Provisional Driving Licence Photo Requirements
Apply online with a UK passport and DVLA can take your photo and signature from your passport record, so you never supply a photo at all. Apply by post on a D1 and you need a printed passport-type photo.
By Helal · Last updated
What photo do you need for a provisional driving licence?
It depends entirely on how you apply.
Online with a valid UK passport: you may not need to supply a photo at all. DVLA can use the photo and signature already held on your passport record. GOV.UK notes that when you sign in you may be asked to prove your identity, and that this "usually involves using photo ID like a passport."
By post on a D1 form, or without a UK passport: you supply a recent printed passport-type photo, meeting HM Passport Office's photo standard.
The online route costs £34; the postal route costs £43. GOV.UK states that "your licence should arrive within one week if you apply online," and longer "if DVLA need to make additional checks."
The two routes side by side
Requirement | Online | By post (D1) |
|---|---|---|
Fee | £34 | £43 |
Photo | Taken from your passport record, or uploaded | Printed passport-type photo enclosed |
Signature | From your passport record | Signed on the form |
Identity check | Usually via passport | Identity documents sent with the form |
Typical wait | About one week | Longer |
Online is cheaper, faster, and removes the photo problem entirely if you hold a UK passport. It is the default recommendation for almost everyone.
When you can apply
You can apply for a provisional car licence from 15 years and 9 months old, but you cannot drive a car until you are 17 (or 16 if you receive the enhanced rate mobility component of Personal Independence Payment). Mopeds can be ridden from 16.
Applying early is sensible — it means the licence is in hand before the birthday, rather than being waited on afterwards. Note that a licence obtained a few months before turning 17 carries a photo taken at 15 or 16, and the photocard runs for ten years. A photo of a fifteen-year-old on a card carried until 25 or 26 is a poor identity document, which is worth bearing in mind if you have a choice about timing.
The photo standard, if you are supplying one
DVLA does not publish its own specification. It asks for a passport-type photo and points at HM Passport Office's printed photo requirements:
- 45mm high × 35mm wide, head 29mm to 34mm from crown to chin
- Plain cream or light grey background
- Plain expression, mouth closed, both eyes open and clearly visible
- No shadows on the face or behind you
- No head coverings except for religious or medical reasons
- No sunglasses or tinted glasses; no glare over the eye
- Colour, sharp focus, nobody and nothing else in the frame
- Printed to a professional standard on plain white photographic paper with no border, no creases or tears, and unmarked on both sides
That last point is the one to remember for a postal application. GOV.UK's driving licence guidance says not to sign the back of the photo, and the printed standard requires photos to be unmarked on both sides.
Our walkthroughs: size and framing, background, lighting, what to wear.
What else you need to apply
The photo is one part of a first application. You will also need:
- Your National Insurance number, if you have one
- Addresses where you have lived over the last three years
- An identity document. GOV.UK notes you may be asked to prove your identity, and that this "usually involves using photo ID like a passport"
- Payment — £34 online, £43 by post
If you have a valid UK passport and apply online, the identity check, the photo and the signature can all be satisfied from the passport record in one step. That is the single biggest reason the online route is easier, and it is why applicants without a UK passport find the process noticeably more involved.
Without a UK passport, you send identity documents with a postal D1 application. Which documents are acceptable depends on your circumstances and nationality, so check the current DVLA list rather than assuming — this is the part of the process most likely to cause a delay.
The photo is a teenager's photo for ten years
Worth saying plainly, because it gets no attention at the time. A first provisional is usually applied for at 15 or 16, and the photocard is valid for ten years. That photo is on the card the holder carries through university, into a first job, and up to their mid-twenties — the decade in which a person's appearance changes most after infancy.
Nobody is obliged to renew early, but if the photo stops being a fair likeness, the sensible thing is to change it. GOV.UK is clear that failing to keep a photo that is a recent and true likeness on the licence means "you will be breaking the law and may have to pay a fine of up to £1,000." A photo change costs £14 online.
See renewing the photo on your driving licence.
Why the online route is worth the effort of setting up
The £9 difference between £34 and £43 is the least interesting reason. The real arguments are these:
No photo to produce. With a UK passport, DVLA takes the photo and signature from the passport record. That removes the entire class of problems this article otherwise has to cover — framing, background, shadows, print quality, cutting to 45 × 35mm.
