Passport Photo Size Requirements by Country
A passport photo booth charges around $15 for six prints. A photo you take yourself costs about a dollar to print — if you get the size right. And the size is the part most people get wrong, because it isn’t really about the size at all.
The rule everyone misses
Almost everyone focuses on the photo’s dimensions — 2 × 2 inches, 35 × 45 mm — and stops there. But every authority also specifies how big your head must be inside that photo, measured from the top of your head (the crown) to the bottom of your chin. Get the dimensions perfect but crop too close or too far, and it gets rejected.
That’s why a photo that “looks right” often isn’t. The head-height rule is the one doing the real work.
Sizes by country
| Country | Document | Photo size | Head height | Also note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Passport & visa | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm | Eyes 28–35 mm above the bottom edge |
| United Kingdom | Passport | 35 × 45 mm | 29–34 mm | Chin to crown, no headwear |
| Schengen / EU | Passport & visa | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | Face fills 70–80% of the frame |
| India | Passport | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm | Light background, full face |
| Canada | Passport | 50 × 70 mm | 31–36 mm | Photo must be printed by a lab |
| Australia | Passport | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | Plain, light background |
| Japan | Passport | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | No shadow behind the head |
| China | Visa | 33 × 48 mm | 28–33 mm | White background required |
Requirements change. Always check your government’s current guidance before you submit — this table is a starting point, not a legal document.
Make one for free, at the right size
Our passport photo tool has these specifications built in. Pick your country, then drag and zoom your photo until your eyes sit on the guide line and your head fits inside the oval — that oval is the head-height rule, drawn for you. Download the photo, or a print-ready sheet.
Why photos get rejected
The size is only half the battle. In practice, these are the things that get an application sent back:
- A busy or coloured background. It must be plain and light. Shoot against a white or pale grey wall.
- Shadows. Both on your face and behind your head. Stand a good distance from the wall, and use soft, even light — daylight from a window facing you works well.
- Glare on glasses. Many countries now simply ask you to take them off. Do that.
- Smiling. Neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open, looking straight at the camera.
- Hair covering the face or eyes.
- Filters, beauty modes, or heavy editing. Turn them off — retouching that changes your appearance is grounds for rejection.
- The wrong head size, as above.
A word on background removal
Plenty of online tools promise to cut out your background and drop in a clean white one. Be careful. An automatic cut-out almost always leaves faint artefacts around hair and ears, and a passport officer looking at hundreds of photos a day will spot it. A rejected application costs you weeks.
It is genuinely faster to take thirty seconds finding a plain wall than to fix a bad photo afterwards. That is why our tool doesn’t offer fake background removal — we would rather you get accepted.
How to take the photo
- 1Find a plain white or light grey wall with no texture.
- 2Stand about half a metre in front of it, so you don’t cast a shadow on it.
- 3Face a window, or another soft light source, so your face is evenly lit.
- 4Have someone take the photo from a couple of metres away at your eye level. Don’t use a selfie — the close lens distorts your face.
How to print it
Download the 6 × 4 inch sheet from the tool — it tiles multiple copies with cut lines (six for a US 2 × 2, eight for a 35 × 45 mm photo). Take it to any pharmacy, supermarket, or photo kiosk that prints standard 6 × 4 photos, usually for well under a dollar.
One critical detail: print at actual size. If the print dialog or kiosk offers “fit to page,” “scale to fit,” or “borderless,” turn it off — it will resize your photo by a few percent and the dimensions will be wrong. Then cut along the grey lines.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use a selfie?
- It’s best not to. A phone held at arm’s length distorts facial proportions noticeably. Have someone photograph you from a couple of metres away instead.
- Can I wear glasses?
- Many countries, including the US, now ask you to remove them. Where they are allowed, they must not have glare or tinted lenses, and the frames must not obscure your eyes. The safe answer is to take them off.
- Can I smile?
- No. A neutral expression with your mouth closed is required almost everywhere.
- Is a home-printed photo acceptable?
- Usually not — home printers rarely produce the required photo-quality paper and colour accuracy, and Canada explicitly requires a commercial lab. Printing a 6 × 4 sheet at a kiosk costs about a dollar and avoids the problem.
- Is it safe to make a passport photo online?
- It depends entirely on the tool. Ours does the cropping in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded anywhere — which matters, because this is an identity document. Be cautious with any site that requires you to upload your face to their server.