British Seaman's Card Photo — Make a 35×45 mm Print-Ready Photo

Need a British Seaman's Card photo for your MCA application, form MSF4509? A British Seaman's Card lets British seamen land at foreign ports without needing a visa. Upload a recent photo and IDPhotoBy sizes and crops it to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's standard — 35×45 mm, with your head measuring 29–34 mm from chin to crown, on a plain cream or light grey background. Because this document has no online submission channel, you get a digital file and a print-ready photo (plus a printable sheet) that you print and post — or bring in person — with your MSF4509 application.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) sets the photo rules for a British Seaman's Card in Guidance Note 5 of form MSF4509, and IDPhotoBy prepares your photo to match them. According to the form, your passport-style photograph must:

• Measure 35 mm wide by 45 mm high — printed to a professional standard, clear and in focus.
• Head size 29–34 mm — measured from the bottom of your chin to the crown of your head.
• Plain cream or light grey background — with clear contrast between you and the background, and no other objects or people in the frame.
• Face forward, plain expression, mouth closed — eyes open and visible, with no hair in front of your eyes.
• No head covering, unless worn for medical or religious reasons.
• No sunglasses or tinted glasses — ordinary glasses are fine if there is no glare and your eyes stay clearly visible.
• Not a cut-down version of a larger picture — a close-up of your head and shoulders.

The MCA asks for two identical colour photographs for each document you are applying for — print two copies of your IDPhotoBy result.

Upload a photo you already have — IDPhotoBy sizes and crops it to the British Seaman's Card standard and prepares the background to the required plain cream or light grey. You get a digital JPEG copy to keep, and a print-ready 35×45 mm photo (plus a printable sheet) you can print at home or at any photo printer.

IDPhotoBy does not retouch, beautify or AI-edit your face — only the framing, size and background are prepared. No online tool can promise the MCA will accept any photo; printing, countersigning and posting the application remain your responsibility.

Unlike some MCA documents, the British Seaman's Card has no online or digital submission channel. The MSF4509 application must be posted as an original, wet-signed paper form, or brought in person to a Marine Office — the MCA is explicit that photocopies or scans cannot be accepted. That means your photographs need to be physical prints too, not a digital upload.

IDPhotoBy does not submit anything to the MCA on your behalf — there is no online channel to submit to. What you get is a print-ready photo file: print it, complete the rest of your MSF4509 paperwork, and post it or bring it to a Marine Office yourself.

Two more things the MSF4509 photo requirement checks beyond size:

• Countersignature. One of your two printed photographs must be countersigned on the back by a British Citizen of appropriate standing who has known you for at least two years, adding their name, signature and the statement "I certify this is a true likeness of (your full name)." This is a physical step you arrange yourself after printing — IDPhotoBy prepares the photo, not the countersignature.
• The MCA's own in-house crop. MCA staff crop your submitted 35×45 mm photos further, in-house, to 25 mm wide × 35 mm high, to fit the physical card — do not pre-crop to that smaller size yourself; submit the standard 35×45 mm print IDPhotoBy gives you.