New Zealand passport photo requirements

New Zealand passports are applied for online with a digital photo: a colour portrait in 3:4 ratio, JPEG, between 250 KB and 5 MB, 900–4500 pixels wide and 1200–6000 pixels high, less than six months old. Te Tari Taiwhenua (the Department of Internal Affairs) explicitly allows photos taken with your own device and offers a free online checker you should run before submitting.

Make and check a NZ passport photo Free checker; files from A$6.99.

Can I take it myself? Yes

Yes. The official page says you can use a professional service or take a photo with your own device, and it even publishes iPhone and Samsung video guides. The two rules it is strict about are that selfies are rejected (someone else must hold the phone 1.5 metres away) and that the image must not be edited, filtered or altered by AI.

How to take the photo

1. Get someone else to take the photo standing 1.5 metres away with the camera at your eye level. Photos taken too close distort the nose and forehead and are rejected.
2. Stand at least half a metre in front of a plain, light-coloured background with strong contrast to your face and no shadows or objects behind your head.
3. Centre your head with a clear gap around the top and sides and include your shoulders and upper chest. The tool crops to 3:4 and positions the head.
4. Face forwards, look straight at the camera, hair out of your eyes and away from your face. Neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open.
5. Remove tinted or thick-framed glasses, hats, hoods and headbands. Prescription glasses are allowed only with a clear gap between eyes and frames and no glare.
6. Do not apply filters or edit the image in any way. Resizing and cropping are fine; changing how you look is not.

Why NZ passport photos get rejected

1. Selfie or taken too close. Have someone take it from 1.5 metres with the shoulders in frame, then crop. Distortion is a frequent rejection.
2. Head too large or too small in the frame. Leave a clear gap above the head and at the sides. The checker here targets the 32–36 mm head band on a 35×47 mm frame.
3. Shadows behind the head. Stand half a metre from the wall and face the light.
4. Background not plain or low contrast. Use a light wall that contrasts with your hair; avoid white tops against a white wall.
5. Glasses with glare or thick frames. Take them off, or use thin frames with no reflection and a gap between frame and eye.
6. File outside the size rules. 250 KB to 5 MB, 900–4500 px wide, 1200–6000 px high, 3:4, JPEG. The export here lands inside every limit.
7. Edited, filtered or AI-altered. Use the unedited original. Background replacement is not offered for NZ.

Infants and children

Lay your baby on a plain, light-coloured sheet and take the photo from above. The photo should show the baby's entire face with their eyes open, and no other people or objects may be visible, which means no supporting hand in the frame. Babies' expressions are treated leniently but eyes open is still expected, so take several frames and pick the best.

Step by step: NZ Passports online application

1. Before you start, run the photo through the official online photo checker linked from the passports.govt.nz photo page. It tests the technical limits (size, ratio, file size) and face position.
2. Create a RealMe login and start the adult or child application. Upload the JPEG from this tool at the photo step.
3. If the checker flags the photo, the usual causes are shadows, a too-tight crop or a low-contrast background. Retake rather than edit.
4. Complete the identity and payment steps. Processing is typically faster online than on paper.

Open NZ Passports online application

What it costs

Warehouse Stationery and pharmacies charge around NZ$20–30 for a passport photo set. Our Single licence is NZ$7.99 for the online JPEG and all print sheets for 30 days; the free checker and the official DIA checker together catch most problems before you pay anything.