Passport and Visa Photo Requirements by Country (2026)

Passport and visa photo requirements are the size, framing, background, and expression rules an issuing authority sets for the photo on your application. They vary more than most people expect: a US passport photo is 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm), a UK printed photo is 35 x 45 mm, and the Saudi eVisa wants a 200 x 200 pixel upload. This guide puts eight destinations side by side, with a link to each official source.

Every value below was checked against the issuing authority's own page on 2026-09-28. Where an official page does not state something, the table says so instead of filling the gap with a number from a photo vendor.

Passport photo sizes and rules side by side

"Pixels" means the digital upload size the authority publishes, and "not stated" means the official page gives no value.

Two patterns stand out. The US, UK, Canada, and Australia give head size in millimetres, while India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and New Zealand's paper guide give it as a share of the photo. And only four of the eight ask for a white background; the others accept or prefer a light tone, and New Zealand's paper guide rules out pure white.

United States passport photo requirements

The U.S. Department of State asks for a photo 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm), with the head measuring 1 to 1 3/8 inches (25 to 35 mm) from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head (passport photo rules). The background should be white or off-white, "without shadows, texture, or lines."

The paper-application rules ask for a neutral expression with both eyes open and mouth closed. The same page's FAQ allows a smile as long as your eyes are open and your mouth is closed, and the online renewal photo page accepts "a neutral facial expression or natural smile" while asking you to avoid showing teeth.

• Pixels: none published. Online renewal takes a JPG, PNG, HEIC, or HEIF file from 54 KB to 10 MB, and you can reposition or crop the photo inside the application.
• Glasses: off, unless you have a doctor's note for a medical reason.
• Head coverings: only for religious reasons (with a signed statement) or medical reasons (with a doctor's statement). The covering should be one color with no pattern, and your full face must be visible.
• Who takes it: a friend or family member can take it, and you can print it yourself on matte or glossy paper. For online renewal, the page says to have someone take your photo.

United Kingdom passport photo requirements

The UK runs two sets of rules. A digital photo for an online application must be at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, and between 50 KB and 10 MB (GOV.UK digital photos). A printed photo must be 45 mm high by 35 mm wide and must "not be a cut down version of a larger picture" (GOV.UK printed photos).

The head-size rule applies to printed photos only: 29 to 34 mm from the crown of your head to your chin. For a digital photo taken on your own device, GOV.UK asks you to include your head, shoulders, and upper body and not to crop the photo, because the crop is done for you.

• Background: plain and light-colored for digital photos, plain cream or light grey for printed ones, and in clear contrast to you in both cases.
• Expression: plain, with your mouth closed.
• Glasses: do not wear them unless you have to. Never sunglasses or tinted lenses.
• Head coverings: only for religious or medical reasons.
• Who takes it: you can use your own device during the online application, but GOV.UK says you will need someone to help, and that photos from a booth or shop are more likely to be approved than one taken on your own device.

Canada passport photo requirements

Canadian passport photos are larger than most: 50 mm wide by 70 mm high (2 by 2 3/4 inches), with 31 to 36 mm from chin to crown (Canada.ca passport photos). Online renewal uses a digital file instead: a JPEG in a 3:2 ratio shot in portrait orientation, at least 1,200 x 1,800 pixels and no larger than 3,000 x 4,500, between 200 KB and 5 MB, with the chin-to-crown distance filling 45 to 50% of the photo's height.

• Background: plain white or light-colored (plain white for photos taken in a wheelchair).
• Expression: neutral, mouth closed, not smiling or frowning.
• Glasses: allowed if your eyes are clearly visible with no glare. No tinted lenses.
• Head coverings: only if worn daily for religious beliefs or medical reasons, with no shadows on your face.

Canada is also the strictest of the eight on how the photo is made. Print and digital photos must be taken in person by a commercial photographer or photo studio, photos printed at home are not accepted, and an online upload asks for the studio's name, address, and the date. The digital file must be saved directly from the original file the camera captured. The page defines an altered photo broadly, including changes to color, brightness, contrast, or sharpness, cropping around the head and shoulders, and changing the background, and says applications with altered photos will be rejected. For a Canadian passport, book a photo studio.

