General Photographic Guidelines

Photograph Quality

The photographs must be:

  • No more than 6-months old
  • 35-45 mm in width
  • Close up of your head and top of your shoulders so that your face takes up 70- 80% of the photograph
  • in sharp focus and clear
    of high quality with no ink marks or creases
  • show you facing square on to the camera, not looking over one shoulder (portrait style) or tilted, and showing both edges of your face clearly

Glasses and head covers

  • The photograph must show your eyes clearly with no flash reflection off the glasses, and no tinted lenses (if possible, avoid heavy frames — wear lighter framed glasses if you have them)
  • Make sure that the frames do not cover any part of your eyes

In brief:

If the face is too close Χ
If the face is too far away Χ
Close up of your head and top of your shoulders so that your face takes up 70- 80% of the photograph √
If the focus is blurred Χ
If the ink marked on the photo or creased Χ
If the posture is portrait style (not facing straight to the camera) Χ
If your eyes are tilted Χ
facing straight to the camera √
If you wear glasses and they have dark tinted lenses Χ
Flash reflection on lenses Χ
the glasses must be clear and the eyes can be seen through the glasses √
If you wear glasses and the frame of the glasses is too heavy Χ
Frames covering your eyes Χ
Regarding the lighting, shadows behind head in the photograph Χ
Shadows across face Χ
Clear and plain background √
For the under-age child:The photo must not show another person (behind or beside the child) Χ
Mouth open wide and toy too close to face Χ
The child should be alone in the photograph. √

The applicants are strongly urged to follow these guidelines for photograph.

(The visa applicants should follow the same guidelines as well).

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