Chinese Visa Photo

As the third-largest country in the world, the most populated nation and one of the most ancient civilisations with over 5000 years of history, China definitely has a lot to offer. You may want to visit the Middle Kingdom for its breathtaking landscapes and landmarks, profusely diverse culture, culinary discoveries or swarming cities. Regardless, though, if you are travelling to China from Australia, you will need to procure a Visa for entry, and the application process requires you to submit a Chinese Visa photo that fits specific requirements. Check out how we can help you with this below.

Chinese Visa application photo - Requirements for Australia

To apply for a Chinese Visa, you must submit an online form and provide two identical colour photos taken within the last 6 (six) months. The Chinese Visa application photo must meet certain criteria for it to be accepted—the first one being that it must not be older than 6 (six) months. Keep reading to learn about the rest of them.

Chinese Visa photo-taking guide

On this page, we provide a comprehensive guide on how to take a valid photo for a Chinese Visa by yourself and with minimal expenditure. Keep reading to learn more about all the photo requirements and what you can do to ensure your Chinese Visa photo is compliant.

Chinese Visa photo size requirements

The required format and other size criteria differ depending on whether you are submitting a printed photo or a digital one, so pay attention to the following:

• For a photo print, the required dimensions are 33 × 48 mm (width x height). The head of the person must take up 15-22 mm in width and 28-33 mm in height (from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, hair non-included). The head’s distance to the upper edge of the photo must be between 3 and 5 mm. 
• For digital photo submission, the required format is 472-560 pixels in height and 354-420 pixels in width. The head should also fill about two thirds of the picture’s on both axis (though you do not have to be as precise as for a printed photo).
• In both cases, your head should also be properly centred and not touching any edge of the picture frame. 

These rules may appear hard to follow thoroughly, especially if you are taking and cropping the picture by yourself. However, it does not have to be that much of a hassle. If you just choose to use our photo resizer, your picture will be automatically adjusted to fit the required format. Additionally, you will not have to worry about whether the photo is accepted, as PhotoAiD provides a 100% guarantee that it will be. 

Chinese Visa photo background 

In the Chinese Visa photo, the background must be white, free of any object, shadow, reflection, or pattern. Finding a suitable background can be a very challenging endeavour, but our Visa photo background remover can do it for you. Once your picture is uploaded, the incorrect background is removed by our program and replaced with a compliant one, plain white. 

Quality and lighting

The photo submitted in your application must have a minimal resolution of is 600 dpi (digits per inch). Most smartphone photos largely exceed this quality threshold anyway. More generally, your photo should be in colour, not be blurry, nor include any damage or impurities for the printed version.

The use of natural light is highly recommended. It is best to shoot the picture during daytime to capitalise on daylight, and avoid any flash to prevent skin reflections and red-eye effects. Your face should be evenly lit on both sides and have a natural skin tone. The photo should be neither overexposed nor underexposed, with no shadows or reflections on your face or in the background. 

Head position 

Additionally to being centred and occupying about ⅔ of the picture, your face must be turned directly towards the camera with your eyes staring into the lens. It should not be tilted or shifted to one side. Your full face, neck, and shoulders included, have to be visible. 

Facial expression

Your facial expression on the Chinese Visa photo should be as neutral as possible, with your mouth closed and your eyes fully opened. Showing teeth, smiling, frowning or grimacing is forbidden. 

Accessories 

Any form of accessories, including but not limited to, jewellery, piercings, sunglasses, large hair decoration, or earbuds are prohibited. Even if some of these items may not hide your face, they could potentially cast shadows on it. Only accessories worn for medical purposes, such as hearing aids, are permitted.

Glasses

Prescription glasses are allowed as long as their lenses are not tinted nor have a glare on their surface. Furthermore, their frame must not obscure your face in any way. If you do not need eyeglasses for medical reasons or to be worn all the time, you had better take them off to prevent any risk of refusal.

Hair and head coverings 

Your hair and head cannot be covered by any headgear. The only exception is if you need one for medical or religious reasons. Regardless, you should remember that your face, eyes, eyebrows, and ears must be entirely visible and unshaded. 

Hairstyle

Any hairstyle is acceptable so long as your face and ears remain bare, clear of any strand of hair or shadow. If you have long hair, the best thing is generally to tie them or push them from your face to the side. Your hair may touch the edges of the frame if it is voluminous. On the other hand, beards, moustaches or any sort of facial hair is not a problem.

Clothing 

There is no specific rule regarding what clothes to wear on a Chinese Visa photo. You can simply stick with your everyday outfit. It is, however, advisable to avoid white or light clothes as these colours may blend with the background. Darker or coloured clothes will prevent this concern.

Makeup

As a rule, makeup is tolerated on Visa photos, though it should not alter your facial features too significantly. Nonetheless, any average amount of makeup should not be an issue.

How to take a Chinese Visa photo at home with a smartphone?

Now that you are fully informed of the specifications that Chinese Visa photos are required to meet, you may be wondering how to proceed exactly. We are going to give you a couple of directions and pieces of advice for you to shoot a compliant and satisfactory photo for your Chinese Visa. 

