Photos for ÖSYM Exams: Where They Come From, How to Change Them, How Long They Last

Where Does the Photo for ÖSYM Exams Come From? (2026)

In ÖSYM exams the candidate brings no photo; it is already in the system. The 2026 guides for YKS, KPSS, ALES, DGS, YÖKDİL, e-YDS, TUS, DUS and MSÜ share one definition: “The Turkish ID card photo, or a photo taken at any application centre within the last 50 months and not rejected by ÖSYM, is a valid photo.” For a Turkish ID card holder, the photo in the ÖSYM candidate system (AİS) is updated automatically from the card at the time of application (2026 KPSS guide, in Turkish).

A candidate without a Turkish ID card, such as someone still using the old paper nüfus cüzdanı, applies online if a valid photo is on record; otherwise they apply at an application centre, where the photo is “taken with a webcam”. The guide asks for a frontal shot with the face uncovered, because the photo is used to recognise the candidate on exam day. Other bodies reuse it too: the 2026 instructions of the Police Academy's vocational school (PMYO) point candidates to the “Fotoğrafı ÖSYM'den Güncelle” (update photo from ÖSYM) button.

Do KPSS, YKS, ALES, DGS and TR-YÖS Need an ID Photo?

No. KPSS, YKS, ALES and DGS applications take no printed photo and no file upload in AİS; systems that really take an upload are covered in the guide to uploading photos to portals. So what a “KPSS photo” should look like is decided by the rules for the Turkish ID card photo, which NVİ, not ÖSYM, sets.

According to NVİ's Istanbul directorate, a biometric photo must be “50 mm x 60 mm, on a white and plain background”, with no shadows, taken within the last 6 months and not cut to 35×45 mm (NVİ: biometric photo, in Turkish); NVİ's instruction puts the face height at 32–36 mm. The full rules are on the Turkish ID card photo page.

TR-YÖS, the Türkiye Yurt Dışından Öğrenci Kabul Sınavı, is ÖSYM's exam for students from abroad who want to study at a university in Türkiye; under the 2026 TR-YÖS/2 guide, state universities weigh it together with the high-school average set by their senate, national exams and international exam results (2026 TR-YÖS/2 guide, in Turkish). Applications run on tryos.osym.gov.tr, and the photo rule has three branches. A Turkish ID card holder gets the card photo automatically. A candidate with a valid ÖSYM photo, taken at an application centre in the last 50 months and not rejected, simply applies online. A candidate with neither takes their own photo “via the TR-YOS mobile application” and also photographs the front and back of their identity document, a step not required from those who hold a Turkish ID number.

That app photo “can only be used in TR-YÖS applications”, so it does not carry over to other ÖSYM exams, and the step is open only during the application period. The TR-YÖS guide gives no technical specification for it; ÖSYM's other guides ask for a frontal photo with the face uncovered so staff can recognise the candidate, a sensible standard when you take your own. No printed photo is asked for at any stage of the TR-YÖS application.

On exam day every candidate needs the exam entry document with their photo and the original of a valid photo ID; a driving licence, professional card or student card is not accepted. After a YKS placement, universities may ask for 12 photos of 4.5×6 cm, as the student ID photo page explains.

How Do You Change Your ÖSYM Photo?

With a Turkish ID card and an old AİS photo, press “TC Kimlik Kartı Fotoğrafımı Kullan” (use my ID card photo) on the “Profilim” > “Fotoğraf Bilgilerim” screen (ÖSYM announcement, in Turkish). An individual exam application also updates the photo from the card “without any further action”.

The ID card photo itself is out of ÖSYM's reach: “the ID card photo used in the application cannot be changed by our Presidency.” The only way is a new Turkish ID card. According to NVİ's Istanbul directorate, a card can be replaced before it expires by stating a reason and paying the fee; there is no official list of accepted reasons, so ask Alo 199 if unsure. You bring your identity document, 1 biometric photo taken in the last 6 months and the paid card fee. The steps are in the guide to changing ID photos.

Timing matters: under the guide, a new card photo can reach the system “until the late application period of the exam ends”, while NVİ gives no delivery time for the card, so renew it before the application window. Turkish citizens abroad pay the fee at the Turkish mission.

Without a Turkish ID card, an application-centre photo is changed by petition. Within the application period, ÖSYM's Exam Services Department must receive the general-purpose petition form, “one ID photo taken within the last 3 months” with your Turkish ID number written on the back (for TR-YÖS, your Turkish ID, foreign-national YU or TR-YÖS number) and any document showing the reason; faxed petitions are not processed. If approved, the change is made at an ÖSYM exam coordination office.

You can prepare the 50×60 mm (5×6 cm) biometric photo for a new ID card from a phone shot: the AI checks the size, head ratio, background, expression and lighting for free before payment, and prints arrive cut and shipped. The guides give no size for the petition photo. Common mistakes are shown in the frames at the top of this section.

How Long Is an ÖSYM Photo Valid?

ÖSYM sets no validity in years. An application-centre photo is valid for 50 months, about four years and two months, as long as ÖSYM has not rejected it. The ID card photo has no separate limit; when you renew the card, the system photo changes at your next individual application or with the AİS button.

Once that time is up, a candidate without a Turkish ID card applies at an application centre and is photographed again. Do not confuse this with TR-YÖS results, which the guide keeps valid for two years from the exam date; that rule is about the score, not the photo. Freshness rules per document are on the ID photo validity page.

What If Your Appearance Has Changed by Exam Day?

The guides are explicit: “there should be no change in appearance features such as hair, moustache or make-up in the photo.” If staff struggle to identify a candidate from the photo, the candidate may not be admitted or the exam may be declared invalid; the YKS guide leaves that decision to the room supervisor. No measure is given: the test is whether you can be recognised.

A colour or black-and-white printout of the entry document is fine, but the photo must show on it, and any writing or mark added to it invalidates the exam. For TR-YÖS, accepted IDs include a valid passport, your own country's photo ID card, the international or temporary protection IDs issued by Türkiye's migration authority, and a residence permit only of the “humanitarian” or “long-term” type; other permit types, such as a student permit, are not on the list. The ID must carry a current photo of you.

Keep your hair, moustache and make-up close to the photo. If your look has changed a lot and you are renewing your card, do it before the application window, because both change routes depend on it. For a new photo, see the hair rules and the make-up rules.

MSÜ Exam Photo: None at Application, Printed at Final Registration

The MSÜ exam for Turkey's military academies is an ÖSYM exam with the same photo definition and the same petition rule. So for the exam itself, the answer to “what should the MSÜ ID photo look like?” is again the photo on your ID card; nothing is uploaded at application, and no published photo requirement was found for the preference stage.

Printed photos come at final registration. In the 2026 notices the Army Academy (Kara Harp Okulu) asks for “6 biometric photos taken within the last 6 months (white background)”, with male candidates' hair and beard shaved and no sideburns and female candidates' hair tied back; the Air Force and Naval Academies ask for 2 each under the same conditions and the student pilot selection flight for 2 ID photos. The notices give no size; NVİ defines a biometric photo as 50×60 mm. More in the military and police photo guide.