United Kingdom British passport photo Photo Size

Specifications

35×45 mm British photo key numbers, pixels and kilobytes

Home Office passport and visa fees from 8 April 2026

HM Passport Office rules and the digital photo code

HM Passport Office (HMPO) — Home Office (gov.uk) sets the rules.

British passports are issued by HM Passport Office, a Home Office directorate that also runs the GOV.UK online application service and the Digital Check & Send (DCS) channel. The vast majority of applicants now apply online at passport.service.gov.uk; the photo is either uploaded as a digital file or pulled in by entering a digital photo code issued by a registered photo booth or shop. Paper applications using two printed 35x45 mm photos still exist, and first adult passports, replacements for lost or stolen passports and some child renewals require a countersignatory to sign the form and one photo.

HMPO says photos from a booth or a registered photo shop are more likely to be approved than a photo taken on your own device, and the digital photo code route is the most popular because it removes the need to print anything.

• Photo-Me booths — Coin/card photo booths in railway stations, shopping centres and supermarkets; select the 'passport photo code' option to receive a code plus a printed sheet.
• Timpson — High-street locksmith and photo chain offering digital photo codes and printed sets in hundreds of branches.
• Max Spielmann — High-street photo studio chain taking compliant photos and issuing digital codes.
• Snappy Snaps — Franchised photo shops offering passport photography, code issuance and prints.
• Supermarket photo counters — ASDA, Morrisons, Tesco and similar in-store photo services offer code and print options.
• Boots and Costco photo centres — Selected pharmacy and warehouse-club branches provide passport photos and code-enabled services.
• Post Office Check & Send — Branches with a digital passport service take the photo, submit the application through DCS and check supporting documents.
• Home Upload Service shops — Registered photo shops that take your photo and upload it for you via the HMPO Home Upload channel, emailing the code.
• Do it yourself at home — Ask someone to take the photo on your device during the online application; do not crop it yourself, and print at 35x45 mm only for the rare paper-form route.
• UKVCAS service points (UK residents) — Visa extension, settlement and citizenship applicants give digital fingerprints and a face photograph at a UKVCAS centre booked through the UKVI Sopra Steria portal.
• VFS Global and TLScontact (overseas) — British visa applicants outside Britain attend these commercial centres for the same biometric photograph used in the passport-sized visa vignette.
• HMPO Passport Adviceline — Call 0300 222 0000 from inside the UK, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and weekends 9am to 5.30pm; from overseas dial +44 (0)300 222 0000 for urgent travel documents and the Emergency Travel Document.

During the online application at passport.service.gov.uk you either enter the alphanumeric photo code from a booth or shop, or upload a JPEG of at least 600x750 pixels (50 KB to 10 MB); HMPO performs the cropping server-side, so do not pre-crop an upload to 35x45 mm.

GOV.UK renewal: photo code, £102 fee and countersignatory

HM Passport Office has moved almost all applications to the GOV.UK online journey, with the digital photo code or a digital upload as the default; paper forms, countersignatories and Post Office Check & Send survive mainly for first passports, replacements and children.

1. Most adult renewals and first applications start at GOV.UK: create an account, work through the identity questions, then either upload the digital JPEG or enter a photo code bought from a Photo-Me booth or a registered photo shop.
2. When the automated identity checks cannot confirm you, the service asks a contact to confirm your identity online, or generates a printed declaration that must be signed and returned.
3. First adult passports, replacements for lost, stolen or damaged passports and child passports require a countersignatory who has known you for at least two years and works in a recognised profession; the countersignatory signs the form and one printed photo, while straightforward adult renewals do not.
4. Pay £102 for an adult online application and £66.50 for a child under 16 (fees from 8 April 2026); Post Office Digital Check & Send adds a handling fee, and paper postal applications cost more.
5. Send the old passport with a paper form; after an online renewal it is invalidated and posted back separately. A child's passport lasts five years and an adult book ten years.
6. Allow about three weeks for an online adult renewal from the UK, longer during the March-to-summer peak and for first applications or countersignatory cases; Fast Track and Online Premium give roughly one-week or same-day collection at a passport office for a premium fee.
7. The new book arrives by Royal Mail tracked delivery and progress is visible in the GOV.UK passport dashboard; the cancelled old passport is returned separately unless you ask for it to be kept invalid.

