Oyster Card Photo

Oyster cards are the most popular travel tickets in London and the best known by everyone who lives there. Having an Oyster card is cheaper than buying a single ticket and more beneficial especially if you travel to work and from work every day.

Some of the Oyster cards require a photograph. Read on to find out how to get an oyster card and how to take a photo for an Oyster card, which requirements and dimensions you have to meet.

Guidelines for Oyster Card Photo

Let’s start with the photo requirements for the Oyster card. Is it necessary to have a photograph on the most popular London travel ticket? Check below, when it is required:

• For a 7 Day Travelcard or longer (adult or child) bought from a railway station ticket office (not Underground) you need to bring along a passport size photo for a rail photocard to be made upon the spot and free of charge.

• 7 Day Child Travelcard or longer bought from anywhere but a railway station or with TfL online shop requires an Oyster ID Card. Adults do not. See the child concession table at the foot of this page for which Oyster ID Card (if any) and fees.

• No photo ID is required when you buy an Oyster card, except where children are concerned. You may well need an Oyster Photo ID card of one kind or another to access child rates.

• No photo ID is required when you buy adult Travelcards from anywhere but railway stations.

For any Oyster Photocards, like 5-10, 11-15 Zip, 16+ Zip, 18+ Student, Apprentice or 60+ London you need one photograph in colour and in the right size.

Oyster card photo dimensions

If it is already known, when the photo might be necessary for an Oyster card, is good to know the photo specifications:

• The photo must be in colour jpg, BMP, gif or png of less than 6 MB in size
• The photo must be present true likeness of applicant
• Hats and head coverings are not allowed unless wore for medical or religious reasons

Oyster card requirements for children 

As was previously mentioned, depending on the Oyster type, some children might need an Oyster photocard which requires a picture. It is good to know how to take a photo for an Oyster Card at home:

• Only the child can appear in the photo
• Make sure their eyes are open
• The face should be visible, no hairs should no cover the face
• Remember that the background should be white without any patterns or shadows 
• You must remove any object from the shot, such as headwear, pacifiers, toys, etc.

Oyster Card Photo Mobile App

No matter for yourself or for your children, if you need a photo for your Oyster card, you might need help with getting one! Just download our Passport Photo OnlineApp whether you want to use it on iOS and you want to take photos with iPhone or it is Android.

The first step is to take a photo, upload it and then choose a document such as an Oyster card. It will automatically resize your photo to the required dimensions and then edit it a little with a background remover to make it look professional. 

The whole process takes less than a minute so don’t hesitate, just try!

Last update: 05/06/2023