
• Background: pure white (#FFFFFF) — no shadows, gradients, or patterns
• Face height: 70–80% of the total frame height, horizontally centered
• Expression: neutral, mouth closed, eyes open, looking directly at the lens
• Glasses: permitted only if both eyes are fully visible, lenses are untinted, and there is zero reflective glare
• Headwear: not permitted except for documented religious observance; the full face must remain visible
• Recency: photo must have been taken within the past 6 months

Common reasons photos are rejected for Maldives residence applications:

• Off-white or cream background — Imuga's validation system flags any background that deviates from pure #FFFFFF; even a faint warm cast caused by indoor lighting is enough to trigger rejection
• Face too small in the frame — the 70–80% face-height rule is strictly enforced; a standard smartphone portrait crop typically leaves too much headroom above the subject
• Shadows on the face or background — a frequent problem when photographing close to a wall without even, diffused lighting on both sides
• Tinted or glare-affected glasses — even lightly tinted everyday lenses are not accepted; clear lenses with no visible glare are required, and removing glasses entirely is the safest choice

Upload any well-lit photo and your image is automatically cropped and scaled to the exact 35×45 mm specification, the background is set to pure white, and face framing is verified against the Imuga requirements — so the file is ready to submit. You receive a free watermarked preview before paying anything. If your photo is ever rejected by the portal or an immigration officer, we redo it free of charge or issue a full refund. You pay only for the file you are confident in.