Photo Specifications (ICAO Guidelines)

Guidelines for ICAO-compliant photographs

Follow these guidelines, as per ICAO standards, when taking or uploading the photograph for a passport application.

1. Close-up of the head and top of the shoulders, so that the face takes up 80–85% of the photograph.
2. The photograph should be in colour, 630 × 810 pixels.
3. Photos must not be altered by computer software.
4. The background must be white.
5. The photograph must:
   • show the applicant looking directly at the camera;
   • show skin tones naturally;
   • have appropriate brightness and contrast;
   • show the eyes open and clearly visible;
   • not have hair across the eyes;
   • be taken with uniform lighting, without shadows, flash reflections on the face or red eye;
   • show the mouth closed;
   • be taken from a distance of 1.5 metres from the camera (not too close);
   • not be blurred.
6. Full face, front view, eyes open.
7. The full head, from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin.
8. Head centred in the frame, not tilted.
9. No distracting shadows on the face or background, and no reflection from glasses (take glasses off to avoid reflections).
10. Lighting must not cause red eye or other effects reducing the visibility of the eyes.
11. Head coverings are not permitted except for religious reasons; the face from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must be clearly visible.
12. The expression should look natural.

Uploading documents in the applicant portal

1. Open the upload page

After you submit the form, a pop-up appears: select “Upload Supporting Documents”. Or go to My Application, open “more actions” (three dots) and choose “Upload Supporting Documents”. The document upload page opens.

2. Document requirements

• Maximum size: 1 MB in total for all uploaded documents.
• Documents must be in PDF format.
• Maximum 5 documents per application, including photograph and signature (only 3 in “Upload Supporting Documents”).
• Maximum 12 upload attempts, including photograph and signature and any deletions and re-uploads.

3. Upload a document

1. Select the category.
2. Select the sub-category.
3. Select “Choose file”.
4. Select the file on your device.
5. Select “Upload”.

The message “Document has been uploaded successfully!” appears and the document is shown for your review.

4. View or delete a document

Select “View” to open an uploaded document in a new window. Select the red delete button to remove it; the message “Document deleted successfully” appears.

5. Errors