Why do I need to take a photo when I bring my own photo for the driver's license medical examination?
4 Answers
There are no mandatory regulations for the driver's license medical examination photos, and you can bring your own, but the photos must meet certain requirements. The following are the relevant introductions about driver's license photos: 1. Background: The background color should be white, without wearing uniforms, and the portrait should be clear, rich in layers, natural in expression, and without obvious distortion. 2. Size: The photo size should be 32mm x 22mm, with a head width of 14mm to 16mm and a head length of 19mm to 22mm. 3. Validity: Applicants applying for a motor vehicle driver's license and temporary motor vehicle driving permit need to provide a front-facing, bareheaded, color, single-person half-length ID photo taken within the last 6 months.
It's really not intentional to make things difficult when the driver's license physical exam asks you to bring a photo but then takes a new one on the spot. I experienced this myself last year when renewing my license—I had even carefully selected a nicely retouched ID photo. The staff explained that it's mainly to prevent impersonation, as the DMV cameras are directly connected to the public security system backend to verify on the spot whether it's really you. Additionally, the photo you bring might have poor lighting or incorrect dimensions, making it unreadable by the system. Thinking about it, it makes sense—a friend of mine once witnessed someone trying to use a photoshopped old photo to cheat during an out-of-town driver's license test. But the most practical reason is that the DMV has its own strict photo specifications, with exact requirements for background color, pixel ratio, etc., which random phone photos simply can't meet. Although taking another photo costs an extra twenty yuan, it saves the hassle of submitting additional materials later.
Actually, this is a dual verification process by the DMV. When I went for my physical exam, I also asked the nurse. She said the self-brought ID photos are mainly used for archiving the physical examination form, while the electronic photo uploaded in the system must be taken in real time. Because the entire driver's license application process is online and requires real-time verification, the photo taken by the camera is directly linked to the DMV's database for facial recognition, which is much more accurate than checking paper photos. Another detail is the background panel. The blue background cloth on-site has a standard color code requirement, while self-taken photos with mobile phones often have inconsistent background shades, which can trigger system errors. Last time when I helped an elderly family member renew their license, the photo they brought was rejected because the headroom was two millimeters short. Nowadays, DMV equipment has been upgraded, and they can instantly check whether the photo meets the clarity standards on-site, which is much more convenient than making a special trip to a photo studio.
To put it simply, it's a dual guarantee of security and efficiency. When taking photos on-site, I paid special attention to the fact that the staff places your ID card on a card reader, while the camera simultaneously captures your face and the chip information on the ID for three-party verification. No matter how good the photos you bring are, they can't perform live verification, especially with the rise of AI face-swapping technology for cheating nowadays. Additionally, the DMV's photo database system requires a special format. For someone like me with 500-degree myopia, on-site adjustments can immediately fix issues like glasses glare. Once, I accompanied a friend to retake his photo, and the scanned version of his self-provided paper photo suffered severe pixel loss, causing facial recognition to fail five times in a row, which ended up wasting more time. Instead of obsessing over this, it's more practical to straighten your collar when taking the photo.
