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UAE Emirates ID & Visa Photo: requirements and cropper

A uae emirates id & visa photo is 35 × 45 mm — about 1.38 × 1.77 inches. The head must fill 70–80% of the image height. The background must be plain light-coloured, white. The photo must have been taken within the last 6 months.

Crop a photo to the United Arab Emirates spec

Drop a photo here, or click to choose Straight-on, evenly lit, plain background · cropped in this browser, never uploaded

The official requirements

Printed photo size 35 × 45 mm (1.38 × 1.77 in)
Head height 70–80% of image height
Background Plain light-coloured, white
How recent Taken within the last 6 months
Glasses The eyes must be clearly visible with no flash reflection. No tinted lenses. Heavy frames should be avoided. Medically required glasses are permitted only if they do not obscure the eyes.
Head coverings Not permitted except for religious reasons. When worn, facial features from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must be clearly shown.
Expression & pose Neutral expression with the mouth closed, looking directly at the camera. The applicant must appear alone with eyes open and clearly visible.
Not published digital dimensions, file size, file format, minimum resolution, copies required, children & infants — the official source does not state these, so nothing is shown rather than a number we made up.

Source: Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security — ICAO photo specification — read 2026-07-26.

Worth knowing

The ICP applies an ICAO-based standard to Emirates ID, passport and visa photos. One rule catches repeat applicants out: a new photo may not be identical to the one already on the applicant's passport or Emirates ID. No digital pixel dimensions, DPI or file-size limit is published.

How to make one

  1. Take or choose a photo shot straight on, from about arm's length or further, in even light with no shadow falling on the face or the wall behind it. Phone selfies taken close up distort the face and are a common rejection reason.
  2. Stand far enough from the wall that you cast no shadow on it. The background needs to be plain light-coloured, white — the tool fills only the area outside your photo's edges, it does not replace the wall behind you.
  3. Drop the photo into the tool above. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read directly by your browser.
  4. Drag the blue marker to the very top of the head, including hair, and the red marker to the bottom of the chin. This is the measurement every official spec is written against.
  5. Check the head-height readout against the official 70–80% figure.
  6. Download the photo, or generate a print sheet if you need physical copies.

Why United Arab Emirates photos get rejected

Drawn from the official guidance rather than guesswork. Most rejections are not about dimensions at all:

  • Photo identical to the one on the existing passport or Emirates ID
  • Photo more than six months old
  • Background not white or not plain
  • Tinted lenses or glare obscuring the eyes
  • Head covering hiding the chin, forehead or edges of the face
  • Non-neutral expression

United Arab Emirates photo questions

Is my photo uploaded anywhere?

No. The cropping, resizing and compressing all happen inside this page, using your browser's own image APIs. There is no server to upload to — the site is static files. Open your browser's network tab, use the tool, and you can watch nothing leave.

It also keeps working with your Wi-Fi switched off once the page has loaded.

What size is a uae emirates id & visa photo?

35 × 45 mm (1.38 × 1.77 in), according to Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security — ICAO photo specification.

Can this tool change my background?

No, and that is deliberate. Background replacement means guessing where your hair ends, and the guess is visible — a halo or a chewed-up fringe is exactly the kind of artefact that gets a photo rejected as digitally altered. United Arab Emirates requires plain light-coloured, white, so photograph yourself against a matching wall.

The fill colour setting only paints the area outside your photo's edges when the required crop is larger than the image you supplied.

How recent does the photo have to be?

Taken within the last 6 months. Reusing the photo from your previous passport is a standard rejection reason, and the UAE states this explicitly.

Can I wear glasses?

The eyes must be clearly visible with no flash reflection. No tinted lenses. Heavy frames should be avoided. Medically required glasses are permitted only if they do not obscure the eyes.

Are head coverings allowed?

Not permitted except for religious reasons. When worn, facial features from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must be clearly shown.

Will a photo from this tool definitely be accepted?

Nobody can promise that, and any site that does is selling you certainty it does not have. A photo is judged on framing, background, lighting, expression, sharpness and how recent it is. This tool handles the geometry and the file size precisely; the rest is down to how the photo was taken. The requirements here were read from Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security — ICAO photo specification on 2026-07-26 — check the source before you submit, because rules change.

Other specs

This is not official advice. img-fix is not affiliated with any government or immigration authority. The figures on this page were read from Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security — ICAO photo specification on 2026-07-26, and requirements change without notice. Check the official source before you submit.