How to print your CNIC front and back on one A4 page from a phone

A photocopy of the CNIC with the front and the back on the same sheet is asked for everywhere: at the bank, at a mobile franchise, by a school at admission time, by an employer on the first day, and as an attachment to many application forms. A photocopier makes it in two passes. With a phone you end up with two separate pictures, and printing them at the right size is the part that goes wrong. This guide takes you from the two pictures to a printed page in about five minutes, with nothing uploaded anywhere.

What the finished page should look like

• One A4 sheet, front of the card above the back.
• Each side at the real card size, 85.6 mm wide by 54 mm high, the same as a bank card.
• Both sides straight, in focus, with every line of text readable, including the small print on the back.
• Nothing else on the page. No fingers, no table edge, no shadow across the card.

Step 1: photograph both sides

Put the card on a plain, flat surface. A white sheet of paper works well. Use daylight from a window and switch the flash off, because flash reflects off the plastic and wipes out part of the text. Hold the phone directly above the card so that all four edges look parallel to the edges of the screen. Tap on the card to focus, wait a second, and take the picture. Turn the card over and repeat for the back.

Check both pictures before you go on. Zoom in on the CNIC number and on the small text at the bottom of the back. If any of it is blurred, take the picture again. A blurred copy is the most common reason an office asks for a new one.

Step 2: crop to the card

Open each picture in your phone’s gallery, choose Edit, then Crop, and pull the corners in until only the card remains, with as little background as possible. The tool on this site places whatever you give it into a card-sized box, so background left around the card makes the card itself come out smaller. If the picture is slightly rotated, the gallery’s straighten control fixes that too.

Step 3: arrange both sides on one page

Open the CNIC page tool linked below. Choose the front picture in the first box and the back in the second. The tool draws an A4 page with the front above the back, each at the real card size, and shows a preview. Nothing leaves your phone: the page is built inside the browser, which matters for a document that carries your name, number and address.

Download the result as a PDF if you are going to print it or attach it to a form. Download it as a JPG if an office has asked for a picture file instead. The print button opens your phone’s print window directly.

Step 4: print at the real size

The size comes out right only if the printer does not scale the page. In the print window, look for a setting called Scale, Fit to page or Actual size, and choose 100% or Actual size. Choose A4 paper. If you are printing at a shop, send them the PDF on WhatsApp and say: A4, actual size, no scaling. If the shop has only Letter paper, actual size still prints the card correctly; only the margins change.

To check the print, lay the real card on top of the printed front. The edges should line up. If the printed card is noticeably smaller, the printer scaled the page; print again with scaling off.

Black and white or colour

Most offices accept a black and white copy. If a form or office specifically asks for a colour copy, print in colour; the PDF is in colour already, so nothing changes on your side. Where you intend to post the copy or hand it over, write the purpose and the date on it by hand, for example “For bank account opening, 7 October 2026”, so that it cannot be reused for something else. The guide on keeping your CNIC safe when applying online has more on this.

Common mistakes

• Flash on. The reflection hides part of the text. Use daylight.
• Photo taken at an angle. The card becomes a trapezium and does not fit the box cleanly. Hold the phone level above the card.
• Not cropping. Background around the card shrinks the card on the page.
• Fit to page in the print window. The card prints larger or smaller than real size. Choose 100%.
• Sending the two original photos to the shop. The shop then arranges them by hand, usually at the wrong size. Send the finished PDF instead.

Other cards

The same page works for any card of the standard credit card size: a NICOP or POC card, a driving licence, a student card or an employee card. The steps are identical, and the tool does not care what is printed on the card.