Korea residence card photo: what immigration asks for
If you are registering as a foreign resident in Korea, the photo requirement is short and specific, and it is published in both Korean and English.
The photo is 3.5 cm wide by 4.5 cm tall, in colour, on a white background, and taken within the past six months. Your face — crown of the head to chin — has to measure 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm inside that.
And there is a flat prohibition on editing: photographs “should not be modified using Photoshop or similar software”.
The published requirement
| Item | Published rule |
|---|---|
| Photo size | 3.5 cm wide × 4.5 cm tall |
| Recency | Taken within the past six months |
| Background | White background, frameless |
| Face length | Crown of head to chin, 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm |
| Editing | No modification with Photoshop or similar software |
“Frameless” is worth noting. Some photo shops print a thin white border or a rounded edge as a matter of habit; the requirement rules that out.
Our Korea residence card photo size page lists the millimetre and pixel values side by side, and the size converter will do the arithmetic.
Face, expression and glasses
The document sets these out one line at a time:
- Face direction — “The face should be oriented forward and should not be inclined to one side.”
- Illumination — “The focus should be clear, and there should be no shadow on the face.”
- Expression — “The mouth should be closed, and the expression should be natural.”
- Glasses — “No sunglasses should be worn; if wearing glasses, the pupils should not be obscured by the glasses frames.”
So ordinary glasses are allowed here, unlike some countries that ask you to remove them. What is not allowed is tinted lenses, or frames sitting across your pupils.
Three more lines cover things most guides skip entirely:
- Pupils — “Eyes should be focused straight ahead, and there should be no red eye effect and no colored lenses.” Coloured contact lenses are ruled out, not just tinted glasses.
- Accessories — “Both ears should be visible, and hats or mufflers must not be worn.” That is a stricter framing rule than it looks: hair tucked behind one ear and loose over the other will not satisfy it.
- Shoulder line — “The upper part of the body should be shown down to the shoulders, and the positions of the shoulders should be the same.” Sitting slightly turned, or leaning on one arm, tilts the shoulder line.
The ear rule and the shoulder rule are the two that a self-taken photo most often fails, and neither is about the camera. Face the lens square on, put both shoulders at the same height, and pull your hair back from both sides of your face.
The six-month rule matters more than it looks
Foreign residents in Korea end up needing document photos more than once — registration, extensions, changes of status, a driving licence, sometimes a bank or a university. It is tempting to keep one file and reuse it for years.
The published requirement here is a photograph taken within the past six months. If the file on your phone is older than that, it does not meet the requirement even if nothing about you has changed.
Taking it yourself in Korea
Photo booths are common and cheap in Korea, and they are a reasonable option. If you are taking your own instead, the two rules that shape the setup are the white background and the no-editing line.
Find a genuinely white wall and stand far enough from it that your head does not throw a shadow onto it. Face a window rather than turning your back to one. Those two moves handle both the background colour and the “no shadow on the face” requirement without any editing at all.
PhotoSpec shows the Korea residence card requirement before you shoot, guides the framing by voice, and checks the result before you save. It crops to the published dimensions rather than editing the picture, and it does not replace the background — so the wall has to be white when you take the photo. Photos are processed on the phone and are not uploaded to us. The app runs in English as well as Korean, so the guidance matches the language you read in.
Korean documents use more than one photo size
The registration photo is 3.5 × 4.5 cm, and other Korean documents do not all match it. If you are preparing more than one, start from the right page: Korean passport photo, Korean ID card photo, or Korean visa photo.
Before you go — the short version
- Taken within the past six months.
- White background, frameless, no shadow behind you.
- 3.5 × 4.5 cm, face from crown to chin 2.5–3.5 cm.
- Facing forward, not tilted, clear focus, no shadow on the face.
- Mouth closed, natural expression.
- No sunglasses; if you wear glasses, the frames must not cover your pupils.
- No Photoshop or similar software.
Frequently asked questions
What size photo do I need for alien registration in Korea?
3.5 cm wide by 4.5 cm tall, in colour, on a white background, with your face measuring 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm from the crown of your head to your chin.
How recent does the photo have to be?
It must have been taken within the past six months.
Can I wear glasses?
Yes, but not sunglasses, and the frames must not obscure your pupils.
Can I smile?
The published wording is that the mouth should be closed and the expression should be natural.
Can I edit the background to white?
No. The requirement states that photographs should not be modified using Photoshop or similar software. Find a white wall instead.
Can I reuse my passport photo?
Check it against this requirement rather than assuming. The size, the face measurement and the six-month rule all have to hold for the registration photo.
Sources
Everything here comes from the issuing authority’s own pages. Where the official wording is ambiguous or differs between documents we have said so rather than picked a number. Our sourcing policy is described in sources and verification.
- Korea Immigration Service — Standard photo for alien registration (Korean and English): immigration.go.kr — 외국인등록용 사진규격 안내
Last checked 10 September 2026. Rules change — check the authority before you submit.