A visa application almost always asks for a photo, and visa photo rules aren't the same as your passport's, or the same from one country to the next. One embassy wants a print, another wants an upload at an exact pixel size, and some want both. This guide walks through how visa photo rules differ, then how to take, check and print or upload a visa photo with Passport Cat, our passport photo app for iPhone and iPad.
How visa photo rules differ
First, open the photo page of the embassy, consulate or agency that issues your visa: rules change, and only the issuing authority decides whether your photo is good enough. Here's how much they vary, from Passport Cat's rules data:
- U.S. visa (DS-160 / DS-260 / DV): 2×2 in (51×51 mm) on a white or off-white background, the head 25–35 mm from chin to top of hair, the eyes 28–35 mm from the bottom, taken in the last 6 months. DS-160 applicants upload a digital image: a square JPEG from 600×600 to 1200×1200 pixels, up to 240 KB. DS-260 and Diversity Visa selectees bring two identical 2×2 in prints. No glasses unless a signed medical statement explains they can't be removed.
- Schengen visa (short stay): 35×45 mm on a plain light-coloured background, the head 32–36 mm from chin to crown, in colour, taken in the last 6 months. You hand in one print; there's no upload. Consulates may instead take a live photo when you give your fingerprints. Glasses: no tinted lenses or reflections, and the frames mustn't cover the eyes.
- UK visa (UKVI digital photo): no prints at all. Where UKVI asks you to upload a photo of your face, a phone photo is allowed; otherwise it's taken at your biometrics appointment. The upload is a JPEG of at least 600×750 pixels on a plain light background, not altered with filters, and not the same photo as the one in your passport.
- Chinese visa: 33×48 mm on white or off-white, the head 28–33 mm, plus an upload of 354–420 × 472–560 pixels and 40–120 KB.
- e-Visas, like the India e-Visa and the Vietnam e-Visa, are uploaded online. The India e-Visa wants a square JPEG of 10 KB to 1 MB. Both say no glasses.
Passport Cat also has rules for Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Korean and other visas, among 104 passports, visas and ID cards.
Set up the shot
It's the same as for a passport photo: a plain wall, daylight from a window in front of you, no flash, and someone else holding the iPhone about 1.5 m (5 ft) away, without zooming. Don't retouch or filter it. Our guide to taking a passport photo on iPhone covers the wall, the light, the pose and glasses in detail.
Take and check it in Passport Cat
- Pick your visa. The card on Home shows the document, its size and background. Tap Change and search by country or document, like "Schengen" or "visa". With the search empty, Suggested for you lists your own country's documents first, then visas people often need.
- Read the rules. Tap Rules for the size, background, who can take the photo, how recent it must be and, for uploads, the pixels and file size, with links to the government pages they come from.
- Take the photo. Tap Take photo, or Choose from Photos for one you already have. If you switch to the front camera, the shutter starts a 3-second timer so you can lower your arm.
- Read the checks. Passport Cat checks for one face, head size and position, whether it's sharp enough to print, a straight head, open eyes, expression, light, shadows, focus, the background colour and how old the photo is, all against your visa's rules. You'll see Meets every check, Usable, but check the notes below, or how many things to fix and what to change.
- Fix and retry. If a check fails, the button at the bottom becomes Retake photo, or Choose another photo if it came from Photos. To adjust the crop, use the Head size slider. The photo is only cropped and scaled, never stretched, retouched or given a new background.
- Confirm the rest. Under Please confirm, tick the points the app can't see reliably, like glasses, a head covering and the photo's age, then tap Print & download.
Print it or get the upload file
What Print & download shows depends on what your visa's rules allow:
- Print at a pharmacy or kiosk: tap Share 6×4 print or Save to Photos and order a 6×4 in (10×15 cm) print. Turn off "fit" or borders when you order, then cut along the lines.
- Print at home: pick Letter or A4 and tap Share PDF to print. Print on photo paper at "Actual size", and measure the 25 mm scale bar with a ruler before you cut.
- Apply online: tap Share digital photo. Where the rules set a pixel size, you get a JPEG framed to the rules at that size; for the U.S. visa that's at least 600×600 pixels.
An upload-only visa, like the UK visa, shows only the upload; the Schengen visa shows the prints and a note that it has no online upload. The final decision is always up to the issuing authority, and Passport Cat isn't affiliated with any government. Stuck? See the Passport Cat help page.
What it costs
Taking, checking, printing and downloading are free, as many photos as you need, with no watermark, where the visa's rules allow. There are no ads, no account and no subscription. Passport Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds more paper sizes (7×5, 10×8 and 5×3.5 in photo paper, and A5), saved photos for each family member, a family sheet with several people on one 6×4 print when their photos are the same size, and One photo, more documents: tap Check it for other documents to see which other passports and visas the same photo works for. More on the Passport Cat page.
Your photos are checked on your device and kept out of iCloud backups; they leave only when you share them or save them to Photos.
Quick answers
Can I use my passport photo for a visa?
Sometimes the size matches, but the other rules can differ, and the UK visa rules say it must not be the same photo as in your passport. Pick the visa in Passport Cat and check the photo against its rules. With Pro, Check it for other documents checks one photo against several.
Can I take a U.S. visa photo with my phone?
The U.S. visa rules in Passport Cat's data recommend a professional visa photo service but say you may take it yourself, as long as it isn't digitally enhanced or altered. They also turn down snapshots and low-quality phone photos, so use daylight and the back camera.
Try Passport Cat
Try Passport Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/passport-cat