Passport and Visa photos online, South Africa documents

Passport photo generator

A passport is a document, which allows you to travel around the world. A very important element of a passport is an appropriate photo. Fortunately, you do not have to go to a professional photographer to prepare it. Ask somebody to take a picture of you on your smartphone and use our online photo checker and validator, which checks and adjusts it to the South Africa specification. It is faster, cheaper and much more comfortable.

In this article you will learn about:

• all the requirements about passport photos in South Africa;
• how to take a perfect passport or visa photo at home;
• what to wear on a passport photo;
• the most common mistakes in passport photos.

Photos for South African Identity Documents

Passport photos

If you want to get a South African passport you must submit a colour photo with a strong definition between face and background. You have to stay in front of the camera and look straight into the lens. You cannot smile, because it is required to show a neutral face. The dimensions of the South African passport photo are 4,5 cm of height and 3,5 cm of width.

The photo must have a light-grey background. Your eyes must be fully visible. You can wear your prescription glasses, but they cannot hide any part of your face. A headcover is possible only for religious purposes. The best thing you can do about the lighting is to choose a source that is in front of you. That way, there will be no shadows on your face. The intensity of the light must not be too high or too low, either.

Visa photos

The South Africa visa photos requirements are similar to passport photos specifications. If you need a visa photo to any country, you should use our online app, because it prepares photos for almost all visas around the world. For example, do you need a visa to the USA? Just search on our site https://passport-photo.online “USA Visa” and upload your photo. After paying, the picture will be sent to your email. That’s it! 

Driving licence photos

Driving licences have biometric photos, which are used also in passports or IDs. Our photo tool is ready now to prepare and adjust pictures to all South African specifications. Ask someone to take a pic of you and upload it to the app. After a few minutes, your photo will be ready in your email. 

ID Card and similar photos

Sometimes you also need a photo to the ID, Student or Worker Card or anything else. A lot of people try to take photos themselves, but they are afraid of the requirements. If you use our photo tool, you do not have to worry about accepting your picture. We give you 100% guarantee. 

Warning: South Africa ID photo can be black and white, but the passport photo must be in colour.

DIY passport photo for South Africa - create passport or visa photo at home

How to take a perfect passport photo at home?

If you want to prepare a picture at home, you can read this short guide on how to take a perfect passport photo.

Step 1: Ask somebody to take a few photos of you. Avoid selfies, because they will not be accepted. 

Step 2: Choose the most lighted place in the home. Stand at a distance of about 0,5 m from the wall. Let your photo assistant stand 1,5m in front of you with the phone.

Step 3: The photo must be taken en face, so stay straight in front of the camera and look into the lens. Do not tilt your head. Have open eyes and closed mouth. Take care of neutral expressions. Make sure your face is 100% visible. 

Step 4: Choose the best photo and upload it to our online photo validator, which prepares your picture according to the requirements. 

Final step: Receive a perfect passport photo ready for use in your email.

What to wear for a South Africa passport photo?

It is required to submit the photo with a light-grey background, so you take care to avoid your clothes blending in with the background.

The most common mistakes on passport photos

We summarised some of the most frequent mistakes in passport photos that we discovered. If you want to take a passport or visa picture at home, you should definitely read this!

• No. 1. A wide smile. In the biometric photo, you cannot show any expression.
• No. 2. The photo is older than six months or your image changed. 
• No. 3. Low resolution and low quality of the photo. It is a very frequent mistake. The picture cannot be pixelated, blurred, or damaged in any other way. 
• No. 4. Wearing glasses, which hide any part of your head . 
• No. 5. Bad format or dimensions. There are requirements about the dimensions of the South Africa passport photos. They should be in 45 mm x 35 mm format. 
• No.6. Black and white passport photo. You can submit black and white photos for the South African ID only.

Passport photo tool

Our online app qualifies photos for the passport requirements. Just read the specification we described below and take an appropriate picture. Upload the file and wait a moment. In this time the photo validator will:

• convert the photo to the appropriate size, giving it the appropriate resolution and dimensions;
• prepare an appropriate background;
• crop and frame the entire photo. As a result, the face in the photo is centered and positioned according to the requirements of the document;
• check the image according to the requirements for the document. To check photos, it uses artificial intelligence, thanks to which it can check whether there are any incompatible shadows in the photo (on the shoulders, face, in the background), whether the head is centered in the photo (not tilted), whether the eyes are wide enough, etc.

Passport Photo App for iPhone

If you have an iPhone, use our application created for iOS. It has a lot of positive opinions and has helped many people to prepare passport photos for any country more quickly and cheaper too! Visit the App Store and download the passport photo app for iOS.

Passport Photo App for Android

If you have a smartphone with an Android system like Samsung, Huawei, HTC, Sony, Motorola or any other, you can use the passport photo app for Android to adjust a perfect passport photo. Go to the Google Store and download the app. We have a high rating, so you can be calm about your passport or visa photo.

5 reasons why the photo tool is the best option for taking a passport photo

These are the five reasons that are most important for why this photo tool is the best option for taking a passport or visa photo:

• It is very easy and you do not have to go out. Stay safe!
• You can save your time and money; 
• Unlimited quantity of photos, so you can choose the best one;
• Built-in validator, which checks photo to the requirements of almost all documents;
• You are guaranteed your photo will be accepted.