Passport Photo Requirements: The Complete Guide for 2026

1. The universal rules (apply to every country)

Although every country issues its own photo specification, the International Civil Aviation Organization's Doc 9303 part 4 is the document most national standards reference. As a result the photo rules are about 80% identical across countries and 20% country-specific. The shared rules are these:

• Recency. Taken within the last six months. Some authorities (Canada) allow twelve. The intent is that the face still matches the bearer.
• Full face, square to camera. Both eyes open and clearly visible. Head not tilted up, down, or to the side.
• Neutral expression. Mouth closed, no smile. The only exceptions in 2026 are Australia, New Zealand, and a handful of South American countries that allow a closed-mouth natural smile.
• Plain background. Off-white, white, or light grey depending on the country (see the per-country section). No patterns, posters, doorframes, or shadows on the wall.
• No head coverings. Unless worn daily for religious reasons, and even then the full face from below the chin to above the forehead must be visible.
• No glasses. The US banned glasses in November 2016 (22 CFR 51.27 amendment); the UK, Australia, Canada, India and most Schengen states followed by 2018–2019. Prescription, sunglasses, reading glasses — all out.
• Even lighting. No harsh shadow under the nose, chin, or behind the head. No red-eye.
• Sharp focus. The face must be in focus and not pixelated. Most authorities reject anything below roughly 600 pixels per side at print resolution.

If your photo passes those eight checks, you are very likely fine in any country. The remaining 20% is dimensional — physical size and head height — which our maker handles automatically via the country presets.

2. Photo dimensions by region

The two dominant standards in 2026 are 35×45 mm (used by the UK, EU/Schengen, India, China-ish, Australia, and most of Asia and Africa) and 2×2 in / 51×51 mm (used by the United States and a few smaller countries that follow US passport conventions). Canada uses 50×70 mm.

2.1 United States — 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm)

The US specification is laid out by the State Department under 22 CFR 51.27. Head height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head (including hair) must measure between 1 inch and 1 ³⁄₈ inches (25–35 mm). The background must be plain white or off-white. Glasses are not permitted. Photos must be in colour, printed on photo-grade paper, and free of holes, creases, or tears. For a deeper walkthrough see our US passport photo requirements guide.

2.2 United Kingdom — 35 × 45 mm

HM Passport Office requires a head height of 29–34 mm (chin to crown). Background must be a plain light grey or cream; pure white is technically accepted but light grey is preferred to avoid the bleached look. UK applicants who upload a digital photo via the GOV.UK service receive a 16-character “Q code” that links the photo to the application — you no longer need to physically attach a print. See the UK-specific guide for upload requirements and pixel dimensions.

2.3 EU and Schengen — 35 × 45 mm (ICAO 9303)

Schengen members follow ICAO 9303 closely. Face should occupy 70–80% of the frame (roughly twice the proportional size of a US photo). Backgrounds vary — Germany and the Netherlands prefer light grey, France accepts light grey or pale blue, Italy and Spain accept white. Germany is among the strictest on glasses and lighting; if your photo will be processed in Germany, assume the German rules apply. See our Schengen and EU guide for member-state variations.

2.4 India — 35 × 45 mm

Passport Seva specifies a plain white background, face covering roughly 70–80% of the frame, both ears visible, and no spectacles. Indian applicants for Tatkaal (expedited) passports use the same photo specification as standard passports. The dedicated India guide covers the upload process at passportindia.gov.in and the in-person photo requirements at PSK centres.

2.5 Canada — 50 × 70 mm

Canada uses a larger photo than most countries. IRCC requires face height (chin to crown) between 31 and 36 mm. A unique requirement: the photo must be signed and dated on the back by the photographer, who must also write the studio name. Self-prints therefore are not accepted unless a commercial photographer signs. More in the Canada guide.

2.6 Australia and Oceania — 35 × 45 mm

The Australian Passport Office is one of the few that explicitly allows a closed-mouth natural smile in 2026 (most others still require strictly neutral expression). Head height 32–36 mm. See our Australia guide.

2.7 China and the rest of East Asia — varies

China uses 33×48 mm for international passports, which is unusual. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines all converge near 35×45 mm with small variations — the maker's preset handles each. The full dimensions chart is in Passport Photo Sizes by Country.

3. Backgrounds: what gets rejected

Background is the silent killer. About one in three rejections I see traces to a background issue the applicant could not perceive on their phone screen. Specifically:

• Shadow falloff. When you stand within 30 cm of the wall, your body casts a faint shadow on the wall that the phone screen does not show but a passport scanner sees. Stand at least 50 cm forward of the background, or use the AI background-removal toggle in the maker to replace the background with a uniform colour.
• Off-white wall that reads pink, blue, or yellow. Many household paint colours are off-white but tinted. If your photo background is colourimetrically warm or cool, an automated quality check will flag it. The safest fix is background removal with a known #ffffff replacement.
• Visible objects: hanging picture corners, light switches, door frames, mirrors. Crop them out before the cropper does, otherwise the framing may force a head-height compromise.
• Second person in frame. If a family member is holding the camera and visible at the edge, that is an automatic rejection.

If you do not have a plain wall, the cheapest physical setup is a 65×90 cm sheet of white poster board taped behind you for the duration of the shot. The maker's background-removal feature was added precisely to make this step optional.

4. Lighting — the rule of two windows

Bad lighting causes about 15% of the rejections I track. The most forgiving setup is a single large window directly in front of you (not above), shooting on a slightly overcast day so the light is diffuse. Indoor LED lighting works but typically produces a colour cast a passport scanner reads as “processed.”

