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Taking a photo for your ID has never been so easy.
Follow these simple instruction to take the perfect ID photo.
The distance between the face and the camera should be about 40 cm. Ideally the photo should be taken by the other person.
Place your face in front of the lens. Hold the camera at eye level and keep neutral face expression.
Stand facing the light source, for example an exposed window. The background will be cut out, don't worry about it.
When applying for the Malaysian Passport, you have to submit 2 printed photos of yourself. These photos must be identical and meet specifications as the picture which will be seen in your passport must be biometric and must comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization Standards.
A biometric picture shows the unique physical characteristics of a person, such as the distance between the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. These characteristics are unique for every person and let the immigration officers confirm a traveller’s identity. Border officers use to do it by comparing photo and the face of the passport’s holder but nowadays, thanks to machine-reading this is possible to check a person’s identity in a fast and much more effective way. This is why photos in passports must be biometric. If your photo does not satisfy requirements, the office processing your application will reject it.
Read our article when we present a nutshell of how the Malaysian Passport Photo must look. We are happy to provide you with complete Malaysia Passport Photo Guidelines. Check how are rules about:
Do you know that there are no requirements for taking the Malaysian passport photo professionally? So, you can take and prepare your photo at any time and in any place. But what to do with all the requirements about the background, size and crop? You may ask yourself how to resize and crop the passport photo or how to make the background clear and white. Do you?
You can stop being worried about the perfect background, correct size and crop! Use your device (smartphone, tablet or digital camera) and upload your picture to the Passport Photo Tool Online. This tool can in one second remove an unsuitable background and change it into a required one. This Photo Maker also resizes and crops the picture.
Take your Malaysia Passport Photo with your phone! Wait 3 seconds and get the perfect photo with no risk of rejection with the special Passport Photo App!
There are some technical demands for photos used on Malaysian passports. If you print them, don’t use an inkjet printer. Home printers are not able to produce high-quality photo. During printing, the dye-sublimation process must be used to obtain a good quality picture. The picture must be created at high resolution and printed on photographic quality paper. In terms of technical requirements, your picture must be:
Every photo produced with the Passport Photo App is verified at the end. You can be 100% sure that your picture meets all the requirements because artificial intelligence checking it detects every mistake. Once you receive the correct passport photo on your email address, you can send your picture to a one-hour photo service or go to a self-service photo point to print it and that’s it!
The photograph you want to use for your Malaysian passport must measure 50 mm (hide) x 35 mm (wide) in size. It is 1.97 inches x 1.38 inches. The crop must show a close-up of the head and top of the shoulders.
Size and crop of passport-style photography is a very important requirement and you must not attach an incorrectly sized or cropped photo if you do not want to repeat all the application process.
Cropping the picture, leave 3- 5 mm of space between the top of the head and the upper edge of the photo. The head must be positioned in a central spot of the image. It cannot be too big or too small, preferably 70%-80% of the whole image. You do not know how to obtain such a crop? That is easy! Go to the Malaysian Passport Photo App and have it done! Once you upload the picture, our program automatically resizes and crops the image to the required dimensions.
Your photos dedicated to the passport of Malaysia must be taken against the white background. Moreover, the background must be unique and clear: no shadows, patterns, other people, or objects must be visible with you in the picture. But you do not need to pose against a white wall or special screen as in professional photography studios.
You can take a picture against any background, even in your room or kitchen, and just use our smart passport photo background editor which changes the wrong background into the required one.
Your photos to a Malaysian passport must be in color, so monochromatic pictures are excluded. Moreover, the picture must show your natural skin tones, so using color filters is not allowed. The picture must be free of glares and shadows so do not use a flash lamp as it can provoke glares or “red-eyes effect”. The best is always daylight. Just stand 1,5-2 m from the window (facing it) and control if your face is evenly illuminated. Your photo must be properly exposed. Underexposed and overexposed photos will be automatically rejected.
There are some universal rules about composition and head position for biometric photos. Take a look at how are them:
To obtain this view, the camera lens must be positioned at the level of the eyes of the photographed person. The optimal distance between the camera and the candidate is 2 metres. Using a zoom function is not recommended.
The photo you attach to your Malaysian passport application must not be older than 6 months. Otherwise, the photo is not reflecting your current look and it is not valid.
The photo dedicated to the passport must be originally taken following all the requirements about posing. It must be a face close-up and this is prohibited to cut out your head from a larger photo. Such a photo would be considered unoriginal and rejected.
“Originality” also means that the picture must not be altered by computer software. So, don’t use Photoshop or any other graphic programs.
Generally speaking, you should wear something modest because your clothes will be visible in the photo. We recommend a conservative top. Do not wear tops with open shoulders (such as tank tops).
People most often choose simple shirts with buttons or collars. A covering shoulders dress may also be a good choice. If you wear a head covering (only for religious purposes), choose the one in color which is not exactly like the background’s color. In this way, you will obtain a satisfying contrast and you will not blend into the background.
If you like jewellery, there are no contraindications to wearing something nice in your passport photo. Just keep in mind that wearing massive earrings or hair decorations is not recommended as they can obscure the face. Small items instead are allowed.Facial piercing is allowed as long as your face is still recognizable and these items do not give glare on your skin
Remember that you are not allowed to keep fashionable headgears such as caps, hats or headbands at the moment of capturing a Malaysia passport picture.
They are not allowed under any conditions but you can keep head covering if you use it as a part of a religious or traditional attire (like hijab, turban or yarmulke etc.) You do not need to prove your religious affiliation in such a case. However, you are obliged to make sure that this item does not obscure your face. Your facial features including front and chin must be clearly visible in the photo even if you keep your headgear.