Meeting the HMPO 35×45 mm standard at home

1. Arrange the shot about 1.5 m from a plain cream, ivory or light grey wall; HMPO rejects pure white backgrounds for British passports and any shadow on or behind the head.
2. Have a helper frame your head, shoulders and upper body in a vertical portrait; for digital uploads leave extra space around you because HMPO crops the image itself and explicitly tells you not to crop.
3. Position the camera at eye level so the crown-to-chin face will measure 29-34 mm once the 35x45 mm print is produced, roughly 70-80% of the frame height.
4. Keep a plain expression with mouth closed and both eyes open and visible, looking straight at the camera; hair must not fall across the eyes.
5. Take off glasses unless you have no choice; if worn, no sunglasses or tinted lenses, and the frames, glare and reflections must not cover the eyes.
6. Remove hats and fashion headwear; religious or medical head coverings are allowed only with the face clearly visible from forehead to chin and no shadow.
7. For the digital route, export the uncropped vertical JPEG at 600x750 pixels or larger, between 50 KB and 10 MB; for prints, open the PixlReady cropper and choose the United Kingdom 35x45 preset, which builds the 413x531 pixel, 300 DPI frame.
8. Take the photo within the last month before applying; HMPO's one-month rule is far stricter than the six-month rule used by the US and Schengen authorities.

Use the passport cropper with the United Kingdom preset.

HMPO online upload: 600×750 px, 50 KB–10 MB, no cropping

Britain is one of the few countries that asks online applicants to upload a vertical, head-and-shoulders frame and then performs the crop itself: the file must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, at least 50 KB and no more than 10 MB, in colour and unaltered by computer software. A photo code from a registered booth or shop bypasses the file checks entirely because the vendor sends the image to HMPO directly.

• Format: JPEG or JPG in colour; the portal rejects black-and-white, red-eye, filtered and edited images.
• Minimum pixel size: 600 wide x 750 tall — there is no fixed upper pixel limit, only the 10 MB file-size ceiling.
• Do not crop or rotate an upload yourself: HMPO states 'Do not crop your photo - it will be done for you', and over-cropped images are rejected.
• Include head, shoulders and upper body with clear contrast against the plain light background; no other people or objects in frame.
• File between 50 KB and 10 MB; compress only if you exceed the ceiling, and never upscale a small photo to fake the minimum size.
• If your JPEG is over 10 MB, use the PixlReady compressor to drop the weight while keeping height and width above 750x600 pixels.

Compress an oversized JPEG with the image compressor.

Printing 35×45 mm prints on matt paper

A standard 6x4 inch (152x102 mm) photo-finish sheet in the UK fits four 35x45 mm frames: two columns of 35 mm need 70 mm of width, and two rows of 45 mm need 90 mm of height, leaving a small cutting margin. High-street photo booths print this familiar four-up layout, and you submit two identical 35x45 mm prints only when using a paper form.

• Print at exactly 300 DPI so each frame renders at 413x531 pixels; switching off 'fit to page' stops the frames shrinking below 35x45 mm.
• Use high-quality matt or low-gloss photo paper; glossy home inkjet prints and office-paper output are commonly returned by HMPO.
• Cut the four frames apart along the lines; the back of one print may need to be signed by your countersignatory, so leave that print unsigned until asked.
• Online applicants do not need prints at all — the photo code or digital upload replaces them.

Print-dialog settings: 300 DPI guide · 200 KB upload guide.

Why HMPO rejects cream-background and home-printed photos

• Photo older than a month — the one-month recency rule is stricter than most countries and an older image is returned even when the applicant looks unchanged.
• Pure white background; HMPO specifically wants cream, ivory or light grey, and white studio sheets are often rejected.
• Home-printed photos on ordinary paper or the wrong paper finish — HMPO reports that home-printed photos are frequently rejected.
• Over-cropped digital uploads: applicants who cut the file to 35x45 mm before uploading instead of letting HMPO crop it.
• Head the wrong size or position — crown-to-chin outside 29-34 mm, hair covering the eyes, or the face not in clear contrast to the background.
• Glasses glare or frames covering the eyes, shadows on the face or behind the head, and red-eye from flash.
• Digital edits, filters, beauty mode, background replacement or software of any kind, which HMPO treats as non-compliant alteration.

