Australia Visa Photo: Requirements and Guidelines [And a Hassle-Free Visa Photo Tool]

Australian Visa Photo Guidelines

To obtain an ivisa - travel authorisation electronically linked to your passport permitting you to enter Australia - you must prepare a digital photo. The Australian tourist visa photo specification is a list of requirements you must satisfy in the field size, head position, background, dress code and recency. You may apply for Australian visa on paper or via the Internet, but in both cases, you need a properly prepared photo.

If you want to know what are requirements for an Australian visa, follow our guide. 

Australian visa photo size and requirements

If you plan a trip to Australia, you must fill in a dedicated form and attach two identical photos if you are applying in a traditional way or a file with your digital passport picture in case you do it online.

The Australian visa photo must be in color, taken not earlier than six months before you send your application form. In the case of a digital Australian visa photo dimensions and size in pixels is not specified. For a paper version, the Australian visa photo requirement for size is 35 mm to 40 mm width and 45 mm to 50 mm length. You can crop your picture with an easy to use photo application to make sure that your application will not be rejected.

Australian tourist visa photo specification

• Background: clear, plain white or grey giving depth to face.
• Neutral face expression, no smile, mouth closed.
• Eyes widely open and directed at the camera.
• Clothing should be casual or business, colors not specified. Religious clothing is permitted.
• Head coverings for religious purposes are allowed if they do not cover or obscure the face.
• Piercing is allowed only if it does not give off a reflection or shadow. The face must be fully visible.

Relaxed, natural expressions are important as it allows for better facial recognition. The mouth needs to be closed completely and eyes open but without exaggeration. The candidate should look straight ahead. The background must remain free of other objects, people and patterns. Colors different than white and grey are forbidden. If you wear your religious clothes every day, they may be worn on the Australian visa photo but they cannot obscure your face and chin line. The same rule applies to a headgear if you wear it. You can wear your normal clothes in every color and pattern but is not recommended to wear a top in the same color as background.

The photo specification for all types of Australian visas (business visa, student visa etc.) is exactly the same.

Composition requirements for Australia visa photo

Head of an applicant must be centred and in a straight position, not tilted or slumped. 

Required head size on Australian visa photo is from 32 mm to 36 mm. Your head, face, neck and upper part of your shoulders must be seen in the photo. Your hair can be down and touch or cover your shoulders but make sure if they do not cover your face features.

Eyeglasses in Australian visa photo

If you wear prescription glasses, you can keep it in the photo. Check with a visa photo tool

your photo is suitable - if glasses frames give no glare or shadow on your eyes. Sunglassesand transition lenses with any tint are not allowed as they cover your pupils. 

Rules for paper and digital Australian visa photo

• Camera or smartphone must be at least 1.2 meters away. Recommendable distance is 2 metres. 
• Retouching the photo is forbidden in any circumstances. This includes a correction of red eyes and smoothing out blemishes.
• The light should be natural and equally distributed on all parts of the face.
• For printing the picture, high quality, glossy photo paper must be used.

Keep in mind that selfie is not allowed. You can use a tripod or ask somebody to help you. You are not allowed to use filters or Photoshop on your digital Australian visa photo. Wearing make-up is permitted instead so if you want to reduce some skin issues, just do it in this way, without interfering in the picture. If you want to remove an unsuitable background and change it into required white or gray, do not retouch it, but use a photo editor which will also crop, resize and check the photo.

Australian visa photo tool

If you want to be sure that your visa photo will be accepted by an embassy or consulate, you must check if all requirements are satisfied. 

If you want to have certainty, use an Australian visa photo app which verifies if it is correct. If not, you may try again till to the satisfactory effect. You pay only for what you buy, not for tries! This visa photo tool checks the photo, removes the background and then sends it to your address email. If you wish, you can print it in some photo store or attach to your application.

Rules for babies and infants Australian visa photos

If you travel with a child, it needs to have an Australian visa too. It means that you must attach a picture of your son or daughter, even a newborn. Child mu be photographed alone, no other person must be visible in the photo. Rules for Australia visa photo for children are a bit different than for adults. There is some relaxation of regime as the child under the age of three can keep their mouths open. However, their eyes must be open. Also, the face, neck and tops of the shoulders must be visible in the photo. Any toys or other objects must not be in the picture with a baby. Australian visa photo for infants must be satisfied as outlined above, especially about background and size. If your baby is lying and it is impossible to adjust the demanded background’s color, don’t worry. Take a picture following other technical rules and use a  photo editor to change the background on the visa photo.

Last update: 5/31/23