What I tell users by email:

• Face a window. Do not stand with the window behind you (you become a silhouette) or directly above you (raccoon eyes).
• If only ceiling lighting is available, hold a sheet of plain white paper at chest level just below the camera. The bounce fills the under-eye shadows.
• Turn the flash off. The on-camera flash on phones is too small to soften, so it creates a hard rim of shadow on the background.
• If you have two lamps, put them at 45 degrees on either side of the camera at face height. Avoid putting one bright lamp on one side only.

5. The ten reasons photos get rejected (ranked)

Reading roughly 200 user emails about rejected passport applications over the past year, the breakdown by cause looks like this. These are anecdotal numbers from a single tool's user base, not official statistics, but the ordering matches what UK HM Passport Office and US State Department have published in their own rejection-reason posts.

1. Head height out of range (~28%). The face is either too small (head fills less than the chin-to-crown minimum) or too large (head overshoots the maximum). Fix: use the maker's guide overlays.
2. Shadow on background (~18%). See section 3.
3. Glasses left on (~12%). A surprising number of users with prescription glasses simply forget. Remove them even if your normal photos all show them.
4. Print scaling wrong (~10%). Print dialog left on “Fit to page” instead of 100% / actual size, shrinking the photo by 3–5%.
5. Smile / non-neutral expression (~8%). Even a hint of a smile is often rejected.
6. Hair across the face (~7%). Long fringes especially. The whole face oval must be unobstructed.
7. Photo older than 6 months (~6%).
8. Background colour mismatch (~5%). Photo is too warm, too cool, or non-white when white is required.
9. Red-eye (~3%). Flash artifact.
10. Other (~3%). Earrings catching too much light, religious head-cover not visible enough below chin, shoulders not square, etc.

6. AI-edited and digitally-altered photos

All major passport authorities prohibit digital alterations to the face. This includes Instagram-style filters, beauty mode on smartphones (Samsung “Beauty”, iOS Portrait beauty slider, Xiaomi “Smart Beauty”), skin smoothing in apps like Snapseed or VSCO, and AI face-swap or face-restoration tools.

In 2024 the UK HM Passport Office added wording specifically calling out “AI-enhanced” photos as rejected. Our maker is explicit about this: it crops, resizes, optionally removes the background, and adjusts brightness/contrast within ranges that mimic film exposure. It does not touch your face.

One gotcha: many modern phones apply beauty filters by default even when you think they're off. On most Samsung Galaxy and Xiaomi models, open Camera → Settings → Beauty → set to 0. On iPhone, Settings → Camera → Preserve Settings → turn off any “portrait” carryover. Take the source photo with all filters disabled.

7. Religious head coverings

Religious head coverings are permitted by every major passport authority, provided:

• The full face from below the chin to the forehead is visible. Side of the face from ear to ear should be visible.
• The head covering is plain (no patterns) and does not cast a shadow across the face.
• In some jurisdictions (US, Canada) you may be asked to provide a signed statement that the covering is part of your daily religious practice.

Common acceptable coverings include hijab, kippah, turban (Sikh and otherwise), tichel, dastar, and patka. Hats and scarves worn for warmth, fashion, or to hide a bad hair day are not religious head coverings.

8. Children, infants, and newborns

Photo requirements for children are intentionally relaxed because babies will not cooperate. The principles to follow:

• Babies and children must be alone in the frame. No parent hands, dummies, pacifiers, bottles, toys, or other children.
• For newborns who cannot hold their head up, lay them on a plain white sheet and shoot from directly above. Crop in the maker.
• Eyes should be open if possible, but most authorities accept eyes-closed for infants under one year.
• Mouth closed is preferred but not strictly enforced for under-fives.
• The same dimensions and head-height rules apply — the maker treats baby photos identically.

9. Practical workflow: home shot to printed sheet

1. Shoot 5–10 frames at home using the lighting and background guidance in sections 3 and 4. Use a phone tripod or ask a partner to hold the camera at eye level.
2. Open the Free Passport Photo Maker and pick your country from the preset dropdown.
3. Upload the best frame. Use the guide overlay to align chin and crown, then nudge zoom and offset until the head fits inside the dashed lines.
4. Toggle background removal if your source background is not already clean. Pick #ffffff (white) unless your country requires light grey.
5. Switch to the Sheet tab. Choose 4R if printing at a pharmacy or A4/Letter if printing at home. Six US passport photos fit on 4R; eight 35×45 mm photos fit on A4.
6. Download as PDF, send to the printer at 100% scale, no “fit to page”, and use photo-grade paper (glossy or matte both work; matte is slightly preferred by passport offices that scan photos because there is less specular reflection).
7. Measure the first print against a ruler before printing more. The longest dimension should match the spec to within 0.5 mm.

10. When to use a professional photographer instead

Honest answer: use a studio if you fit any of these cases.

• Canada. The photo must be signed on the back by the photographer with their name, address, and the date the photo was taken. Studios handle this automatically.
• Diplomatic, official, or biometric chip-enabled applications requiring a digital file with a specific pixel hash or that has been registered with a national biometric system.
• You have no plain wall, no decent camera, and the photo is for a same-week deadline. Paying $15 is cheaper than missing the deadline.

For everything else — standard adult passports, child passports, visa applications, government ID renewals — a phone shot processed through this maker is dimensionally equivalent to a studio shot. The qualitative judgement (your expression, your hair, your shirt colour) is where most rejections happen, and a studio is no better at fixing those than you are.

Create your photo now

Ready to apply the checklist above to your own photo? Open the Free Passport Photo Maker to size, crop, and lay out a print-ready sheet. The tool runs entirely in your browser; your photo never leaves your device. No signup, no watermark, no fee.