Australia Visa Photo Requirements

Digital file only — no scans or re-photographed prints

The evidence-of-identity step asks every applicant, including children, for a digital photograph [1]. Scanning an existing print, or taking a photograph of a photo, does not meet this item, even though the resulting file is technically digital once it is uploaded [1].

The printed “passport photograph” item

A second, separate evidence-of-identity item is labelled as a passport photograph rather than a visa photograph, and it runs the other way around: it must be an actual print, not a digital file, and the applicant’s name has to be written on the back of that print [2]. Where the first item asks for a photograph taken and supplied digitally for the application [1], this one instead accepts a printed passport-style photograph [2].

Glasses and religious head coverings

Glasses are excused from the default requirement to remove them only when there is a medical reason; even then, tinted lenses need that same medical justification, the frames must not cover the eyes, and the photo must not show any reflection off the lenses [1]. A head covering worn for religious reasons is accepted when it is plain, unpatterned material that still leaves the whole face visible [1].

Editing is not allowed, even for real skin marks

The rule against editing is written broadly enough to cover things an applicant might otherwise want removed: the photograph has to stay unedited even where that means keeping visible moles, wrinkles, scars or red eye, along with the background [1].