You can have your hair down or wear a wig if you want.
However, if you have a voluminous hairstyle, wear your hair up because your hair in the image must not “touch” the edges of the picture. If you have long hair and you wear it down, put it behind your ears as your face must be fully visible. You are not obliged to shave your beard for a Malaysia passport photo.
This is allowed to wear prescription eyeglasses in the photo for the picture dedicated to a passport of Malaysia. You can pose wearing them but their frames must not cover your eyes or drop the shadow on your skin, neither give a glare. Glasses must not be tinted or dark (like sunglasses) and spectacles cannot give a reflection. Your eyes must be clearly visible. Considering all of this, it is recommended to take the eyeglasses off for the moment of capturing a passport-style picture.
How to create a correct Malaysian Passport Photo yourself? This is easy when you use the Passport Photo App!
It is an online App that easily crops, resizes, and at the end verifies your photos.
This Passport Photo Maker removes the background too, and exchanges it into the required white, plain one.
Once you order the correct picture, the App sends your ready to print image to your address email.
Passport Photo Tool online is a great App to create your perfect passport photo, save money and time. But this is not all!
As you know, your passport photo must comply with ICAO Standards, so you need to check if all requirements of biometrics are satisfied.
If you want to be 100% sure, use a Malaysian passport photo app. You may be sure that if our Passport Photo Checker has accepted your picture, a passport officer processing your application will do it too!
Do you have Samsung, iPhone, Nokia? Or any other smartphone? Is your operating system IOS or Android?
It doesn’t matter if you want to create your passport photo online!
You can download our Intelligent Photo App from the AppStore or Android Photo App from Google Play Store. This App helps to prepare and store your photo shots and use them for more documents. You may upload them directly to online applications or print them - depending on which way of applying your pick up. You can choose between more than 100 photo templates to different documents such as visas, passports, driving licenses, etc. This is a great idea for your future photos, isn’t it?
Every year many passport applications are rejected because of incorrect photos. How to avoid this problem? Read about the worst applicant’s mistakes and avoid them. The rejected photos were mainly:
If you want to avoid a delay or refusal of your application, check out the best App, based on artificial intelligence that verifies the image if it meets all requirements.
If not, do not worry! No rush! Take as many shots as you wish and pay only for 100% correct photos with a warranty of acceptance by the passport office.
Last update: 9/30/23
A passport of Malaysia is the travelling document issued by the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
This document is proof of Malaysian nationality and serves as an identification document. It is used by its holders to travel internationally. It also helps Malaysian citizens staying abroad with access to consular assistance in diplomatic missions. Malaysian passports are valid for 2 or 5 years.
Malaysia was the first country in the world that introduced biometric passports. It was in 1998. The interesting fact is that no electronic chip in Malaysian passports was ever hacked or cloned. Digital keys stored on each chip made such duplication just impossible.
Malaysian immigration services were the only ones equipped with the technology to read and authenticate the data from the RFID chip. The fingerprint scanners and facial recognition technology were used only on Malaysian borders checkpoints but popular adoption of biometric passports technology took place in international airports worldwide.
The chip in the Malaysian passport stores the holder’s biometric data such as a digital photograph of the bearer's face, and images of their two thumbprints. But not only.
Chips in Malaysian passports also record the travel history of the passport holder. The last 10 entries and exits at Malaysia border control points are recorded on the chip.
You can apply for a new Malaysian passport online but collecting the passport in person is mandatory. You fill out the passport application form and upload your passport-style photo online. Remember that if you do not collect your passport in person, the document will not be issued for you. Nobody can collect the document on your behalf.
You are obliged to submit the following documents in order to apply for a new passport:
You may choose to collect your renewed passports from a Passport Recipient and Issuance Office - the choice is possible to be made online during application.
Then you should wait for information about the collection date and time. These details will be provided depending on the date and time the application was made.
Your photo must be recent – it must be taken within the last 6 months.
The required size of the passport photo in Malaysia is 35 mm x 45 mm. If you want to resize your picture, try the Resizing Passport Photo App.
The image of the head from the chin to the top must take approximately 70 - 75% of the whole picture. If you are not sure how to do it, just use a cropping passport photo tool.
Yes, you are allowed to do it. After capturing a photo by your iPhone or another smartphone, upload it to Online Passport Photo Maker and have it done!
It is not forbidden to wear eyeglasses in the photo if the glasses are not colored or tinted. Just make sure that frames do not obscure your eyes and spectacles do not give glare.
Yes. The biometric photo must be taken as an en-face view with the eyes looking straight at the camera. It is a general requirement for all passport photos in all countries now.
Headgears worn for religious or cultural purposes are allowed under the condition that they do not obscure or cover in any way the candidate’s face. Fashion headgears instead are forbidden.
Yes, the beard is allowed in the passport photo in Malaysia.
No, you can't. Only color pictures will be accepted. Moreover, colors must be real and represent your natural skin tone.
You should wear something modest and not expose your shoulders in the photo (so, don’t wear any tank tops).
Photo taken with a tablet is ok, but do not take a picture of the passport with the webcam. Such photos do not meet quality requirements.
No, any alteration in the picture by computer software is forbidden and will cause the rejection of the Malaysia passport photo.
2 color, printed pieces are required.
No. Passport photos in Malaysia must be printed on photo-quality paper. Check where in your neighborhood you can print photos immediately - it may be a self-service photo kiosk, photo booth or one-hour photo service in some store or mall.