Taking a Chinese visa photo at home, step by step

The frame is taller and narrower than you expect

Most people have a drawer of old passport pictures cut to 35 × 45 mm. A Chinese visa photo is a different shape: 33 mm wide and 48 mm tall. That is a slimmer, longer rectangle, so trimming an old European-style picture to fit usually slices into the head or leaves too little room above it. It is better to start from a fresh shot and let the frame be built around your face.

The measurements are strict about the head. The maker’s rule card gives 28 to 33 mm from the chin to the top of the hair, and 3 to 5 mm of space between the hair and the upper edge. Notice that this counts the hair, which is the opposite of the UK or Korean way of measuring to the skull. Someone with a high hairstyle therefore has a smaller face in the frame than someone with short hair, and that is expected.

• Size: 33 × 48 mm
• Head height, chin to hair top: 28–33 mm
• Space above the head: 3–5 mm
• Plain white background
• Both ears visible, facing the lens, neutral expression
• No hat, no dark lenses, no retouching

Know which file or print you are making

A visa application can ask for an upload, a printed picture, or both, depending on where you apply and how. Look at your own application page before you shoot, and note whether it asks for a file, a print, or one of each. That decision changes only the last step, but it is easier to know it from the start than to redo the work.

In the maker, set ‘Country’ to China and pick the visa line under ‘Document and size’. A passport entry with the same 33 × 48 mm size is also listed, but for a visa pick the visa line, because only that one carries the upload limits of 420 × 560 pixels and 40 to 120 KB. Open ‘Show size and rules’ once and read the card. Whoever handles your case has the final say, and published requirements can change.

A white wall that stays white

Unlike the UK or Australia, China asks for plain white and nothing else in this rule card. A white wall at home is the obvious choice, but phone cameras are good at turning white into grey or a faint yellow. The remedy is light, not editing: daylight from a large window, spread evenly, keeps a white wall looking white.

Stand about a metre from the wall so that your shadow falls on the floor, not behind your head. A door frame, a light switch or a curtain fold in the picture will count against you, so move the furniture rather than hoping it is cropped away. If your wall is textured or off-white, a clean white sheet pinned flat behind you works well, as long as there are no creases. Keep the light off the wall from one side only, since a bright patch behind one shoulder shows up as an uneven background.

Posing: ears out, eyes open, mouth shut

Two points on this card catch people out. The first is that both ears must be visible, so hair has to be tucked behind them. That applies to long hair, to a fringe that drifts sideways, and to scarves or headphones. The second is the 3 to 5 mm of room above the head. It is small, which means the camera must be level and not tipped up at you.

Prop the phone at eye height, roughly an arm and a half from your face. Sit square to the lens, shoulders even, head neither raised nor dipped. Look into the lens rather than the screen, with lips together and a relaxed face. A big smile is a common cause of retakes. If you are alone, press ‘Open the camera’: the guided shot waits until your position, shoulders, facing, expression and light look right, then fires after a short countdown.

Glasses and clothes

This card lets you keep glasses on when the rims stay clear of your eyes and nothing glints off the glass. Dark lenses, sunglasses and coloured contacts are out. A window in front of you is the usual source of glare. Move a little to one side, lower the phone or tilt the glasses down by a few degrees; if the shine does not disappear, take the glasses off for the shot.

Choose a top that stands out from a white background. A white shirt blends into the wall, while navy, green or grey draws a clear outline of the shoulders. Take off hats, hairbands and earphones. If you wear a head covering on religious or medical grounds, check the application instructions, because exceptions are handled by the office and not by this tool.

Checking the result

After the picture is added, read the lines under ‘Checks’. If ‘Some things need a new photo’ appears, each item has a reason and a retake hint; the typical ones are a turned face, a closed mouth that is not closed, or hair over an ear. Brightness and colour cast are corrected by the maker, so you do not need to fight them in the room.

Then open ‘Fine-tune’. Its head size control stays inside the allowed range, so use it if the first result sits near the edge of 28–33 mm, and nudge the picture up or down to keep the 3 to 5 mm gap above the hair. Leave the ‘Face, hair and clothes’ setting at ‘No touch-ups’; retouched or composited pictures are not accepted. Finally, compare the screen with your passport photo: the face should be recognisably the same person, not a smoothed one.

Saving the upload or the prints

For an online form press ‘Save file’. You get a JPG of 420 × 560 pixels, and the size stays in the 40 to 120 KB band that this visa line uses. If the form still balks, do not squeeze or resize the picture in another app. Save it again here and compare the form’s current limits.

Printed copies come from ‘Save print sheet’, which offers 4 × 6 in, 10 × 15 cm and 89 × 127 mm paper. When you print, pick actual size and switch off any scaling option; a sheet that shrinks in the printer is the usual trouble. Hold a ruler to one face before you cut along the grey lines, and keep spare copies flat in an envelope.

Why a home photo is sent back

Most problems are small and visible, so a last minute of looking pays off. Hang on to the original shot for a possible repeat. The visa office judges every case and can ask for a new picture even if yours looks fine to you.

• Head outside the 28–33 mm range, or no gap above the hair
• An ear covered by hair
• Grey, yellow or patchy wall, or a shadow behind the head
• Glints on the glass, or dark lenses
• A smile, open mouth or tilted head
• Filters, smoothing or a replaced background