Preparing Documents for a Visa or Job Application

Updated 28 October 2026 · by the My Gadgets team

Online application portals — visas, university admissions, job applications, government services — reject more documents for format and size than for content: a photo that is 2 MB when the limit is 240 KB, a passport scan as five separate images when they wanted one PDF, a form that was signed on paper but uploaded as a blurry photo. This guide takes you from a pile of papers and a phone to a set of files the portal accepts the first time, in five steps.

The specific rules vary by country, institution and year, so read the portal's own requirements before you start and keep them open while you work. Everything below is how to meet those rules, not a replacement for them.

Step 0: Write down exactly what the portal wants

Before touching a file, list each document with its rules. Most portals state:

• Accepted formats — usually PDF for documents and JPG for photos.
• Maximum file size — commonly between 500 KB and 5 MB per file; some photo limits are far smaller.
• Photo dimensions and proportions — for example, the US online visa application (DS-160) has asked for a square JPG between 600 × 600 and 1200 × 1200 pixels, no larger than 240 KB.
• Whether a multi-page document must be one file — a passport is often "bio page plus all stamped pages in one PDF".
• Colour or greyscale — many portals require colour scans of passports and ID cards.

A table like this, filled in from the portal, prevents most mistakes:

Step 1: Capture each page cleanly

You don't need a scanner. Phones have document scanners built in that crop, flatten and straighten the page for you, and they produce far smaller and clearer files than the camera app:

• iPhone: in the Notes app, tap the camera button and choose Scan Documents.
• Android: in Google Drive, tap + and choose Scan.

For good results: lay the page flat on a dark surface, light it evenly (daylight from a window, no flash), and hold the phone directly above it. Export each scan as a PDF or JPG.

If you have a document that is already a PDF — a bank statement downloaded from online banking, say — keep it as it is. A downloaded PDF is sharper and smaller than any scan of a printout.

Step 2: Fix the photo to the exact rules

ID photos are where most rejections happen, because the rules are precise.

1. Crop to the right proportions with Crop Image. Pick Square (1:1) for square photos, or a free selection for rules like 35 × 45 mm (a 7:9 proportion). Keep the head centred and leave the space above it that the rules describe.
2. Set the exact pixel size with Resize Image: type the width and height the portal asks for, such as 600 × 600 (after a square crop, the aspect lock keeps them equal).
3. Get under the size limit with Compress Image: choose JPG and lower the quality until the file is under the limit. A 600 × 600 portrait usually lands well under 240 KB at quality 80–85; check the face at full zoom afterwards.

Keep the original photo untouched in case you need a different size for another application.

Step 3: Combine pages into one PDF where required

When a portal wants "all pages in one file", put the page images into Images to PDF:

• Add the images, put them in the right order with the up and down arrows, and check it twice — a passport with pages out of order looks careless.
• Choose A4 (or Letter in North America) as the page size and Contain so no edge is cut off.
• Give it JPG files where possible: they are embedded as they are, which keeps the PDF small. PNG files go in as they are too, and a PNG of a photo is large; WebP, GIF and BMP are re-encoded as JPEG on the way in.

Already have several PDFs that need to be one? Use Merge PDF. Need only some pages of a long PDF — the last three months of a twelve-month statement? Take them out with Split PDF or drop the rest with Remove Pages from PDF.

Step 4: Sign forms without printing them

If a form needs your signature, you don't need to print, sign and scan it:

1. Write your signature on plain white paper with a dark pen and take a photo of it in good light — or draw it on screen.
2. Open the form in Sign PDF, add the signature (the tool removes the paper background so it sits on the page like ink), and place it in the box. Add the date with the date stamp if the form asks for one.
3. Download the signed PDF.

For a form that came as a photo or a scanned image rather than a PDF, Sign Image does the same thing.

One caveat: this produces a picture of your signature on the document — the same as signing a printout and scanning it. That is what most application portals expect. If an institution explicitly asks for a certified digital signature issued through an official identity service, that is a different thing, and they will tell you how to create it.

Step 5: Check every file against your table

Before uploading anything:

• Size: is each file under its limit? If a PDF of scanned pages is too large, rebuild it smaller as explained in why your PDF is so large — usually a 5–10 page scan comes down to 1–3 MB.
• Legibility: open each file and zoom to 100%. Can you read the smallest print, the passport number, the stamp dates?
• Orientation: are all pages upright? Turn any sideways ones with Rotate PDF.
• File names: use short names in plain Latin letters, numbers and hyphens, such as passport-firstname-lastname.pdf. Some portals reject names with spaces, accents or Arabic letters.
• Format: is everything in the format the portal accepts? Convert stray images with Convert Image Format, or iPhone HEIC photos with HEIC to JPG.

Do not upload password-protected or encrypted files unless the portal asks for them. A portal cannot type a password, so a protected PDF is usually rejected or arrives unreadable. If a statement you downloaded is protected, remove the password first with Unlock PDF.

Why do this in the browser?

These are the most sensitive files most people ever handle: passports, bank statements, payslips, signed declarations. Every tool in this guide runs inside your browser, so the documents are processed on your own device and never uploaded to us or anyone else. The only place they go is the portal you choose to submit them to.

Quick answers

My photo is under the size limit but still rejected. Check the pixel dimensions and proportions, not just the file size, and the background colour and head position rules. Portals check those automatically.

The portal accepts only one file but I have three documents. Merge them with Merge PDF in the order the portal lists them.

Should I scan in colour or black and white? Colour for passports, ID cards and anything with stamps or photos — many portals require it. Black and white is fine for plain text letters when the portal allows it, and makes much smaller files.

Can I edit text in a scanned form? Not as text — a scan is a picture. Fill the form in on paper before scanning, or ask the institution for a fillable PDF.

What to do next

Work through the steps with Crop Image, Resize Image and Compress Image for photos, then Images to PDF, Sign PDF and Merge PDF for documents. Check each file against your table before you upload it.