Not just any photo is valid for a South African ID card. The photo you submit for your South African ID card must be a professional photo that presents your face in such a way that it can be easily recognized as a bio-metric photo suitable for identification. By bio metric photo we mean a photo that comprises only your head and upper shoulders from the front, without any alterations such as objects, shadows or reflections that would make it difficult to identify your face.
Recent changes in appearance and the validity of the South African ID photo
For the South African identification document, the required photos must portray your current appearance. In the event that you already have a photo template and wish to use it for your application, you may of course do so, but you should note that the image selected cannot be more than one month old.
Nevertheless, if your appearance has changed drastically in this period of time, you will need to submit a new image. Neither cutting or coloring your hair nor growing a beard requires a new photo from you. In the case of children and adolescents under the age of 16, it is not necessary to take a new bio-metric photo image, even if they change quite a bit as they grow older during the validity period of the document.
