Requirements

Framing and head size

ICP's brochure says the face should fill 70–80% of the photo. IDPhotos.ai reads this as the head height, from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head (the crown), measured against the photo height — the same way the ICAO standard defines it.

The eyes should sit in the upper half of the photo, and the face must be centred. IDPhotos.ai places your head automatically, so you only need to leave some space around your head and shoulders when you take the picture.

Pose and expression

• Look straight at the camera with your face square to it — not turned, tilted or looking up or down.
• Both edges of the face must be visible.
• Neutral expression with the mouth closed. A slight natural look is fine; a smile showing teeth is not.
• Eyes open and clearly visible, with no hair across them.

Glasses

The ICP brochure allows glasses with clear, non-tinted lenses and no glare, provided the frames do not cover the eyes. The ICP FAQ is stricter and mentions medical glasses only. Because the sources differ, the safest choice is to remove glasses if you can. If you need them, IDPhotos.ai checks for tint, frames over the eyes and reflections.

Head coverings

Head coverings are accepted for religious reasons only. The face must be visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead, and both edges of the face must show. Hats, caps and sunglasses are not accepted.

With white headwear such as a ghutra or a light shayla, make sure there is a clear difference between the headwear and the background — the Arabic brochure asks for visible contrast between the face and the background.

Lighting and background

• Plain white or very light background, with no patterns, objects or shadows behind you.
• Even light across the face, with no shadows on one side and no flash reflections.
• Natural skin tones, sharp focus and correct brightness. No filters or beauty modes.
• You must be alone in the photo, with hands below shoulder level and no frame or border.

Children and babies

Children must be photographed alone: no parent's hands, no toys and no chair back in the picture. Lay a baby on a plain white sheet, or seat them in a car seat covered with a white cloth.

International practice relaxes some rules for young children. For babies under one year, eyes do not need to be open and the expression does not need to be neutral; for children under seven, small head turns are tolerated. IDPhotos.ai applies these relaxations when you choose the child's age group.

Recency and renewals

• The photo must have been taken within the last six months.
• When renewing a passport, the new photo must not be the same as the one printed in your current passport.
• These two rules cannot be checked from the image itself, so please make sure they apply.

Digital upload

For online applications, ICP's portal accepts JPEG files up to 2 MB and runs its own photo checks after upload. IDPhotos.ai's photo file is a JPEG within that limit, sized to the document you chose.

What IDPhotos.ai changes in your photo

IDPhotos.ai straightens, crops and resizes your photo, and replaces the background with plain white. It does not change your face, skin, eyes or clothing. The ICAO technical report recommends that background removal be left to the issuing authority, and news reports say ICP rejects edited photos; the risk is low for a clean white background, but if you can stand in front of a plain white wall, the background change is minimal.