Under-one and under-six rules for British applications

Children's photos must meet the same standards as adults' but HMPO grants age-based exceptions. Children under 6 do not have to look directly at the camera or have a plain expression; children under one do not have to have their eyes open, may be supported by a parent's hand (which must not be visible), and should be photographed from above while lying on a plain light-coloured sheet.

• Lay the baby on a plain cream or light grey sheet on the floor and take the photo from directly above; no dark backgrounds.
• A supporting hand behind the head is allowed for under-ones but must be completely outside the frame, and no dummy, bottle, toy or person may be visible.
• Children aged 6 and over must look straight at the camera; under-6s may look away and need not keep a neutral expression.
• Every child must appear alone in the photo, in clear contrast to the background and without shadows on the face.
• A child renewal after age 11 and a first passport or replacement for a child may require a countersignatory to sign the form and one of the prints.

UKVI photographs: visas, BRPs and the move to eVisas

British passport photography is run by HM Passport Office, but immigration documents are run separately by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). Visa applications abroad route through VFS Global or TLScontact centres and the UKVCAS service at home, while the digital immigration status is replacing the old physical Biometric Residence Permit.

• Standard Visitor visas, Student visas, Skilled Worker visas and family visas are started on GOV.UK and completed at a VFS Global or TLScontact centre, where a digital face photograph and fingerprints are captured as part of the biometrics appointment.
• Applicants in the UK book appointments with UKVCAS (UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services), whose service points photograph the applicant for leave-to-remain and settlement cases.
• The Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) carries a face photograph but has a stated expiry date of 31 December 2025 printed on every card; holders must then prove their status online through the eVisa system at view-and-prove-immigration-status. The Home Office will not issue a replacement BRP for that reason.
• The Immigration Health Surcharge, paid with the visa application, is £1035 per year for most applicants and £776 per year for students, children and Youth Mobility routes.
• An Electronic Travel Authorisation costs £12.50 after the 25% April 2026 uplift, is linked to the passport number and is required for visa-free nationals and Europeans without a BRC, BNC or frontier worker permit; it needs no separate photograph because it reuses the passport image.
• The British National (Overseas) Hong Kong visa, the Ukraine schemes and the Windrush generation routes use the same GOV.UK digital photograph standards but distinct application portals.
• Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories — Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and others — issue their own documents, while full British citizens apply at passport.service.gov.uk.
• Countersignatories who must sign a first passport or a child's photo come from a recognised professional list: teachers, nurses, pharmacists, civil servants, bank or building society staff, police officers and ministers of religion among others.
• British nationality has six legal categories under the British Nationality Act 1981 — British citizen, British Overseas Territories citizen, British Overseas citizen, British subject, British National (Overseas) and British protected person — and each uses a slightly different GOV.UK passport form.
• British nationals stranded abroad without a passport can apply for an Emergency Travel Document from the nearest embassy, consulate or high commission, which costs £100 or the local-currency equivalent and is valid for a single journey home or onwards.
• The blue British passport reintroduced in 2021 is a 34-page book; the old 50-page jumbo option was withdrawn, and the books are produced under the HM Passport Office contract with Thales at sites in Tczew and Newton Aycliffe.
• HM Passport Office work is split between offices in Durham, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough, Glasgow and Belfast, with the document number on a British passport made up of nine digits.
• The Standard Visitor, Student, Graduate, Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Global Talent, Innovator, Youth Mobility, Family and BNO Hong Kong routes each use the same digital face photograph captured at VFS Global or TLScontact abroad, or UKVCAS in the UK.
• The EU Settlement Scheme, now closed to most new EU applicants, gave pre-settled and settled status proved online through a Share Code; the 30-day entry vignette leads to the Biometric Residence Permit and, from 2026, the online eVisa.
