Philippines photo specifications
Photo sizes and rules for 3 documents issued in Philippines, taken from the issuing authorities and linked to their official pages.
At a glance
A Philippine passport needs no photo from you: the DFA captures it at your appointment. Foreign visitors applying for an e-Visa upload a 2 x 2 inch photo on a plain light background, while visas issued as stickers by embassies take printed passport-size photos whose size depends on the post, such as 3.5 x 4.5 cm in The Hague. The Berlin embassy's CIR card last asked for two 2.5 x 2.5 cm ID photos.
Overview
A Philippine passport needs no photo from you, because the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) captures it digitally at your appointment, while the Philippine e-Visa takes an uploaded colour photo of 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm) on a plain light background, no more than 6 months old.
The DFA is behind all three documents on these pages. Its Office of Consular Affairs issues passports to Filipino citizens at consular offices in the Philippines and through embassies and consulates abroad, and it runs the e-Visa portal for foreign visitors; the posts abroad also issue sticker visas. The Bureau of Immigration, a separate agency, decides admission at the border.
The photo step differs sharply between them. For a passport there is nothing to prepare, because staff capture the image digitally with your fingerprints and signature. A visa applicant uploads a file to the e-Visa portal or hands an embassy printed photos sized to that post's checklist. The CIR card, an older registration card from the embassy in Berlin, took two small square prints.
Photo specifications by document
Passports
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passport | — | — | Not applicable: you supply no photo |
Visas and travel authorisations
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa | 35 × 45 mm | — | e-Visa: plain light background. Embassy… |
Identity cards
| Document | Print size | Digital size | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of identity and registration | 25 × 25 mm | — | Not stated in the embassy's published… |
Frequently asked questions
No. The DFA tells applicants not to bring a passport-sized photo: consular offices and posts abroad capture the photo and biometrics digitally at the appointment, which every applicant must attend in person.
Use 2 x 2 inches for the e-Visa upload. For a sticker visa from an embassy or consulate, follow that post's checklist: The Hague asks for 3.5 x 4.5 cm, Washington for 2 x 2 inches, and Frankfurt and Tokyo for passport size on a white or off-white background.
A Certificate of Identity and Registration card that the Philippine Embassy in Berlin issued free to Filipinos in Germany, requested with two ID photos of 2.5 x 2.5 cm. It is missing from the embassy's current requirements, so check with the embassy first.
Not for visas. The e-Visa rules are set centrally, but each post writes its own sticker visa checklist, so size, number of prints, recency and the glasses rule can differ. Passport photos are the same everywhere because the DFA captures them itself.
For the e-Visa, a plain light background. Embassy prints are usually white: The Hague and Frankfurt ask for white, Tokyo accepts white or off-white, and the general requirements of the embassy in Seoul say all pictures must be taken against a white background. A passport needs no background choice, because the DFA takes the picture.
Nearby countries
Other countries in South-eastern Asia:
Official sources
- Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs. Passport FAQs consular.dfa.gov.ph. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Department of Foreign Affairs. Passport Appointment System passport.gov.ph. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs. eVisaPH evisa.gov.ph. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs. Frequently Asked Questions on the Philippine e-Visa evisa.gov.ph. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Philippine Embassy in Berlin. FAQs on Passports philippine-embassy.de. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Philippine Embassy in Tokyo. Passport tokyo.philembassy.net. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Philippine Embassy in Seoul. Passport philembassy-seoul.com. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Philippine Embassy in The Hague. Visa philembassy.nl. Checked 3 November 2026.
- Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt. Visa frankfurtpcg.de. Checked 3 November 2026.
Cite this page
"Philippines photo specifications". WorldPhotoSpecs. Last updated 4 November 2026. https://worldphotospecs.org/philippines