Passport photo size chart
Photo sizes and head-height rules for every country in this tool, each with a link to the government page it came from and the date that page was last read.
A note on the length of this list. You will find "passport photo size chart for 50 countries" articles elsewhere. This one covers nineteen, because those are the countries whose requirements have actually been read on an official government source. The rest would have to be copied from other people's charts, and passport photo charts on the open web contradict each other constantly — this article exists partly because of that. Nineteen sourced rows are more use than fifty unsourced ones.
| Country | Photo size | Head height | Background | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 35 × 45 mm | 71.1–80% | plain white or light grey background that contrasts with your face | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Canada | 50 × 70 mm | 44.3–51.4% | plain white or light-coloured background | Official (2026-08-26) |
| France | 35 × 45 mm | 70–80% | plain, light-coloured (light blue or light grey, for example). A WHITE background is explicitly forbidden | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Germany | 35 × 45 mm | Not published | plain, light-coloured background contrasting with the face | Official (2026-08-26) |
| India | 35 × 45 mm | Not published | plain white | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Ireland | 35 × 45 mm | Not published | completely plain light grey, white or cream, with enough contrast and no shadows | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Netherlands | 35 × 45 mm | 57.8–66.7% | light grey, light blue or white; plain, one colour and one shade, contrasting with the head | Official (2026-08-26) |
| New Zealand | 900 × 1200 px | Not published | plain, light-coloured, with strong contrast to the face and no shadows or objects behind the head | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Nigeria | 600 × 800 px | Not published | white background | Official (2026-08-26) |
| Singapore | 400 × 514 px | Not published | not read - ICA publishes its background rule only inside images | Official (2026-08-26) |
| United Kingdom | 35 × 45 mm | 64.4–75.6% | plain light-coloured background, with clear contrast between you and the background | Official (2026-08-26) |
| United States | 51 × 51 mm | 49–68.6% | plain white or off-white | Official (2026-08-26) |
How to read this
Photo size is what the authority publishes. A few publish pixel dimensions for digital upload instead of a printed size — Nigeria, New Zealand and Singapore — because their process is an upload rather than a print.
Head height is chin to crown, as a percentage of the photo's height. Crown means the top of your head including hair, not your hairline. Where it says "not published", the authority genuinely does not state one; it does not mean any size will do.
Background is quoted from the source, which is why the wording varies. That variation is real and matters — see below.
Sizes cluster, but not as much as you would hope
Most of the world uses 35 × 45 mm. That is the ICAO-derived standard and it covers the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, India, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines and the Schengen area.
The significant exceptions:
- United States — 51 × 51 mm (2 × 2 inches), square.
- Canada — 50 × 70 mm, much taller than anywhere else.
- Brazil — 50 × 70 mm.
- China — 33 × 48 mm.
A photo cropped for one of these is not usable for the others. The square US format in particular cannot be trimmed down from a 35 × 45 mm print.
Sizes are sometimes ranges
Several authorities publish a range, not a fixed size, which most charts flatten into a single number:
- Australia: 35–40 mm wide by 45–50 mm high.
- Ireland: minimum 35 × 45 mm, maximum 38 × 50 mm.
- Schengen / EU: 35–40 mm wide (the Commission's guidance gives no height).
- New Zealand: 900–4500 px wide by 1200–6000 px high, always 3:4.
This chart shows the smallest accepted size in each case, which is always valid. It also means Australia's head-height percentage is only correct for a 45 mm-tall photo — the same 32–36 mm face is 64–72% of a 50 mm photo.
Background colour is not a formality
The single most surprising row in this table:
France forbids a white background. Le fond blanc est interdit. It must be plain and light-coloured — light blue or light grey are the given examples. Every other country here either requires white or accepts a light colour, so a tool or booth that defaults to white produces a photo France will reject.
Beyond that there are three groups. Countries that name white: the US, India, China, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria. Countries that say "light-coloured" without naming one: the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the EU. And the Netherlands, which lists three acceptable colours — light grey, light blue or white.
Only one country publishes a print resolution
The Netherlands specifies a minimum of 400 dpi. Every other country in this chart publishes either a minimum pixel count, a file-size range, or the words "high resolution".
That matters if you are printing. Where no resolution is published, 300 dpi is a reasonable working assumption — and it is what this tool uses — but it is an assumption, not a requirement. At 300 dpi a 35 × 45 mm photo is 413 × 531 pixels.
Eye line is almost never specified
You will see eye-line rules quoted widely — a measurement from the bottom edge of the photo to the centre of the eyes. Of the nineteen countries here, none currently publishes one.
The US did historically, which is where most of those quoted figures come from, but the current State Department guidance contains no eye-line requirement at all. If you find an eye-line number for a country in this table, check the date on the page you found it.
Four countries will not accept a photo you took
Worth checking before you take any photo at all:
- Germany — since 1 May 2025, the photo must be captured at the counter or sent to the authority electronically by a studio.
- France — approved photographer or approved booth only.
- Canada — commercial studio, professionally printed, unedited.
- Brazil — the Federal Police photograph applicants aged three and over at the appointment.
Dates matter more than you would think
Every row carries the date its source was last read. Requirements change: Germany changed its entire process in May 2025, and the US quietly dropped its eye-line rule.
If you are applying, click through to the official source. This chart is a starting point and a cross-check, not a substitute for the authority's own page — and where a value could not be confirmed, it says so rather than filling the gap.