New Zealand Visa (INZ) photo requirements
The exact size, ratio, file-size window and head tolerance set by Immigration New Zealand — and a free tool below that frames your photo to match, in your own browser.
- Ratio
- 3:4
- Print size
- 35 × 45 mm
- Pixels
- 900×1200 – 2250×3000
- File size
- 512 KB – 3.14 MB
- Head height
- 64–76%
Read this before you rely on an edited photo
Many immigration and passport authorities require a photograph that has not been digitally altered. Replacing a background, smoothing skin, enhancing with AI, or applying a camera filter can all be treated as manipulation and can get an application refused or disqualified — regardless of whether the file passes an automated size check. Reframing, rotating and resizing are not alteration; changing the content of the picture is.
Background replacement is switched onhere so the result is usable straight away, and you can turn it off in Auto-fix if your authority requires an unaltered photograph — for a US passport, DS-160, DS-260 or DV entry, we would. Lighting correction is on too — it lifts an under-exposed face and evens out a shadow across one side of it, and it has its own switch. Whatever you choose, look at your own photo for filters or “portrait” beautification your phone may have applied on its own — the safest fix for a bad background or bad lighting is always to retake it.
Your photo is reframed to the document’s tolerances, then audited.
Add your photoDrop your photo here
Take one now, or pick an existing photo. Any framing works — a full-length shot is fine, the face is found and cropped for you. Nothing is uploaded.JPG or PNG, any size or framing — a full-length shot is fine, the face is found and cropped for you. Nothing is uploaded.
Upload or capture a photo and every published tolerance for this document gets checked and reported here.
Before you submit
What catches people out on a New Zealand Visa (INZ) photo
- INZ publishes the ratio and file size but no pixel bounds. The 900×1200–2250×3000 range we target is ours, chosen to sit inside the file-size window.
- INZ names filters, beautification features and AI editing tools explicitly as grounds for rejection.
Why this photo is not interchangeable
Where New Zealand departs from the standard passport photo
A photo accepted for one country is regularly refused for another. These are the specific rules Immigration New Zealand sets that differ from the ICAO 35 × 45 mm default most passports follow.
3:4, not 35 × 45 mm
Most countries use the ICAO 35 × 45 mm portrait shape. New Zealand uses 3:4 (35 × 45 mm), so a photo cropped for another country will not fit this frame without re-cropping.
Head must be 64%–76% of the frame
The ICAO default is 71%–80%. Immigration New Zealand requires 64%–76%, measured chin to crown including hair — a tighter crop than a standard passport photo.
There is a minimum file size, not only a maximum
The file must be at least 512 KB. Over-compressing to make an upload smaller is a common way to fail this check.
Source: Immigration New Zealand acceptable-photo guidance: a JPG/JPEG file between 512 KB and 3.14 MB, taken in portrait mode at a 3:4 aspect ratio, natural and unaltered.
New Zealand Visa (INZ) photo questions
What size photo is needed for a New Zealand Visa (INZ)?+
A New Zealand Visa (INZ) photo is 3:4, printed at 35 × 45 mm. Digitally it must be between 900×1200 and 2250×3000 pixels, in JPEG format, between 512 KB and 3.14 MB.
How large should the head be in a New Zealand Visa (INZ) photo?+
The head must measure 64% to 76% of the total image height, from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head including hair. The background must be plain light grey or cream.
Where do these New Zealand Visa (INZ) figures come from?+
Immigration New Zealand acceptable-photo guidance: a JPG/JPEG file between 512 KB and 3.14 MB, taken in portrait mode at a 3:4 aspect ratio, natural and unaltered.