Nigeria passport photo
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The requirements
| Print size | 51 x 51 mm (2 x 2 in) |
|---|---|
| Digital size | 600 px |
| File formats | JPEG, PNG |
| Head height, chin to crown | 25-35 mm Head height from the top of the head including hair to the bottom of the chin must be 50% to 69% of the image height, and the eye height measured from the bottom of the image should be 56% to 69% of the image height. In print the head is 1 in to 1.4 in (25 to 35 mm). |
| Background | Plain light coloured background, white or off white, with no texture, objects, lines or distracting shadows |
| Glasses | Not allowed. Remove them for the photo. |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open. |
| Head covering | Only for religious or medical reasons, and the face must be visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead. |
| Ears | No |
| Photo age | 6 months |
| Also required |
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The Nigeria Immigration Service publishes its photo rules inside the e-Passport application portal rather than as a standalone web page; the figures above come from that portal's own Photo Guidelines dialog and its upload step, read on 2026-09-02. Two published numbers contradict each other: the guidelines describe a square 2x2 in (51x51 mm) photo with a 600x600 px digital minimum, while the upload step asks for at least 600x800 px, which is a 3:4 shape. No aspect ratio is recorded here for that reason, and applicants should run the portal's Test Photo Upload checker before applying. The guidelines wording closely follows the United States passport photo standard, which is where the square 2x2 in size and the 50-69% head band originate. Note also that the passport photograph is captured at the immigration office during the biometric appointment, so the uploaded image is a pre-check rather than the only image on file.
Applying in Nigeria
In Nigeria the photograph you upload is the photograph that gets printed. The application portal says so during the upload step: the photo you are uploading here will be printed on your passport. That is unusual. In most countries an uploaded image is a check on your identity and the picture in the booklet is captured again at an office, so the file matters less than people assume. Here it travels all the way to the page, which makes your own upload the thing that decides how your passport looks for the next five or ten years.
The rules are enforced in software rather than at a counter. The portal accepts JPG, JPEG and PNG only, wants at least 600 pixels on each side, refuses anything above 2 MB, and runs a server-side validator against ICAO criteria before the application will move on. The Immigration Service also publishes a free image-compliance checker on the same domain, which tells you what the validator will say before you spend an attempt on it. Using it first is the single most useful thing on this page.
One warning matters more than the rest. The Immigration Service's own photo guidelines page carries text lifted word for word from the United States State Department, including a 2 x 2 inch print size and a 600 by 600 pixel figure. Those numbers contradict the validator that actually decides whether your upload passes, and where the two disagree the validator wins. No page on a Nigerian government domain states a millimetre size at all, so we do not publish one.
Why photos get rejected here
Following the guidelines page instead of the validator
The published guidelines repeat American figures that the portal's own checker does not accept. A photo cropped square to 600 by 600 pixels satisfies the page and fails the software. Build to the validator, and confirm with the free compliance checker.
An upload below the pixel floor
The portal enforces a minimum of 600 pixels on each side. A picture forwarded through a messaging app has usually been recompressed well below that, which is why a photo that looked sharp on the phone is refused.
Wearing glasses
The Immigration Service states that eyeglasses are no longer allowed in a passport photo. There is no glare-free exception of the kind several other countries publish, so the warning our tool raises is not a judgement call here.
A background that is not plain white
The validator checks the background as well as the face. A wall with visible texture, a colour cast from a nearby lamp, or your own shadow falling behind your head will all read as a background that is not plain.
The head filling the wrong share of the frame
The head has to occupy 0.5 to 0.69 of the image height, with the eyes inside their own band. Cropping by eye lands outside that range more often than not, and the validator measures rather than judges.
What helps
Run the official checker before you apply
The Immigration Service hosts a free image-compliance tool on the passport portal. It applies the same ICAO checks as the application itself, and it costs nothing to fail there instead of inside a paid application.
