# A government site says your PDF is too large

> Fit a scan for USCIS, VFS, IRCC, ANTS, GST, Common App, or another portal. Compress the PDF or build one from photos in your browser.

Canonical page: https://sizecap.com/guides/pdf-for-government-forms/

Visa, immigration, school, and other government portals often refuse a PDF that is only a little over a megabyte limit. Phone scanner apps produce files that are too large. SizeCap shrinks the PDF on this device, or builds one PDF from photos. The file is not uploaded here. SizeCap is not those agencies.

Read the number on the form you are filling in today. Limits change.

## Which SizeCap page to open

- You already have a PDF: use the [PDF compressor](https://sizecap.com/pdf/). Pages are redrawn as pictures so the file can hit a byte limit. Text is no longer selectable.
- You have photos of pages: use [photos to PDF](https://sizecap.com/pdf/from-photos/) and set the same cap.
- The site wants a JPEG photo, not a PDF: use the [government-form photo guide](https://sizecap.com/guides/photos-for-government-forms/).

## Websites people name

- **USCIS** — online filing tips say PDF or JPG, often 12 MB, no password. Try [12 MB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=12mb).
- **VFS Global** — many UK visa threads hit a 5 MB PDF wall. Try [5 MB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=5mb).
- **IRCC** — people name 2 MB or 4 MB on visitor and other uploads. Try [2 MB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=2mb) unless the form prints 4 MB.
- **India e-visa** — photo and passport PDF are often each under 300 KB. Try [300 KB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=300kb).
- **ANTS** (France Titres) — justificatifs are often 1 MB each, PDF, JPEG, or PNG. Try [1 MB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=1mb). Identity photos use a booth code.
- **GST portal** refund packs — officially 10 documents of 5 MB. **SAT** fichas often say 4 MB. **e-Tax** image attachments are PDF only, often 14 MB per send. **IRS** notice replies often allow 15 MB. **Receita Federal e-CAC** paginated PDFs are often 15 MB. **INPS** is often 4 MB.
- **Common App** — College Board SAT PDFs over 2000 KB are a documented reject. Try [2 MB](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=2mb) unless that slot prints another number.

## When SizeCap will not finish the job

- A password-protected PDF cannot be unlocked here.
- A digitally signed package should not be re-encoded.
- CEAC “Invalid Image Detected” is often an encoding problem, not a size cap. Do not treat SizeCap as the fix there.

Tax-office uploads are listed separately in [files for tax offices](https://sizecap.com/guides/files-for-tax-offices/).

[Shrink my government PDF](https://sizecap.com/pdf/?cap=5mb)