• The UK Immigration: ID Check app lets EU, European Economic Area and Swiss nationals submit a passport scan and face photograph from a phone; applicants without a biometric passport attend UKVCAS instead.
• A Gender Recognition Certificate or a change of name by deed poll can require a fresh passport photograph; GOV.UK lists which supporting documents HMPO accepts before it reissues the book.
• The British Nationality Act 1981 recognises six nationality types: British Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen, British Overseas Citizen, British National (Overseas), British Subject and British Protected Person. Applicants in the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and the Overseas Territories (Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Helena, Pitcairn and the British Indian Ocean Territory) receive blue books through the Lieutenant Governor, using the same 35x45 photograph.
• The British Nationality Act 1981 sections govern each route: section 1(3) registration for a child born in the UK, section 1(4) and section 2 by descent, section 3 and section 4 for minors, sections 4A to 4M for specific overseas and settlement cases, section 4K for British Overseas Territories citizen registration, section 5 adoption, section 15 renunciation, and section 50 plus 50A for the general registration, naturalisation and deprivation powers.
• Specific nationality forms on the overseas route: Form MN4 registers a child as a British Overseas Territories citizen, Form B(OS) covers a British Overseas citizen, British subject and British protected person, Form B(OTA) registers a BOTC through a territory, Form UKM is for a child of a UK-born mother before 1983, and Form S1, S2 and S3 register stateless people.
• Other citizenship forms: Form EM re-registers a person who previously renounced and has no other nationality, Form RR1 formally renounces British citizenship, Form LS1 is used in certain stateless cases, and a Certificate of Entitlement under section 10 of the Immigration Act 1971 proves the Right of Abode for someone who has no British passport of their own.
• In-country leave forms are named by route: FLR(M) for a partner, FLR(FP) for family and private life, FLR(HRO) for human rights and FLR(GTI) for Global Talent and Innovator cases, followed by settlement forms Set M, Set O, Set F, Set P and Set LR, each under the relevant Appendix FM, Appendix V, Appendix W or Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules.
• The application system has its own vocabulary: a sponsored worker holds a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) under a SOC code and a sponsor licence, students pay the Immigration Skills Charge and the Immigration Health Surcharge, some entrants need an IOM tuberculosis screening certificate and an ATAS certificate for research, and UK ENIC (formerly NARIC) issues a statement of comparability for overseas degrees.
• Residence statuses use the letters BRC, BRP and eVisa: the Biometric Residence Card and the Biometric Residence Permit are being replaced by the online eVisa, an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit and a Frontier Worker permit protect European rights, and the UK Immigration: ID Check app scans the passport chip and takes the face photograph without a UKVCAS visit.
• The modern book is made by Thales (formerly Gemalto) at Tczew in Poland and Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, with a polycarbonate biodata page and a laser-engraved portrait; the old burgundy EU-style book predates the blue 2021 design, a second British passport may be issued for travel to countries that reject certain stamps, and the Observations page records the official observations.
• English-language evidence uses Secure English Language Test providers IELTS Life Skills, Pearson PTE Academic, Trinity College London and LanguageCert at CEFR levels A1, A2, B1 and B2, while the Life in the UK Test is 24 questions in 45 minutes with a 75 percent pass mark; the Windrush Scheme and the Windrush Compensation Scheme document long-settled Commonwealth citizens whose status papers were lost.
• UKVCAS service points run in Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Croydon, Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast, with premium lounges and an on-demand mobile biometrics team; the earlier Sopra Steria contract was replaced, and the Life in the UK test and SELT exams share similar provincial test centres.
• Statutory witnesses include a notary public, a magistrate (justice of the peace) and a commissioner for oaths; the immigration system uses UKVI, the former UK Border Agency (UKBA), Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, and the EU agencies FRONTEX and EUROSUR operate at the external border. The Royal Mint at Llantrisant produces the coinage but not the passport; high-street photo retailing includes Waitrose, Argos, WHSmith, Ryman, Vision Express and Specsavers, and couriers are Parcelforce, Evri and Yodel.

