Free Japan Foreign Driver's License Photo Online — Make a 24 × 30 mm 外免切替 Conversion Photo

Converting an overseas driver's licence to a Japanese one? Upload a recent portrait and IDPhotoBy sizes and crops it to Japan's foreign-licence conversion (外免切替 / gaimen kirikae) photo standard — a 24 × 30 mm (3.0 × 2.4 cm) application photo with the front, upper-body framing the rules require — and checks it against the plain single-colour background rule, which a soft light blue fits well, with Japan and the foreign driver's licence already selected. It is free — no payment required.

This is the photo you submit when converting a valid foreign driver's licence into a Japanese one at a prefectural driving licence centre (運転免許試験場 / 運転免許センター). It uses the same 24 × 30 mm standard as a domestic Japanese licence — not the 45 × 35 mm International Driving Permit (国外運転免許証), a different document. It is a bring-in (持参写真) photo, so IDPhotoBy gives you a correctly sized, print-ready file plus a printable sheet.

The official Japanese licence-application photo requirements — set by the prefectural public safety commission (都道府県公安委員会) through the prefectural police under national law (道路交通法施行規則第17条第2項第10号), and applied to the 外免切替 conversion — mean your Japan foreign driver's license photo must meet the checklist below. Compare it against these before you apply.

• Size 24 × 30 mm — 30 mm tall by 24 mm wide (3.0 cm × 2.4 cm), borderless.
• Plain single-colour background — no scenery, pattern, wood-grain or shadow. The colour must not be an extreme colour such as red or black, and must contrast with you so your outline stays clear.
• Taken within the last 6 months — a current photo that looks like you today.
• Front view, bareheaded — face the camera straight on, with no hat (headwear is allowed only for religious or medical reasons where your face outline stays identifiable).
• Upper-body framing (上三分身) — roughly chest up, with about 2–3 mm of space above your head. Not a face-only close-up, and not so far away that your head is tiny.
• Neutral expression — mouth closed and eyes open; no laughing or wide-open mouth.
• Colour or black-and-white — both are accepted.

The Japan foreign driver's licence photo size is 24 × 30 mm — 2.4 cm wide by 3.0 cm tall, portrait and borderless. This is the standard Japanese licence-application size that also governs the 外免切替 conversion; the official Tokyo Metropolitan Police guidance states it as 3 cm in height × 2.4 cm in width.

Within that frame the photo reads as upper-body (上三分身) — roughly chest up — with about 2–3 mm above your head. IDPhotoBy centres your head and shoulders to that proportion, so it is neither a face-only close-up (a common rejection) nor a tiny, far-away head, and outputs a print-ready 24 × 30 mm file plus a printable sheet.

The rules do not name one required colour — they require a plain single-colour background (無背景・単色) that is not an extreme colour such as red or black and that contrasts with you so your outline stays clear. A soft light blue fits that rule well: a plain, non-extreme colour that separates you cleanly from the background, and a common choice for Japanese ID-photo booths.

IDPhotoBy formats your photo to the 24 × 30 mm spec and checks it against that plain single-colour-background requirement, so it sits on the plain, non-extreme, contrasting background the rules ask for — light blue being one colour that fits. A plain white or light grey background works too — it need not be one specific shade.

The 外免切替 conversion means converting a valid foreign driver's licence into a Japanese one at a prefectural driving licence centre. The photo is one of several documents you bring:

• Your foreign driver's licence — the original, currently valid, presented at the centre.
• A Japanese translation of your foreign licence — from an authorised body such as the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), an embassy or consulate. This translation is separate from your photo.
• Your application photo — the 24 × 30 mm photo this page prepares, brought as one or two prints.
• An appointment at the prefectural licence centre — the steps vary by prefecture, and the conversion procedure was revised from 1 October 2025, so check your prefecture's current requirements.

Whether you are eligible — and whether any test is required — depends on your situation and your prefecture; your prefectural police page sets this out. IDPhotoBy only handles the photo: the correctly sized 24 × 30 mm file you bring.

• Upload a recent, well-lit portrait using the tool on this page — Japan and the foreign driver's licence are already selected.
• IDPhotoBy resizes and crops your photo to 24 × 30 mm with the front, upper-body framing, and checks it meets the plain single-colour-background requirement.
• Preview the result — check the ~2–3 mm gap above your head, the plain background, and that your face is sharp and neutral.
• Download the finished photo, free, then print it on photo paper (or use a photo booth's print) to bring to the licence centre.

The free Japan foreign driver's licence photo maker doubles as a size checker and resizer: it takes a photo you already have — even a smartphone selfie — and formats it to the 24 × 30 mm size and upper-body crop the conversion expects. It runs online in your browser, so you can make your conversion photo from anywhere in Japan. A registered ID photo booth (証明写真機) or studio near the licence centre is the offline alternative.

IDPhotoBy sizes, crops and positions the photo you upload to match the 24 × 30 mm foreign-licence conversion standard, and checks it against the plain single-colour-background requirement. It does not retouch, beautify, slim or otherwise edit your face — your face is left exactly as it is.

That matters here: the licence standard states that composite, edited or over-corrected photos are not accepted. So we only handle size, crop and position and check the plain background, and we make no acceptance promise — no online tool can. The file is prepared to the published requirements, and the prefectural licence centre makes the final decision. You get a correctly sized, correctly cropped photo, with no paid download.

The 外免切替 conversion photo is a bring-in (持参写真) photo — you submit a printed photo at the prefectural licence centre, not by uploading it. Two things worth getting right:

• Print on genuine photo paper. The standard expects real photo paper, not plain office paper. Use the print-ready file or the printable sheet at a photo shop, a convenience-store kiosk, or a home photo printer, and bring one or two prints.
• Bring it with your foreign licence and its Japanese translation. The photo is handed in together with your original foreign licence and its JAF (or other authorised) translation — keep the set together.

It is easy to mix up two documents. The 外免切替 conversion — turning your foreign licence into a Japanese one — uses the 24 × 30 mm licence-application photo. The International Driving Permit (国外運転免許証) is a separate, outbound document whose photo is 45 × 35 mm, and it cannot be converted into a Japanese licence. Some tools mislabel that 45 × 35 mm IDP photo as the "Japan foreign driving licence 4 × 5 cm" photo — the wrong size for a conversion. This page prepares the correct 24 × 30 mm conversion photo.

Renewing or first applying for a domestic Japanese licence instead? That uses the same 24 × 30 mm photo — see the Japan driver's licence photo page.

Requirements can vary slightly by prefecture and can change — check your prefectural police (public safety commission) guidance and photo examples before you apply, as the final authority on size, background, framing and expression.