Can I use a passport photo code for my driving licence?
In Great Britain, DVLA uses your passport photo or a new upload. Northern Ireland's DVA has its own photo code. What to send, and how to take the picture.
A UK passport Photo Code is a short reference you type into an HM Passport Office online passport application so the form can retrieve your digital photograph. For a driving licence in Great Britain, DVLA does not ask you to type that code. You use the photograph already held for your UK passport, or you upload a new one. In Northern Ireland, the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) asks for a digital photo or a photo code bought at an outlet on the nidirect list.
Checked on 23 October 2026. Passport Photo Code is independent of DVLA, the DVA, GOV.UK and HM Passport Office. Each agency decides on its own application.
What does a passport Photo Code actually do?
It retrieves one photograph for one passport application. GOV.UK's photo guidance says you get a digital photo from a booth or shop, with a code, or you take one on your own device during the application. You type the code when the passport form asks for the photo. The characters, and where they go, are in what a UK passport Photo Code is.
England, Scotland and Wales licence drivers through DVLA. Northern Ireland uses the DVA. Match the route to the place that issued the licence. A Photo Code matters again only if you are also applying for a British passport.
Can DVLA use a passport Photo Code in Great Britain?
The public pages do not have a box for one. Change the photo on your driving licence says that to update the picture you renew the full or provisional licence, and that you will be able to use your passport photo or upload a new one.
DVLA spelled out the passport option in its 9 April 2024 account announcement. You upload a photo, or you allow DVLA to use the passport photograph through its secure link with HM Passport Office. That link reads the photograph the passport office already holds. Pasting a Photo Code does not start it.
Online renewal is for Great Britain residents who are not disqualified. A changed name or title, and a 5-year bus or lorry licence, stay off that service. Renew your driving licence sends a signature change by post or to a Post Office, and a name or title change by post only.
From 70, the online renewal is free if you qualify on that page, and you can change the photo in the same application. There is no Photo Code step. After 70 you renew every 3 years. A first provisional is a different form: at least 15 years and 9 months, able to read a number plate from 20 metres, and allowed to live in Great Britain for at least 185 days. That page does not ask for a Photo Code. You may have to prove your identity with photo ID after you sign in.
Can the DVA use a photo code in Northern Ireland?
Yes, on its own terms. Renew your driving licence online is for Northern Ireland residents. It asks for a digital photo or a photo code, the licence number, the expiry date, an email address, and a card if a fee is due.
The photo rules say you buy a passport-style photo and a code at a listed outlet, then enter the code so the DVA can download the photograph. The outlet sets that fee. nidirect does not print one price for every counter. If you cannot upload a photo or enter a code, you stop and apply by post.
A code from a British passport order points at HM Passport Office. Use the code the listed outlet gave you for the DVA form. If the screen will not take any other code, upload a digital photo that meets the DVA rules, or post a print.
A provisional, a renewal, an optional renewal and an exchange from another country all need a photograph. A name or address change, and a duplicate, do not, unless your appearance has changed enough that you renew instead. You can apply up to two months before the expiry date. The renewal guide tells you to ignore unofficial licensing sites and use nidirect.
Which route should you use?
Pay the fee in the table to DVLA or the DVA. It is the licence fee on the official page on 23 October 2026. It is separate from a shop's photograph charge, and separate from a passport application.
| Application | Fee on the official page | Photograph they ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Update the photo online in Great Britain | £14. Free over 70, or on a medical short-period licence | Passport photo, or a new upload |
| Post Office renewal in Great Britain | £21.50 | Reminder letter, or the photocard if you have no letter |
| Postal renewal in Great Britain | £17, with the same free cases as online | Printed passport-type photo. Do not sign the back |
| Online renewal at 70 or over in Great Britain | Free | You can change the photo in the same renewal |
| First provisional online in Great Britain | £34 | No Photo Code on the public page |
| First provisional by post in Great Britain | £43 | Follow the photo lines on the D1 |
| Car or motorcycle renewal online in Northern Ireland | £30, or free from age 70 | Digital photo, or a code from a listed outlet |
| First provisional in Northern Ireland | £62.50 | Upload, listed-outlet code, or a posted print |
| Name or address change in Northern Ireland | Free | No new photo unless your appearance has changed |
Great Britain sources: renew, change the photo, age 70, first provisional. Northern Ireland sources: DVA fees and DVA photo rules. On the day you apply, the live page wins.
In Great Britain, post the old photocard back when the new licence arrives. The address is on the confirmation. Allow a week online, or three weeks from a Post Office or the post. Northern Ireland asks you to allow six weeks before you chase a complete application.
How do you take the photograph?
DVLA leaves the upload checks inside the signed-in service. The DVA writes the digital rules out and says they match digital passport photos. Build the frame to those rules, then fix whatever the screen flags.