You can simply go ahead and observe the following instructions:

• Read the guidelines above carefully and keep them in mind during the process. You may want to read them again afterwards to make sure you have not omitted any significant detail.
• Find a well-lit room or space where you may not be disturbed, and select the best spot. Ideally, you want to sit in front of a window to capture a good amount of daylight. You can ignore the background, since our software takes care of this aspect.
• Ask a friend or relative to take the picture for you—selfies are not allowed. Tell them to use a cell phone or any other photography device, to stand about 1.5 metres from you and take a few shots. They need to have you centred with the top of your shoulders in the frame and some space between the top of your head and the upper edge of the photo. The framing can be relatively approximate, as our Visa photo tool later resizes and recentres your picture.
• Sit still with your back straight, make sure you have taken off any accessory and that your hair is out of the way, relax your facial muscles, open your eyes and wait for a few seconds. 
• Check the pictures and choose the one that suits you best. 

If the result does not satisfy you, you can resume the process as many times as needed! This is one of the many compelling advantages of taking Visa and ID photos from home and edit them with an online tool. There is no limit on the number of attempts you get, you only pay for a photo that you are content with.

Common mistakes in Chinese Visa photos

We are assuming you do not want your Chinese Visa application to be rejected for something as futile as attaching a photo that does not meet one criterion. If this is your case, you may want to take a look at the most commonly made mistakes reported by our Chinese Visa photo experts. 

The list of the most common reasons that stop Chinese Visa applicants from having their photo approved is as follows:

• Head positioning issues: profile view, high-angle or low-angle shots, tilted head, not facing the camera directly, etc.
• Shadows in the background. This one can easily be prevented by choosing to use our Visa photo background remover. Jump to the following section if you want to know how to use this feature of our Visa photo generator.
• Smiling, frowning or grimacing slightly. It is easy to miss a photo submission if your facial expression is not completely neutral. But relax—with the method showcased below, you get as many attempts as you need to achieve a photo that makes you look good enough and will unconditionally be accepted.
• Looking sideways or having your eyes closed is another common source of refusal. You must stare into the camera lens. It only lasts a few seconds. Since there is no flash allowed, you cannot be blinded by it.
• A part of the face being covered, especially the eyes, eyebrows and ears (ears are often ignored because people do not figure that they are part of what makes facial features). Before taking the picture, make sure that your hair, glasses, or (authorised) headwear and accessories are positioned so that it does not happen.
• Insufficient quality, e.g., blurriness, bad lighting, damaged photos prints or poor-quality paper.

It might sound like a hassle to keep all these rules in mind. However, if you choose our service and happen to have forgotten about one or more of them, our software will let you know and you will be able to start over for free!

How to edit a picture to the Chinese Visa photo format?

Once you have a satisfactory photo of yourself on your mobile, the next step is to convert it into a compliant Chinese Visa photo. Regardless of what means you select to do so, it only takes a handful of actions to have it done.

Chinese Visa photo online editing tool

You can obtain the adequate photo format directly online. All you need to do is submit your picture on this page by clicking on the ‘upload a photo’ button. Our software does the rest, including:

• cropping the photo to the adequate format, whether that be for paper or online submission;
• recentring it to ensure that it meets the positioning criteria;
• removing its background and replace it with a plain white one;
• checking your photo for compliance with a double verification system: an automatic review by our AI-based program that has integrated all Chinese Visa requirements, and a thorough evaluation by one of our biometric photography expert.

If satisfied, you can download the resulting picture in digital format or order a delivery of the paper print to your physical address. You can also choose to download the digital version and print it at a local store. 

Either way, your Chinese Visa photo comes with a guarantee of acceptance: if the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre refuses your application on the basis of a non-compliant Visa photo, you will receive a refund worth double the amount you invested in our service.

Chinese Visa photo-generating app for iPhone 

It is also possible to have your photo taken and edited exclusively on your smartphone. The features of the PhotoAiD app are exactly the same as the PhotoAiD website, excepted that you get to prepare an application-ready picture on one single device. This app is available on iPhone and other Apple devices, entirely for free. Download the PhotoAiD app for iOS.

Chinese Visa photo-generating app for Android

Android devices are also supported by our Visa photo-making app. To have a photo booth directly on your Android smartphone that does everything from photo taking to editing and checking, download the PhotoAiD app for Android. It is completely free.

Why use our online Chinese Visa photo generator?

If you are still doubtful about the benefits of using an online tool in order to take a compliant photo for your Chinese Visa application, you may want to consider the following:

• The Chinese Visa Application Service Centre does not provide any resource for you to take Visa photos on the spot. Therefore, you need to find a way to do it by your own means.
• ID photo service such as photo booths and professional photography studios charge excessively high fees for Visa photos. Additionally, some passport outlets do not even support the Chinese Visa photo format. PhotoAiD is a wonderful money-saving solution for that purpose, especially as your travel expenses are probably already high enough. 
• Cheaper prices do not equate to lower quality! Our tools are easy to use and generate first-rate ID pictures that meet all the relevant criteria and can be delivered within a few days in printed format with high quality paper photo.
• While preparing your trip to the Middle Kingdom, you will probably be busy packing, booking, and planning your travel itinerary. The Visa application process adds up to that load of preparations. Therefore, you may appreciate doing that, from filling the application to providing a compliant picture, from the comfort of home. PhotoAiD spares you valuable amounts of time and energy.
• Since taking a photo from home can be a challenging endeavour and imply higher risks of rejection, PhotoAiD is a great way to safeguard your application, since your photo is double-checked for compliance and comes with a guarantee of acceptance.
• As highlighted before, you get as many attempts as you want! If your Chinese Visa photo does not meet the requirements or your expectations, you can simply try again for free.

Last update: 30/6/22