Home · Personal · Writing & Creative · Art & design

PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly make your UK passport photo.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsThe supplied tool data gives no price for a photographer or photo booth alternative.

If this goes wrong, your application photograph may be rejected and you may need to retake it or submit the application again.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the current UK passport photo guidance on GOV.UK and save or copy the requirements for digital photographs.
    2. Take or choose a recent, clear original photograph of yourself with your full face visible, then upload it to an AI photo editor such as Fotor.
    3. Paste the prompt above with the photograph and ask the tool to reject the image rather than inventing or heavily retouching a replacement.
    4. Compare the edited result against each requirement on GOV.UK, including your appearance, expression, background, lighting, framing and file requirements.
    5. Use the official passport application photo-checking process when prompted during the application, and replace the image if it flags a problem.
    6. Submit the photograph only when it still looks like the original you and you have checked every requirement against the current GOV.UK guidance.

    Prompt

    I need a UK passport photo made from the attached original photograph. Use the current requirements on GOV.UK as the source of truth. Do not generate a new face, change my facial features, alter my expression, retouch my identity, add or remove clothing, or apply a beauty filter. Only make changes that are permitted for a passport photograph, such as accurate cropping, sizing, file preparation and a compliant plain background if the original already shows me clearly. If the photograph is unsuitable, say exactly why and do not try to rescue it with an invented or heavily edited image. Return the finished image if you can edit images, plus a short checklist of every requirement I must verify myself before submitting it.

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot decide with certainty whether your particular photograph will pass the passport application process.
  • AI cannot safely repair a closed eye, unsuitable expression, obscured face or fundamentally poor original without changing your identity or appearance.
  • AI may make a background or lighting change that looks neat but is not permitted, so you must check the edit against GOV.UK.
  • AI cannot take the photograph for you, position your head and body, or control the lighting at the moment of capture.

What caps this at PARTLY: verification cost, stakes of error and context depth.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output1
Inputs2
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta2
Total7 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT make a UK passport photo?
It can help you prepare a suitable original photograph, but it cannot guarantee acceptance. Use it for instructions, cropping and checks, and use a purpose-built photo editor for the image itself.
Can I use an AI-generated photo for my UK passport?
No. A passport photograph needs to represent your real appearance, so do not use an invented face or an AI image that changes your features.
Can AI remove the background from my passport photo?
It can remove or replace a background, but that does not prove the result meets the current UK requirements. Compare the edited image with GOV.UK guidance and the application photo checker before using it.
Will my UK passport photo be accepted if AI edits it?
There is no guarantee. Keep edits limited to permitted preparation, preserve your real appearance, and reject the result if the tool has changed your face, expression, clothing or other identifying details.

Nearby answers

All Art & design rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

The newsletter

AI news, new answers and product picks, straight to your inbox.