diff --git a/ocr/app/engines/hybrid_engine.py b/ocr/app/engines/hybrid_engine.py
index 525a669..4c1c90b 100644
--- a/ocr/app/engines/hybrid_engine.py
+++ b/ocr/app/engines/hybrid_engine.py
@@ -18,8 +18,11 @@ from app.engines.base_engine import (
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-# Maximum time (seconds) to wait for the cloud fallback
-_CLOUD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 5.0
+# Maximum time (seconds) to wait for the cloud engine.
+# WIF token exchange on first call requires 3 HTTP round-trips
+# (STS -> IAM credentials -> resource manager) which can take 6-8s.
+# Subsequent calls use cached tokens and are fast (<1s).
+_CLOUD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 10.0
 
 # Redis key prefix for monthly Vision API request counter
 _VISION_COUNTER_PREFIX = "ocr:vision_requests"