South Korea Residence Card Photo — Exact Official Standard

A correctly prepared photo is one of the most common reasons Korea Immigration rejects or delays an Alien Registration Card (외국인등록증) application. The governing authority is Korea Immigration Service (HiKorea), and the standard requires a 35×45 mm color photograph with a pure white background, taken no more than six months before submission. Our service automatically crops, resizes, and checks your photo against every one of those requirements — so you arrive at the immigration office with a file that meets the specification on first submission.

The South Korean Alien Registration Card uses the exact same photo specification as the Korean visa: 35×45 mm (413×531 pixels at 300 dpi), white background (#FFFFFF), no color tints or gradients allowed. This sounds straightforward, but immigration counters routinely reject photos with an off-white or cream background — a color that looks neutral on a phone screen but fails the strict white-background check under office lighting. The photo must also have been taken within the last six months, which matters if you are renewing a card years after your first registration: an old photo on file is not acceptable for a new card even if your appearance has not changed.

• Size: 35×45 mm (413×531 px at 300 dpi)
• Background: pure white (#FFFFFF) — no shadows, gradients, or color casts
• Face height: must fill 71–80% of the total frame height
• Expression: neutral, mouth closed, both eyes fully open
• Glasses: not permitted under any circumstances
• Headwear: only religious coverings that do not obscure the face
• Recency: taken within the past 6 months
• Print quality: sharp focus, even lighting, no pixelation or compression artifacts

• Common reasons photos are rejected at Korean immigration counters:
• Background is off-white, cream, or has a visible shadow behind the head — HiKorea officers use a light-panel test
• Glasses worn in the photo — prescription or fashion frames are both prohibited, with no exceptions
• Face ratio outside the 71–80% range — either too much empty space above the head or the chin is cropped
• Photo is older than six months — even a slightly outdated photo will be flagged during card renewal or re-registration

To get your photo, simply upload a clear, front-facing picture taken against any reasonably light background — our service automatically adjusts the crop, replaces the background with pure white, and sizes the image to the exact 35×45 mm specification required by HiKorea. Before you pay anything, you receive a free watermarked preview so you can confirm the result looks right. If the final photo is ever rejected at the immigration counter, we will redo it at no charge or refund you in full. You pay only for the finished file — after you have seen the preview and are satisfied.