Laravel 5 : Setting limitations on uploaded files without changing php.ini?

I learned it is required to modify the values in php.ini in order to set the limitation for uploading files. However, I'm in a situation where I can't touch php.ini.

Let me explain the problem briefly.

<input type="file" name="thumbnail" accept="image/*">

I'm trying to get the thumbnail and get it in a controller.

if($this->request->hasFile('thumbnail')){
    $file = $this->request->file('thumbnail');
    //Other tasks
}

If the file size is over a certain point, I'd like to prevent it and show a warning. However, apparently, if the uploaded file is over the limit, request->hasFile() returns false even though it's actually true. (I saw that by dd())

It's probably impossible to catch this type of error by hasFile(), since it simply doesn't catch it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

via Chebli Mohamed