Do both ears really have to show?

Yes. The biometric comparison uses the distance between stable points on the head, and the ears are among them. Long hair covering one side is the usual reason this fails, and tucking it back takes a moment.

Can I use a studio photograph?

Yes, provided it has not been retouched. Ask for the document version rather than the portrait version — Korean studios routinely reshape jawlines for portraits, and a reshaped photograph is refused for a passport.

Are coloured contact lenses allowed?

No. The eyes must appear as they are, and lenses that change the iris colour or pattern are treated the same way as a filter: the photograph no longer matches the person.

Is this the specification for a K-ETA?

The travel authority captures its own photograph in the app and applies looser rules. Use this page for a passport or a full visa application, where the 35 × 45 standard is enforced.

South Korea Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

35 × 45 mm at 300 dpi (413 × 531 px), plain white.

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Drop your files here

.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .heic, .avif · they stay on this device

Options

Country and document

Sets the millimetre size, the head-height range and the background colour.

Background

Anything but 'keep' cuts you out with a model that runs on this device and puts you on a plain colour. 'Keep' skips the model entirely, so it is instant.

Cutout tightness0%

Only used when the background is being replaced. Raise it to trim a halo, lower it to rescue hair that was cut into.

Print sheet

A sheet tiles as many copies as the paper takes, with a cut line around each. Any print shop can run it.

Also save a framing guide

A second file with the crown and chin bands drawn on, so you can check the head is the right size. Never submit that one.

Show exact numbers

Frame measured in

The frame is written as a percentage so it means the same thing whatever the photograph's resolution.

Frame from the left

Frame from the top

Frame width

Frame height

Your files are read by this tab and never uploaded. Closing the page discards them.

Ask about South Korea Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

Questions about what this tool does, which option to pick, or what it can and cannot handle.

The question you type here is sent to an AI provider to be answered — your files and whatever you put in the tool above are not, and the assistant cannot see them. Answers are generated and can be wrong. The tool itself is not guessing: it runs deterministic code on your device.

About the South Korea Passport & Visa Photo — 35 × 45 mm

Korea works to the international 35-by-45 frame and a head measured between 32 and 36 millimetres, on white. The rule that sets it apart concerns the ears. Both must be visible. Hair tucked behind them, nothing covering them, and no style that hides one side of the head.

The reason is the biometric comparison, which uses the distance between fixed points on the skull, and the ears are among the most stable of those. It is also the requirement most likely to catch someone with long hair who has never been asked about it anywhere else.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is equally specific about retouching. Korea has a large photo-studio industry that routinely adjusts jawlines and skin in portrait work, and passport photographs are explicitly excluded from that: a photograph that has been reshaped is refused, and studios producing document photographs know to supply an unedited file. If you are making your own, the same applies to phone camera beauty modes, which are on by default on many handsets sold in the region.

The K-ETA, required of visa-waiver travellers, accepts a photograph taken in the app and applies a looser standard. This page covers the passport and the visa, where the full specification holds.

Neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open and visible, no hat, no coloured contact lenses, no uniform.

Check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page for the current requirement before you submit.

How to use it

1Tuck your hair behind both ears, then take or choose a photograph facing the camera directly.
2Keep South Korea selected for the 35 × 45 frame and the 32–36 mm head range.
3Set the background to plain white, replacing whatever is behind you.
4Confirm on the guide copy that both ears are visible and the head falls inside the bands.
5Download the file for a K-ETA or visa upload, or print a sheet for a passport application.

Questions

Do both ears really have to show?: Yes. The biometric comparison uses the distance between stable points on the head, and the ears are among them. Long hair covering one side is the usual reason this fails, and tucking it back takes a moment.
Can I use a studio photograph?: Yes, provided it has not been retouched. Ask for the document version rather than the portrait version — Korean studios routinely reshape jawlines for portraits, and a reshaped photograph is refused for a passport.
Are coloured contact lenses allowed?: No. The eyes must appear as they are, and lenses that change the iris colour or pattern are treated the same way as a filter: the photograph no longer matches the person.
Is this the specification for a K-ETA?: The travel authority captures its own photograph in the app and applies looser rules. Use this page for a passport or a full visa application, where the 35 × 45 standard is enforced.