British visa applications differ from passport applications in an important practical way: biometrics, including a facial photograph, are usually captured at a visa application centre as part of the appointment. You turn up, they photograph you, and the image goes into the application.
When you still need to supply a photo
Several situations put the photograph back in your hands:
- Online application forms that ask for a digital photo upload before the appointment.
- Routes that use a smartphone identity-verification app instead of an in-person appointment, where you photograph yourself and your document.
- Sponsorship, exemption and certain in-country applications that include a photo in the paperwork.
- Applications submitted from countries where the local process differs.
Because the answer depends on the route, the specification page for your specific visa is the only reliable source. What follows is the format those photos generally follow.
The format
The same as a British passport photo: 45 by 35 mm printed, head 29 to 34 mm chin to crown, plain light grey or cream background, neutral expression with the mouth closed, both eyes open and visible, no glasses if they can be removed, nothing else in the frame.
Digital uploads follow the same minimum of 600 by 750 pixels. Where a specific portal states different numbers, the portal wins.
What to expect at the appointment
At a visa application centre the photograph is taken against their backdrop with their camera, so the geometry is their problem rather than yours. Things that still help:
- Do not wear glasses - you will be asked to remove them.
- Hair back from the face and eyes.
- Head coverings worn for religious reasons are fine; the face must be visible.
- Expect to be asked to hold a neutral expression, so arrive without a mask or heavy makeup around the eyes.
The photo on the permit
The image captured at the appointment becomes the photograph on the biometric residence permit itself, and it is the image compared against you when the permit is checked. It is worth the two minutes of care at the counter, because unlike an application photo there is no resubmission - you live with it for the life of the permit.
If you are asked for a digital photo
Prepare it the same way as a passport photo: plain light background, soft light from the front, someone else holding the camera at your eye level from about a metre and a half, glasses off, neutral expression. Then crop to the specification the portal states rather than to a general passport format.
IDShot carries UK presets for the passport and for visa and permit applications, with the head-height band and background each one asks for, and links to the official page for the route you are on.
Requirements are changed by the authorities that publish them, and the official page is the only source that settles an argument. Each preset in IDShot links to that page, so you can confirm the current wording before you submit.