India passport photo requirements

India's passport guidelines call for a digital photo of 630 x 810 pixels, with the face taking up 80 to 85% of the photograph and the full head visible from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin (Passport Seva photo guidelines, PDF). A notice from the Embassy of India in Berne adds that the file must not exceed 250 KB.

• Background: white.
• Expression: the mouth should not be open, and the expression should look natural.
• Glasses: take them off to avoid reflections.
• Head coverings: only for religious reasons, with the face visible from chin to forehead and both edges of the face showing.
• Print size: not stated in the guideline PDF or the embassy notice. You will see 35 x 45 mm and 2 x 2 inches on vendor sites, but neither appeared on an official page we reviewed. If you need a print, confirm the size with the office handling your application.

United Arab Emirates photo requirements

For UAE citizen passport issue and renewal, the FAQ from the UAE's identity and citizenship authority (ICP) asks for a personal photo of 3.5 x 4.5 cm with a white background (ICP FAQ). For visit visas, the same FAQ asks for a color personal photo with a white background and gives no size, so check the service you are applying through.

ICP's personal photo specifications (PDF) say your face should take up 70 to 80% of the photograph, with a neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open, no red eye, and uniform lighting. It also asks that the photo show your skin tones naturally.

• Pose: the FAQ says the face must be straight, with no shadows or reflections over the eyes.
• Glasses and hats: hats and sunglasses are not allowed. Medical glasses are permitted as long as they do not cover the eyes.
• Head coverings: religious reasons only.
• Pixels: none published on the FAQ or the PDF.

Saudi Arabia eVisa photo requirements

The Saudi eVisa is an online application, so the photo is a digital upload only: 200 x 200 pixels, with a file size between 5 and 100 KB (Saudi eVisa photo specifications). Your face should take up 70 to 80% of the photo. The background should be white with no pattern, and no shadows should fall on it.

• Pose: the page's expression section is about position rather than smiling. Keep your head square to the camera, with both ears and cheeks clearly visible.
• Head wear: generally not permitted, with exceptions possible for religious reasons.
• Glasses: not mentioned on the page.
• Size the head by percentage: the page also carries a chin-to-crown measurement in inches that does not fit a 200 pixel square, so the 70 to 80% rule is the one to work from.

New Zealand passport photo requirements

New Zealand's online application takes a color digital photo in a 3:4 portrait ratio, 900 to 4,500 pixels wide and 1,200 to 6,000 pixels high, saved as a JPG between 250 KB and 5 MB and less than 6 months old (New Zealand passport photos). Paper applications use a printed 35 x 45 mm photo, with the head (including hair) at most 80% of the photo (paper application guide notes, PDF).

The digital page gives no numeric head size. It asks for a clear gap around the sides and top of your head, with your shoulders and upper chest in frame, and tells you to crop the photo to the correct head size.

• Background: plain and light-colored, with strong contrast. The 2024 paper guide notes say the background must be plain and light "but not white," so light grey is the tone to aim for on paper.
• Expression: neutral with no smiling, mouth closed, eyes open.
• Glasses: prescription glasses are fine if they are not tinted or thick-framed. No sunglasses.
• Head coverings: only for religious or medical reasons, with your face fully visible.
• Who takes it: someone else. The page says selfies will be rejected and suggests the photographer stand 1.5 m away.

Australia passport photo requirements

Australian passport photos are 35 to 40 mm wide and 45 to 50 mm high, with 32 to 36 mm from chin to crown (Australian Passport Office photo guidelines). The background should be plain white or light grey and contrast with your face. Anyone over 3 years old must face the camera straight on with eyes open and a neutral expression, and smiling appears among the page's unacceptable examples.

• Glasses: not allowed unless you cannot remove them for medical reasons.
• Head coverings: religious only, and plain, without patterns.
• Printing: photos must be produced by dye sublimation (not an inkjet printer) on heavy-weight glossy paper of at least 200 gsm.

