Best Venues
Can you use a self-photo studio for your passport or IC photo in Singapore? Usually not. Most themed self-photo booths produce photos that ICA will reject, so use a dedicated ID photo booth or photo shop instead. Here’s why, ICA’s full checklist, and the one kind of studio that can work.
A rejected photo delays your application — ICA says so directly, and processing can stretch to four weeks. ID photo booths in MRT stations, malls and post offices, and neighbourhood photo shops, are set up to meet ICA’s rules, and they are cheap.
Browse Singapore’s self-photo studios →
Two rules that fail a photo that looks fine
The photo must not be flipped. ICA says this clearly, and its own example shows how it can tell: “the hair and mole are different from actual self.” Booths show you a mirror image on screen, and if the file you take home is mirrored too, it will be rejected even though it looks right to you.
The photo must not be altered or enhanced in any way. ICA’s rule covers “the modification of facial features and/or the usage of photo editing software.” Many booths smooth your skin automatically, which is exactly what the rule forbids.
The themed backgrounds — a laundromat, a train cabin, a hotel room — are also a problem, because ICA requires a plain white background.
ICA’s checklist
From ICA’s photo guidelines, as of April 2026:
- Taken within the last 3 months, in colour
- Plain white background
- Neutral expression, mouth closed, facing the camera, eyes on the lens
- Eyes fully visible — no hair across them, no tinted glasses, no coloured contact lenses, no red-eye
- Shoulders and hair fully visible
- Evenly lit, in focus, not pixelated
- Headgear or clothing should be dark against the white background
- Not distorted or flipped, and not edited with software or an app
- Digital uploads: 400 × 514 pixels, jpg, jpeg, heic, heif or png, up to 8MB
- Printed copies: matte or semi-matte, not shiny
ICA also advises against selfies — someone else should take the photo.
The one studio that can work
A few studios aren’t themed and sell ID photos. Hana Film at CityLink is the clearest example, with plain blue-and-white sets and an ID photo option alongside its photo strips, in the underground walkway between City Hall station and Marina Square.
If you use it, check three things before you pay: ask for a file that isn’t mirrored, ask them to turn off the beauty filter, and make sure the background is white, not cream or pale grey. Only ICA can decide whether a photo passes, so if you need to be sure, a dedicated ID photo shop is still the safer choice.
What these studios are good for instead
ICA’s rules only apply to ICA documents. A LinkedIn photo, a CV headshot or a staff directory photo doesn’t need to be unmirrored, unedited or on a white background — it just needs you to look good in good light, which these studios do well.
PhotoNow at The Centrepoint is well set up for this, with Canon cameras, LED-lit rooms, a screen that shows you the shot before you take it, and a separate headshot service. Fotomat in Tanjong Pagar and Insaeng Selca in Henderson also have plain sets and good cameras. For a job application photo, it costs a fraction of a photographer’s fee.
Visa photos are different again: each country sets its own size and rules, so check with the embassy.
ICA’s rules can change — check ICA’s photo guidelines before you submit, and confirm prices with the studio. If something on one of our listings is out of date, there’s a form at the bottom of every one.
Self-photo studios → · Instant prints →
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Opening hours, prices and details change. Please check with the venue before travelling — and if something here is out of date, the report form on any listing takes about twenty seconds.