- Stand about 0.5 metres from a plain light wall, with no pattern behind you, so the shadow falls off the wall. nidirect also prints the gap in feet.
- Put the photographer about 1.5 metres away, on the rear camera, at face height. An arm's-length selfie widens the nose and crops the shoulders. Alone, use a timer.
- Face a window and switch the ceiling light off.
- Look at the lens with a plain expression, mouth closed and eyes open. Glasses off if you can. No sunglasses or tinted lenses. If everyday glasses stay, keep glare and the frame off the eyes.
- Show head, shoulders and upper body. On a DVA upload, do not crop. They crop it.
- Use a photo from the last month, not a holiday crop, a school portrait or last year's licence photo.
The passport version of this room is in how to take a UK passport photo at home. A file you upload on a passport form has to meet photos for passports: at least 600 by 750 pixels, 50KB to 10MB, unaltered by computer software.
A paper form needs a print. Great Britain wants a recent passport-type print, and you do not sign the back. Northern Ireland wants a high-quality print, 45mm high by 35mm wide, on light grey or cream, and tells you not to trim it to size. Home prints are rarely sharp enough. Certification of a print applies only when your documents are not an up-to-date UK or EEA passport, an eVisa, or a UK travel document. Digital photos skip that signature.
What if the photograph comes back?
Look once before you pay or post.
| What you see | What you change |
|---|---|
| Shadow on the face, or a hard line on the wall | Face the window, lose the ceiling light, stand 0.5 metres off the wall, shoot again. |
| Glare, a tint, or a frame over an eye | Glasses off if you can. Otherwise move the light off the lenses. No sunglasses. |
| A wide nose, or missing shoulders | Step back to 1.5 metres. Rear camera, lens at face height. |
| Only the head is in the file | For the DVA, restore head, shoulders and upper body and leave the crop to them. |
| A smile, a frown, or a filter | Plain expression, no editor, no portrait mode. Take a new frame. |
| A second person, or a photo from last year | One person, photographed in the last month. |
| A home print for a paper form | Replace it with a booth or studio print. |
If DVLA still stops the upload, switch to the passport photograph when that choice is on the screen, or use the postal form. If the DVA stops it, use a listed outlet's code or paper. The same frame will fail again.
When would you still get a passport Photo Code?
When the other job is a British passport, applied for online. That form asks for the code. The licence fee above does not pay the passport fee, and the code does not renew the licence.
From the homepage, choose Create my photo & code, or open the create page. We check and format the photo you upload so that it meets GOV.UK photo rules. The price is £2.99 once, for the Photo Code and the digital passport photo together. There is no subscription. The same price is on the online passport photos page. The code can be used for an HMPO online application. Rules are on the requirements page, and the order is in how the online order works.
Retake the frame if the preview shows a shadow, a busy wall or hair across an eye. Those checks are not HM Passport Office's decision. Photos are kept for as long as the service needs them, normally 48 hours, so use the code in that window and download your copy. DVLA reuses a passport photograph only through its link with HM Passport Office. Ordering a code does not update the licence.
Frequently asked questions
Can I type a passport Photo Code into the DVLA website?
No. Use the passport photograph when the screen offers it, upload a new photo, or post a printed passport-type photo with the D1.
Does Northern Ireland take a photo code?
Yes. Buy it at an outlet on the nidirect list so the DVA can download that photograph, or upload a digital photo that meets the DVA rules.
Will DVLA use the photo already on my passport?
On the change-the-photo service, you can. The 9 April 2024 announcement calls this a secure link with HM Passport Office. A Photo Code does not open that link.
I am 70. Do I need a new photograph?
You can change the photo during the free online renewal. That page has no Photo Code step. After 70 you renew every 3 years.
Does a Photo Code renew the driving licence?
No. It retrieves a photograph for an HM Passport Office passport application. DVLA or the DVA still handle the licence.
Do I sign the back of a posted photo?
Leave it unsigned on a Great Britain postal renewal. In Northern Ireland, certification is for printed photos only, and only with identity documents other than an up-to-date UK or EEA passport, an eVisa, or a UK travel document.
My name has changed. Which form do I use?
In Great Britain, post the form with the identity documents it names. In Northern Ireland, a name or address change needs a new photograph only if your appearance has changed and you renew.
Can one photo do both the passport and the licence?
DVLA can reuse the passport photograph when the screen offers that. A new passport still needs a photograph from the last month. A DVA upload stays uncropped, with head, shoulders and upper body in frame.
When you are ready
Follow the table row for your licence, and take a new frame if the screen wants an upload. If a British passport application is in the same week, prepare that photo on the create page. You get a digital passport photo that meets GOV.UK photo rules and a Photo Code you can use for an HMPO online application. The licence still goes through DVLA or the DVA.