Vietnam eVisa: 'Portrait photo was captured from another source' explained

The Vietnam eVisa portal compares your uploaded portrait against your passport scan and shows 'Portrait photo was captured from another source. Your application may be rejected. Please upload another photo', often with a match percentage. Two things matter: it is a warning, not a block, and applications have been approved with low match scores. But if you actually cropped your portrait out of your passport photo, stop: that is the one thing that gets rejected outright, with the email reason 'Portrait photograph incorrect (do not use passport photograph)'. Upload a fresh photo taken today instead.

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What triggers the warning

The portal runs face matching between the portrait you upload and the photo inside your scanned passport page. A portrait that looks scanned, cropped from a document, or very different from your passport photo (new glasses, beard, age gap) lowers the match score and triggers the warning.

Travelers on the Vietnam forums report approvals despite the warning, including match scores well under 50 percent. The system is warning you about a possible rejection, not refusing the application.

The one real rejection: reusing your passport photo

Rejected applications come back with the reason 'Portrait photograph incorrect (do not use passport photograph)'. That happens when the uploaded portrait is literally the photo from your passport, cropped out of the scan. The fix is simple: have someone take a new photo of you today against a plain light background, no glasses, no hat, looking straight at the camera, and upload that as the portrait.

File requirements

The portrait should be passport style (the portal's template is 4 x 6 cm), a JPG or JPEG under 2 MB. The passport page image is a separate upload with the same format limits. If your photo is over the size limit, compress it below 2 MB without visibly degrading it; the tool below does this in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

Should I resubmit if the warning says my match is only 74 percent?

If your portrait is a genuine fresh photo of you, you can proceed; travelers report approvals at lower scores. If the portrait came from your passport scan or an old document, replace it with a new photo before submitting.

Why does Vietnam reject passport photos as the portrait?

The application asks for a current portrait and separately for your passport page. Reusing the passport's own photo defeats the comparison, so the system flags it and officers reject it with 'Portrait photograph incorrect'.

What size photo does the Vietnam eVisa need?

A passport-style portrait, 4 x 6 cm template, JPG or JPEG under 2 MB, plain background, no glasses, taken recently. The passport bio page is uploaded separately.