GATE 2027 photo and signature rules

The photograph and signature rules for a GATE 2027 application are printed in section 6.7 of the official GATE 2027 Information Brochure, on printed page 18, and the brochure states that a photograph which does not meet them can cost you the application and the fee with it. The specifications are exact. The photograph must be a good quality colour photograph of passport size, 3.5 cm width by 4.5 cm height, on a white background, uploaded as JPEG or JPG at between 200 × 260 and 530 × 690 pixels and no more than 600 kB. The signature is a separate image, in black or dark blue ink only, JPEG or JPG, between 250 × 80 and 580 × 180 pixels and no more than 300 kB. The brochure then prints labelled samples of what it will not accept: twelve for the photograph and ten for the signature. One more detail is worth knowing before you upload anything — the GATE 2027 Admit Card and Score Card carry the same photograph you submit at application, so this is the image you will be identified by at the centre.

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026

A photograph that misses the specification costs the fee with it

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026

GATE 2027 photo size, format and file size, next to the signature specification

What the photograph itself has to show

• The face of the candidate must cover 30-35% of the photograph, which is a separate rule from the 60-70% the face must cover after cropping.
• The background must be white and must not contain any other objects or persons.
• It must be a frontal face view, looking directly into the camera, showing the forehead, eyes, nose and chin.
• The face must not be covered with objects such as caps, hats, sunglasses or coloured glasses.
• Normal spectacles for vision correction are allowed. If you normally wear spectacles, a photograph with glare on the glasses is not acceptable, and where the glare cannot be avoided the brochure directs that the spectacles be taken off for the photograph.
• The face must be visible clearly and not covered by any cloth or shadow.
• Head coverings are not permitted except for religious reasons, and even then the facial features from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead, and both edges of the face, must be clearly shown.

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026

Why a GATE application photo gets rejected

The brochure does not leave this to interpretation. Table 6, “Samples of acceptable and NOT acceptable photographs”, prints two sets of sample images — the acceptable ones, which carry no captions at all, and the not-acceptable ones, each with a label printed beneath it — and that not-acceptable half names twelve distinct faults. Eight of them sit on printed page 19; the table then continues across the page break, and four more appear at the top of printed page 20, above Table 7. The sample photographs themselves are images inside the PDF, so they are not reproduced below. The labels under them are given below.

Sources: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 19, as on 19 September 2026; GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 20, as on 19 September 2026

The twelve not-acceptable photograph labels

1. Not matching the size specification
2. Wearing sunglasses
3. Shadow on photograph
4. Improper background
5. Face and head covered
6. Other people around
7. Photo is blurred
8. Glare on spectacles
9. Face covered by a mask
10. Wearing a cap
11. Objects in background
12. Not looking straight into the camera

Sources: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 19, as on 19 September 2026; GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 20, as on 19 September 2026

The first eight of those labels are printed on page 19 and the last four — mask, cap, objects in background, and not looking straight into the camera — are the row that carries over to page 20. Grouped by what they are about, three of the twelve concern the background or other people and objects in the frame; five concern something covering or obscuring the face, counting glare on spectacles; one concerns shadow falling on the photograph; one concerns the direction you are looking; and two, the size specification and the blur, concern the image file itself. The balance is worth noticing. Most of the twelve are settled at the moment the photograph is taken — by where you stand, what you are wearing and where the light is — rather than afterwards in an image editor.

Sources: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 19, as on 19 September 2026; GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 20, as on 19 September 2026

The framing grid the brochure prints

Section 6.7 closes with three instructions for clicking and editing the photo image, and Figure 1 on printed page 19 illustrates them. The figure overlays a lettered and numbered grid on a sample photograph, and the instruction is that the face should cover the A2, A3, B2, B3, C2 and C3 grids. The other two are that the background should be plain and white coloured, and that the eyes and face should be towards the camera. The grid is the useful part, but only once you can see how it is drawn: Figure 1 rules the sample photograph into four numbered columns and five lettered rows, so the six cells the brochure names are the middle two columns across the top three rows. Six of twenty cells is 30% of the frame — that is arithmetic, not a figure the brochure prints, but it lands at the bottom of the 30-35% the photograph bullets ask for. Either way it is the brochure showing you where in the frame the head belongs, in a form you can check by eye before you crop.

Sources: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026; GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 19, as on 19 September 2026

The signature carries a second, later risk

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026

The ten not-acceptable signature labels

1. Signature in dark background
2. Signature in ALL CAPITAL
3. Digital signatures not allowed
4. Signature in other than blue or black ink not allowed
5. Signature is too small to view
6. Signature with initials not allowed
7. Signature not clearly visible
8. Signature with background / write up not allowed
9. Signature outside the signature box area and not signed horizontally
10. Signature outside the signature box area

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 20, as on 19 September 2026

Table 7, “Samples of acceptable and NOT acceptable signatures”, is on printed page 20, and like Table 6 its sample images cannot be read out of the PDF while its labels can. Four of the ten labels are about placement and legibility: signing outside the signature box area, signing outside it and not horizontally, signing too small to view, and signing so that it is not clearly visible. Two are about what the signature is made of — a digital signature is not allowed, and neither is ink in any colour other than blue or black. Two more rule out substitutes for a full signature: initials only, and block capitals. The remaining two are about the paper behind the pen: a dark background, and a background carrying other writing.

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 20, as on 19 September 2026

What to check before you upload

Work through the table above against your two files rather than trusting the upload form to catch a problem. Confirm both files are JPEG or JPG; confirm the photograph is inside 200 × 260 to 530 × 690 pixels and under 600 kB, and the signature inside 250 × 80 to 580 × 180 pixels and under 300 kB; confirm the photograph's aspect ratio falls between 0.66 and 0.89, and that the signature is about three times as wide as it is tall, which is what an R between 2.75 and 3.75 means. Then look at the two images the way Table 6 and Table 7 look at them, against the twenty-two labels above. Registration dates, the application fee itself, eligibility and how long a GATE score stays valid are deliberately not covered here — they are on our GATE 2027 application checklist and our eligibility page, both built from this same brochure.

Source: GATE 2027 Information Brochure, p. 18, as on 19 September 2026