No photo to be rejected. A photo already on the passport record has been through HM Passport Office's own checks. It is not going to be bounced for a shadow or a head tilt.
Faster. GOV.UK states the licence "should arrive within one week if you apply online." Postal applications take longer, and a photo query adds to that.
No documents in the post. A postal application means sending identity documents away and waiting for them to come back.
The route only closes if you do not hold a valid UK passport. In that case, the postal D1 with a printed photo is the standard path, and the photo is worth getting right the first time — see the standard above and our size and framing guide.
What happens after the theory and practical tests
Passing your practical test does not require a new photo. Your provisional licence is exchanged for a full one and the existing photo carries across; the examiner can arrange the exchange at the test centre.
Your ten-year photocard renewal cycle is unaffected — it runs from the issue date of the card, not from when you passed.
If your photo is rejected
DVLA asks for a replacement, and the application waits until it arrives. There is no separate fee and no need to reapply.
The most efficient response is to re-shoot rather than re-crop, and to fix the setup rather than only the thing you were told about — the same approach as a rejected passport photo. See your passport photo was rejected: what happens next.
Photographing a fifteen or sixteen year old
Applying a few months before a seventeenth birthday means photographing a teenager, and the practical difficulties are different from those of a small child or an adult.
Nothing in the rules is relaxed. From age 6 the full adult standard applies: eyes open, looking straight at the camera, plain expression, mouth closed, head square and level.
What tends to go wrong:
- The suppressed smile. Teenagers asked to look neutral in front of a camera produce a smirk. Let them take a few silly frames first, then shoot immediately after they stop. See why smiling gets your passport photo rejected.
- The chin-down angle. A self-conscious head tilt is the most common instinct in front of a lens, and examiner guidance rejects a head "tilted backward, forward or to the side."
- A fringe over the eyes. Explicitly prohibited — the photo must "not have hair in front of your eyes."
- A hoodie. Hoods are not permitted, and neither are high collars that reach the chin. See what to wear for a UK passport photo.
Prop the camera at their eye height rather than shooting down at them, and take a burst rather than a single frame.
A checklist for a postal application
If you are applying by post on a D1, the photo is the part most likely to cause a delay. Before you seal the envelope:
- Measure the photo. 45mm high by 35mm wide, checked with a ruler rather than trusted.
- Measure the head. 29mm to 34mm from the crown of the head to the bottom of the chin.
- Check the background. Plain cream or light grey, no shadow, nothing else in frame.
- Check the print. Photographic paper, no border, no crease, no tear, sharp and in focus.
- Check the back. Nothing written on it.
- Check the face. Plain expression, mouth closed, both eyes open and clear, no hair across the eyes, no glare on glasses, head square and level.
- Check the date. Taken within the last month.
- Check the form. D1 completed, signed, and accompanied by the right identity documents and a cheque or postal order for £43.
Step 5 is the one people fail, because writing your name on the back of a photo is the instinctive thing to do with every other form. Here it invalidates the print.
A first application is usually the first time anyone meets this standard. Our UK driving licence photo service checks the photo before you send it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a photo for a provisional driving licence?
Not if you apply online and hold a valid UK passport — DVLA can use the photo and signature from your passport record. Applying by post, or without a UK passport, you supply a recent printed passport-type photo.
How much does a provisional driving licence cost?
£34 online and £43 by post.
How old do you have to be to apply?
You can apply from 15 years and 9 months. You can drive a car from 17 (or 16 with the enhanced rate mobility component of Personal Independence Payment), and ride a moped from 16.
How long does a provisional licence take to arrive?
GOV.UK states it "should arrive within one week if you apply online." It can take longer if DVLA needs to make additional checks, and postal applications take longer.
Do I need a new photo when I pass my test?
No. The photo carries across from your provisional to your full licence. The ten-yearly photocard renewal cycle continues from the card's issue date.
What else do I need to apply besides a photo?
Your National Insurance number if you have one, addresses for the last three years, an identity document — usually a passport — and the fee. Applying online with a UK passport satisfies the identity check, the photo and the signature in one step.
Should I sign the back of my photo?
No. GOV.UK's driving licence guidance says not to, and the printed photo standard requires photos to be "unmarked on both sides."