Malaysian Passport Photo: Quick, Simple, at Home

Malaysian Passport Photo

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.

Biometric Photo for a Malaysian Passport

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.

Malaysian Passport Photo Guidelines

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:

• photo size
• composition and crop of the picture
• correct pose and the head’s position
• background’s color and style
• dress-code
• allowed and forbidden items (glasses, headphones, headgears)
• quality and validity of the picture

Malaysia Passport Photo - take it with a smartphone!

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!

Quality requirements for the Malaysian passport photo

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:

• clear, sharp, and focus
• properly exposed - not underlit or overlit
• well contrasted
• in colour - showing your natural skin and eyes colors
• in good condition - not damaged or scratched

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!

Size and Crop of Malaysia Passport Photos

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.

Color and style of the background in Malaysian Passport Photos

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.

Coloring and lightening in Malaysian Passport Photos

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.

Facial expression and head’s position in Malaysian passport photos

There are some universal rules about composition and head position for biometric photos. Take a look at how are them:

1. The head must be located in the central spot of the picture;
2. The head must not be tilted in any direction, shoulders must not be twisted; 
3. The mouth must be closed but not tightened;
4. Smile is not allowed - the neutral facial expression is required;
5. The candidate must look straight at the camera with both eyes open;
6. The en-face view is mandatory.

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. 

Malaysian Passport Photo Originality and Validity

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.

Dress-code in the Malaysia passport photos

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.

Jewellery and facial piercing in Malaysian passport photos

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

Head coverings in a Malaysia passport photo

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.

Hair and beard in the Malaysian passport photo

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.

Glasses in the Malaysian 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.

Malaysian best passport photo App

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 validator

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! 

Passport photo App for iPhone and Android

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?

Malaysia Passport Photos most common mistakes

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:

• the wrong size
• not clear, focused, or sharp
• taken against the incorrect background
• interfered by computer software
• overexposed or underexposed
• cut from a larger picture
• monochromatic

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