United Kingdom local details: regions, countersigning and high-street booths

Across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the same HMPO rules apply, but the countersign wording, the name-change documents and the one-week and one-day urgent services work in specific ways that often catch applicants out.

• One-week Fast Track and one-day Online Premium appointments are released from the seven passport office hubs in London, Liverpool, Peterborough, Durham, Newport, Glasgow and Belfast, and are booked through the GOV.UK urgent service.
• A countersignatory writes on the back of one printed photo the sentence 'I certify that this is a true likeness of [full name]', then signs, dates it and adds their occupation, mobile number and passport number; the same wording goes on the paper form.
• A married or civil-partnered name change uses the marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate; any other name change needs a deed poll, an enrolled deed poll, or a change-of-name deed registered with the relevant authority.
• Photo-Me booths sit in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Co-op supermarkets, major railway stations and shopping centres, and offer the Digital Check & Send code plus a printed four-up sheet.
• High-street studios Timpson, Max Spielmann and Snappy Snaps, plus pharmacy counters at Boots and warehouse clubs such as Costco, issue the photo code and hand over the 35x45 mm prints.
• Northern Ireland applicants are served by the Belfast passport office, Scotland by Glasgow and Durham, and Wales by Newport; the Dublin counter serves Irish residents and British nationals in the Republic of Ireland.
• Britain has no compulsory national identity card since the 2010 abolition of the Labour-era ID card scheme; the DVLA photocard driving licence and the passport are the two common photo documents, each with its own photograph.
• British citizens born abroad, adopted children and first-time adult applicants using a birth certificate should also have the long-form birth certificate or consular birth registration ready for the GOV.UK identity checks.
• A digital photo code is single-use and tied to the application reference; if the GOV.UK session times out, the booth or shop can re-issue the code without re-taking the photograph.
• The Post Office Digital Check & Send service charges a handling fee on top of the £102 adult or £66.50 child passport fee, and the branch keeps the digital photo on file for the HMPO submission.
• Eligible countersignatory occupations include teachers, lecturers, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, civil servants, solicitors, accountants, police officers, bank or building-society staff, ministers of religion, librarians, social workers and justices of the peace; the person cannot be a relative, live at the same address or work for the applicant.
• Welsh-language service (Cymraeg): under the Welsh Language Act 1993, applicants in Cymru can write to Swyddfa Basbort Ei Fawrhydi (the Welsh name of HMPO) and submit the cais in Welsh; the guidance calls the photograph 'ffotograff' and the document 'pasbort', a child is 'plentyn' and a baby 'baban', and the countersignature wording is printed bilingually.
• Scottish and Welsh variants: the Glasgow and Newport counters serve applicants in Gàidhlig-speaking and Cymraeg-speaking areas; the passport itself is printed in English only (the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey jackets mention the Lieutenant Governor), but the photograph and countersignature rules are identical.
• Crown Dependency and island routing: Jersey posts through St Helier, Guernsey through St Peter Port (covering Alderney and Sark), and the Isle of Man through Douglas; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha send applications from Jamestown, Pitcairn from Adamstown, and the British Indian Ocean Territory from Diego Garcia.
• Overseas-Territory countersigning towns: Bermuda applications are countersigned in Hamilton, the Cayman Islands in George Town, the British Virgin Islands in Road Town, Anguilla in The Valley, Montserrat in Brades (Plymouth is an exclusion zone), the Turks and Caicos Islands in Cockburn Town and the Falkland Islands in Stanley.
• Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) speakers in Alba encounter bilingual signage at the Glasgow office, where passport is 'cead-siubhail' and photograph is 'dealbh'; the British e-passport with the biometric chip symbol has been issued since 2006, runs ten years for adults and five years for children, and carries 34 pages with a nine-character passport number.
• Smaller island communities use their own Celtic and Norman languages. On the Isle of Man the Manx language (Gaelg) calls the island Ellan Vannin and its capital Doolish; in Jersey the Jerriais Norman French calls St Helier Saint Helyi; in Guernsey the Guernesiais dialect calls St Peter Port Saint Pierre Port. A Manx reference can mention the Tynwald parliament and a Jersey or Guernsey book the Bailiwick and the Bailiff.
• Scottish place names on Gaidhlig signage: Edinburgh is Dun Eideann, Glasgow is Glaschu, Inverness is Inbhir Nis, Stornoway is Steornabhagh, Oban is An t-Oban and Portree is Port Righ. Welsh signage names Cardiff Caerdydd, Swansea Abertawe and Newport Casnewydd, while the mountain Snowdon is Yr Wyddfa and England is Lloegr. In Scots (Lallans) speech Glasgow is Glesga, Aberdeen is Aiberdeen and Edinburgh is often Embra.
