Tool
Choose the document, take or pick a photo and fit your face into the guides. You get the photo at its exact size for online applications, and an L-size print with as many copies as fit, for 30 to 40 yen at a convenience store instead of a photo booth.
The photo stays on your device: it is drawn in your browser and never uploaded.
Residence card (immigration): 4 × 3 cm
Choose a photo to start. The outline shows where the face should be.
The print is 8.9 × 12.7 cm (L size) with 6 copies and thin grey lines to cut along. At a convenience store choose a normal photo print in L size, not the ID photo service.
| Document | Size (height × width) | Top of head to chin | Taken within | Copies on one L print |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residence card (immigration) | 4 × 3 cm | 2.5 cm ± 3 mm, 5 ± 3 mm above the head | 6 months | 6 |
| My Number card | 4.5 × 3.5 cm | 3.4 cm ± 2 mm, 4 ± 2 mm above the head | 6 months | 4 |
| Driving licence | 3 × 2.4 cm | Not given; chest up, about 3 mm above the head | 6 months | 9 |
| JLPT | 4 × 3 cm | Not given; the guide uses the residence card's | 6 months | 6 |
| Visa to Japan (family abroad) | 4.5 × 3.5 cm | Not given; the guide uses the My Number card's | 6 months | 4 |
The immigration office's rule is for the photos of residence applications: extending or changing your status of residence, permanent residency, a certificate of eligibility. If you apply for the residence card combined with the My Number card (特定在留カード), its form asks 4.5 × 3.5 cm: use the My Number row.
An L-size photo print costs 30 yen at Lawson and FamilyMart and 40 yen at Seven-Eleven. Their own ID photo prints cost 200 yen (Lawson, FamilyMart) and 250 yen (Seven-Eleven) for one L sheet. This tool's sheet is made for the normal 30 to 40 yen print.
Send the file to the store's printer with the chain's print app or at the machine, and choose a normal photo print in L size. After printing, measure one copy with a ruler: if the printer enlarged or trimmed the picture, the copy is not the document's size.
One sheet is enough for several applications. A new application needs a photo taken within the last 6 months, so take a new one each time rather than reusing an old print.
The immigration office shows these as photos to avoid: a mask, hair over the eyes, a dark background that hides the outline of the head, a glasses frame over the eyes, a very thick frame, light reflected in the glasses. The My Number card refuses a chair or other objects behind you, a shadow or a pattern in the background, a hat that hides the head, and the same glasses faults.
Do not retouch the face: the immigration office refuses photos edited so that you look different, and photos flipped left to right; the My Number card refuses editing that gets in the way of checking your face.
A hijab or other cloth worn for religious or medical reasons is accepted by the immigration office if the face is clearly visible (it asks for a short written statement with it), by the My Number card (a turban or hijab) and for the driving licence, as long as you can be identified.
None of these offices forbids ordinary glasses; they refuse a frame over the eyes and lenses that reflect light, and the licence also refuses dark sunglasses. For the JLPT in Japan, wear your glasses in the photo if you will wear them at the test.
The immigration office's online system takes a JPEG face photo in the ratio 4:3 and up to 25 MB for the whole application. Some universities pass around 300 × 400 pixels and 50 KB; that is their own advice, not the immigration office's rule.
The My Number card takes a JPEG of 480 to 6,000 pixels on each side and 20 KB to 7 MB. JLPT in Japan takes a JPEG of at least 480 × 640 pixels, up to 5 MB, and the photo cannot be changed after the application period ends.
The rules change: check the page of the office you apply at before you print. The guides follow the face sizes given above; for the driving licence, JLPT and visa the sources give no face size, so the guides borrow the closest rule. Prices are as the stores' pages showed them on 19 October 2026; the pages do not say whether tax is included.
