New Zealand Visa Photo: Tips for a Flawless Application [And a Hassle-Free Visa Photo Tool]

New Zealand Visa Photo Requirements

The New Zealand Visa Photo must clearly identify you and it should meet all the visa photo requirements of New Zealand Immigration. The photo for New Zealand visa is the same as for NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority) and if it does not meet all the requirements, then the Immigration New Zealand will ask for another one. Also, the application for a visa will stop processing until you submit the correct New Zealand visa photo.

We have prepared this guide especially for you not to be worried about the rejection of your application anymore. Upload an acceptable photo and obtain the New Zealand visa with our help!

Photo Specification for New Zealand Visa

Your NZ visa photo must fulfil a lot of requirements whether it is digital or a paper version. The most important of them are:

• The photo needs to be taken within the last 6 months
• It should show a full-face view, neck and part of the shoulders or the upper chest
• It has to be in colour, showing natural skin tones
• It should have a plain, light-coloured background (not white)
• It must be an original photo of you, not of the other photo or a document.

Generally, no selfies or digital scans of printed photos are allowed. The New Zealand visa photo must be in portrait, and not a landscape. Remember, that you must not retouch it as any interference in the picture is also forbidden. "Red eyes" effect appears when a photo is taken with a flash, so in order to avoid it, take the picture with natural light (especially daylight). You can apply for a visa online or by a paper form.

New Zealand Visa Photo Size and Format

Online visa applications

The photo you submit with an online application must be between 500 KB and 3 MB in a JPG or JPEG format. It also should take between 900 x 1200 pixels and 2250 x 3000 pixels.

Paper visa applications

A required New Zealand visa photo size is 35 mm in width and 45 mm in height. Your face size must take 70% of the photograph and from the bottom of the photo to the eye line it should be 55%.

New Zealand visa photo requirements in terms of originality

Your New Zealand visa photo must be an original picture in the portrait. It cannot be:

• be a photo of a photo,
• cut off from a larger image,
• distorted or flipped,
• differently coloured,
• changed using photo-editing software or computer,
• pixelated.

The New Zealand visa photo must be taken in the last 6 months – the immigration service must confirm your current appearance, so if you have changed in any way, we recommend taking a new photo.

New Zealand Visa Photo Background and Lighting

When it comes to the New Zealand visa photo requirement, the background of the photo should be plain, light-coloured, but not white. No artefacts or other people can be seen in the background, also patterns or shadows are not accepted. The best light for taking a picture is natural, so if it is possible – choose daylight. The light must be diffused equally so that it doesn't cast shadows on your face. As obtaining the correct colour in a picture may be not easy, use our photo tool which removes an incorrect background and changes it into a required one.

Head positioning, facial expression and head covering

You must have a natural facial expression, with both eyes opened and closed mouth. The face must be exposed, centred, showing the full-face view, and facing the camera directly. Your hair should be off the eyes and sides of your face. You cannot tilt your head or look sideway.

Select standard clothing – any kind of uniform or camouflage is not permitted. Be careful, the extravagant outfit may cause troubles with your application as well. The photo must contain only plain clothing patterns. You should wear clothes you wear on a daily basis, however, try to look nice in the picture.

Glasses and head covering

Wearing glasses in the photo is allowed if:

• They are not sunglasses, tinted or thick-framed.
• They don’t cause flash reflection on the lenses.

There must be a gap between the frames and your eyes, they cannot be covered. Make sure your eyes show clearly through the lenses, with no reflected light. No head covering, headband, hat, or other items are accepted, and you cannot wear them in the photo unless you have religious or medical reasons. Facial piercings are not allowed if they are hiding your face. The face should be clearly seen.

New Zealand Visa Photo Checker

You can take and prepare your visa photo anytime and anywhere with this photo editor. You should stop thinking about the right and appropriate background, as you can remove an unsuitable background in a second and turn it into the correct one. Just take a photograph and upload it to this site. It has cropping, resizing, correcting photo tool which helps you to save your money and time!

In just a few minutes our tool will change the existing background with the correct one, if necessary; crop your photo to a correct New Zealand visa photo size and check every other element, just to verify that the photo is appropriate.

Last update: 6/6/23