diff --git a/backend/src/features/ocr/external/ocr-client.ts b/backend/src/features/ocr/external/ocr-client.ts
index 134b5f9..42a1711 100644
--- a/backend/src/features/ocr/external/ocr-client.ts
+++ b/backend/src/features/ocr/external/ocr-client.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import type { JobResponse, OcrResponse, VinExtractionResponse } from '../domain/
 
 /** OCR service configuration */
 const OCR_SERVICE_URL = process.env.OCR_SERVICE_URL || 'http://mvp-ocr:8000';
-const OCR_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000; // 30 seconds for sync operations
+const OCR_TIMEOUT_MS = 120000; // 120 seconds for sync operations (PaddleOCR model loading on first call)
 
 /**
  * HTTP client for communicating with the OCR service.