Know which clock is running
Processing is quoted as 42 days for a fresh passport and 21 days for a re-issue as of September 2026, but the count starts at successful biometric enrolment, not at the moment you submit online. The gap between those two events is yours to manage.
The upload does not replace the appointment
You still attend in person for biometric capture, and you still bring two physical prints endorsed on the back by your guarantor. The digital photo is an addition to that process rather than a replacement for it.
Budget from the service level agreement
The April 2026 agreement lists NGN 100,000 or USD 150 for the 32-page five-year booklet and NGN 200,000 or USD 230 for the 64-page ten-year booklet, exclusive of bank charges. Fees last changed on 1 September 2025.
Contactless renewal is for the diaspora only
The contactless route through the mobile app is priced as a separate line in the service level agreement and is not available inside Nigeria. The Service has publicly acknowledged technical problems with it, so allow for the ordinary route as well.
Babies and young children
The published photo rules do not carve out an exception for babies, and we did not find one, so we are not going to invent a tolerance that the validator will not apply. That matters more here than elsewhere, because the software checks head proportion and eye position on every upload regardless of the applicant's age. The practical approach is the one that works anywhere: lay the child on their back on a plain white sheet, photograph from directly above with nothing and nobody else in the frame, take many frames, and put the best one through the free compliance checker before you commit it to an application.
Glasses
Glasses are not allowed. The Immigration Service states that eyeglasses are no longer permitted in a passport photo, which puts Nigeria with the United States, Australia and Mexico rather than with the countries that allow them subject to glare. Because the rule is absolute rather than conditional, there is no arrangement of lighting or frame that makes a photo with glasses acceptable. If our tool raises its glasses warning while you are preparing a Nigerian photo, treat it as a failure rather than a note.
Head covering
A head covering is accepted for religious or medical reasons, with the face fully visible. We did not find a published requirement for a written declaration to accompany a Nigerian application, so we are not stating that one is needed. The condition that fails in practice is not the covering but the shadow it throws: fabric sitting forward on the brow under an overhead light darkens the eye sockets, and the validator reads that as eyes that are not clearly visible. Photographing in daylight from a window rather than under a ceiling fitting solves it.
Applying online
The upload is not a formality. The image you submit is printed in the booklet, and a server-side validator checks it against ICAO criteria before the application proceeds. A free image-compliance checker on the same domain runs those checks in advance. You still attend in person for biometric capture and still supply two physical prints endorsed by your guarantor, so the digital photo sits alongside the paper rather than replacing it.
Questions about Nigeria photos
Is the photo I upload the one that appears in my passport?
Yes. The portal states during the upload step that the photo you are uploading will be printed on your passport, which is why the file quality matters more here than in countries that re-capture the image at an office.
The guidelines page says 2 x 2 inches and 600 by 600 pixels. Should I follow that?
No. That text is American boilerplate that appears on the Nigerian guidelines page and contradicts the portal's own validator. Build to the validator, and use the free image-compliance checker on the passport portal to confirm before you apply.
Is there an official way to check my photo before applying?
Yes, and it is free. The Immigration Service hosts an image-compliance page on the passport portal that runs the same ICAO checks the application uses.
When does the processing time start counting?
At successful biometric enrolment, not at online submission. The quoted 42 days for a fresh passport and 21 days for a re-issue, as of September 2026, both run from the enrolment appointment.
Do I still need printed photos if I uploaded one?
Yes. Two physical prints are still required, endorsed on the back by your guarantor, alongside the on-site biometric capture.
What do the 32-page and 64-page Nigerian booklets cost?
The April 2026 service level agreement lists NGN 100,000 or USD 150 for the 32-page five-year booklet and NGN 200,000 or USD 230 for the 64-page ten-year booklet, exclusive of bank charges. The last increase took effect on 1 September 2025.
Where these numbers come from
Official sourceEvery measurement on this page comes from the issuing authority's own published requirements.
- Domestic Passport Application Portal, photo guidelineschecked September 2, 2026
- Passportschecked September 2, 2026
Reviewed by Editorial teamHow we check our numbers