Which countries let you keep your glasses on?

Glasses and head coverings are where the eight disagree most, so here they are in one place.

If you wear glasses every day and your destination allows them, check for glare on the lenses before you take the shot. Canada names glare directly, and India and the UAE both mention reflections.

Getting a passport-style photo at the right size with OutfitGen

The fiddly part of every table above is getting the head to the right height inside the right rectangle. OutfitGen's AI Passport Photo tool handles that framing and sizing on the web, with no app to install.

Upload a photo and pick your destination. OutfitGen returns a centered, front-facing head-and-shoulders portrait on a plain backdrop, white for the US, India, UAE, and Saudi eVisa options and off-white or very light grey for the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the generic 35 x 45 mm option, with soft, even light on the face. OutfitGen is built to leave your face, hairstyle, glasses, and clothing as they are, and it does not smooth skin. If you are smiling, an optional neutral-expression setting relaxes it into a closed-mouth look. Compare the result with your original before you use it.

Next, a crop step sizes the photo to the country you picked. Guide lines mark where the top of your head should sit and the band your chin should land in. You drag and zoom until the head lines up, then download:

The UK, India, Saudi, and New Zealand downloads match the official digital sizes (the UK and New Zealand values are the minimums). The US, Canada, UAE, Australia, and 35 x 45 mm downloads are the print size converted at 300 dpi, which is our arithmetic, not an official pixel requirement. The Canada download is sized for print, not for the larger online renewal file. Some portals also cap file size (India at 250 KB, Saudi at 100 KB, New Zealand between 250 KB and 5 MB), so check the downloaded file's size before you upload it.

Your first 3 generations are free, no account needed.

Rules change and some countries do not accept edited photos, so check the official page for your document before you submit.

How we checked these requirements

• When: every official page was reviewed on 2026-09-28.
• Sources: government pages only. Photo-vendor sites were used to find official URLs, never as the source of a value.
• Blocked pages: the U.S. State Department pages returned a bot check, so we read the most recent Internet Archive snapshots of the same official URLs: the photo page from May 24, 2026 (marked last updated December 15, 2025) and the online renewal page from May 16, 2026 (marked last updated March 19, 2026). India's guideline PDF was read from the live Passport Seva mirror, which matches the archived copy of the portal's original link byte for byte.
• Gaps: when an official page gave no value, we wrote "not stated" rather than borrowing a vendor's number. That is why India has no print size and the UAE has no pixel size here.
• Conflicts: where official pages disagree (New Zealand's digital page and paper notes on background), both are quoted.

FAQ

What size is a US passport photo in pixels?

The State Department does not publish a pixel size for the 2 x 2 inch paper photo. Converted at 300 dpi, 2 x 2 inches is 600 x 600 pixels. For online renewal, the file must be 54 KB to 10 MB, and you crop it inside the application.

Is a UK passport photo the same size as a US one?

No. A UK printed photo is 35 x 45 mm, taller than it is wide, while a US photo is a 51 mm square. The UK's online application uses a digital photo of at least 600 x 750 pixels instead of a print.

Which countries require a pure white background?

Of the eight here, the US (white or off-white), India, the UAE, and the Saudi eVisa ask for white. The UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia accept light tones such as light grey, and New Zealand's paper guide notes say light but not white.

Can I smile in my passport photo?

It depends on the country. The US allows a smile with your mouth closed, and its online renewal page allows a natural smile without teeth. Canada and New Zealand say no smiling, and Australia lists smiling among its unacceptable examples.

What size is an Indian passport photo?

The official digital size is 630 x 810 pixels, with a 250 KB file limit per the Embassy of India in Berne. The official pages we reviewed do not state a print size, so confirm with your passport office before printing one.

Does the Saudi eVisa need a printed photo?

No. The eVisa is an online application and takes a 200 x 200 pixel upload between 5 and 100 KB, with a white background and your face filling 70 to 80% of the frame.