• The most remote settlements countersign in their own tiny capital: Tristan da Cunha at Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, Ascension Island at Georgetown, South Georgia at King Edward Point near the old Grytviken whaling station, the British Antarctic Territory at Rothera and Port Lockroy, and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia at Episkopi next to RAF Akrotiri.
• Northern Ireland signs may appear in Irish (Gaeilge): Belfast is Beal Feirste, Derry is Doire and the region is Tuaisceart Eireann, while the Republic of Ireland is Eire. The Common Travel Area, predating the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement 1998), lets British and Irish citizens move without a visa, and the Acts of Union 1707 with Scotland and 1800 with Ireland frame the constitutional terms still printed in the book.
• High-street camera shops Jessops, Camera World and London Camera Exchange print four-up sheets, and the Royal Mail sends completed books by Special Delivery Guaranteed; urgent couriers include DX Secure and DPD, and an older passport is returned by the Passport Customer Services team at the contact centre if a renewal is withdrawn.
• Welsh bilingual signs (Cymraeg) pair the English town with its Welsh name around the country: Wrexham is Wrecsam, Carmarthen is Caerfyrddin, Haverfordwest is Hwlffordd, Pembroke is Penfro, Tenby is Dinbych-y-pysgod, Brecon is Aberhonddu, Abergavenny is Y Fenni, Monmouth is Trefynwy, Welshpool is Y Trallwng, Newtown is Y Drenewydd, St Davids is Tyddewi, St Asaph is Llanelwy, Holyhead is Caergybi, and the Snowdonia national park is Eryri; the Anglesey village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll carries the longest place name on a UK sign.
• Gwynedd and the north Wales coast add Caernarfon, Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Dolgellau, Bala, Betws-y-Coed, Ffestiniog, Barmouth (Abermaw), Tywyn, Aberdyfi, Machynlleth, Llangollen, Corwen, Ruthun (Rhuthun), Denbigh (Dinbych), Mold (Yr Wyddgrug), Flint (Y Fflint), Prestatyn, Abergele, Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and Rhyl; the Welsh sorting list also covers Aberystwyth, Aberaeron, Cardigan (Aberteifi), Llanelli, Llandeilo, Ammanford, Pontypridd, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend (Pen-y-bont), Neath (Castell-nedd) and Llandrindod Wells.
• Scottish towns across the Highlands, the central belt and the islands run the same booth and studio service: Dundee, Perth, Stirling and Falkirk in the east; Paisley, East Kilbride, Greenock, Kilmarnock, Ayr and Dumfries in the west; Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Livingston and Elgin across the centre; Fort William, Mallaig, Ullapool, Gairloch and Nairn on the Highland and west coast; Wick and Thurso at the far north; Lerwick in Shetland and Kirkwall in Orkney; and Oban, Dunoon, Rothesay, Campbeltown, Inveraray and Lochgilphead on the Argyll coast.
• Glasgow and Lanarkshire towns add Clydebank, Dumbarton, Helensburgh, Bearsden, Milngavie, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Airdrie, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Barrhead, Johnstone, Renfrew, Erskine, Gourock, Tarbert, Lochmaddy, Lochboisdale and Castlebay; the same countersignature and 35x45 mm photograph rule applies.
• Northern Ireland post towns (the Royal Mail sorting area that starts the address) serve the photograph countersignature in Armagh, Newry, Lisburn, Enniskillen, Coleraine, Ballymena, Portrush, Portstewart, Ballycastle, Ballymoney, Limavady, Strabane, Omagh, Dungannon, Cookstown, Magherafelt, Lurgan, Portadown, Tandragee, Banbridge, Downpatrick, Kilkeel, Warrenpoint, Carrickfergus, Larne, Antrim, Ballyclare, Newtownabbey, Glengormley, Dundonald, Comber and Holywood, with Belfast the principal hub.
• English boroughs providing the same booth, studio or Post Office Check and Send service beyond the seven passport hubs include Leicester, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Kingston upon Hull, Southampton, Bournemouth, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Ipswich, Exeter, Canterbury, Preston, Blackpool, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Shrewsbury, Telford, Worcester, Gloucester, Swindon, Truro, Taunton, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster, Blackburn, Burnley, Oldham, Stockport, Crewe, Warrington and Birkenhead.
• Further north-west and north-east post towns add Wigan, Rochdale, Bolton, St Helens, Southport, Bootle, Widnes, Runcorn, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Hartlepool, Darlington, Wakefield, Keighley, Halifax and Scarborough, each with a Photo-Me booth or a high-street studio that issues the digital photo code used by the GOV.UK application.

Gotchas

• Background must be plain cream or light grey, not pure white and not patterned.
• Head must measure 29–34 mm from crown to chin within the 35×45 mm frame.
• Digital portal uploads need at least 600×750 px; a 35×45 mm print scans to about 413×531 px at 300 DPI.
• The photo must be very recent — HMPO guidance requires it to have been taken within the last month.
• Do not trim a larger photo down to size; print exactly 35×45 mm.
• No filters or software alteration; home-printed photos are usually rejected.