Passport photo size and requirements: US, UK and Canada

Sizes at a glance

These come from each government's own instructions: the US Department of State, GOV.UK and Canada's immigration department. They do change, so always check the official page for your application before you print. The pixel figures are simple arithmetic (an inch is 25.4 mm, so 35 mm at 300 dpi is about 413 pixels) and show how many pixels your image needs to be at least to print sharply at that size.

United States

The US Department of State's foreign affairs manual spells out the main points for a passport photo: it must be in colour; taken within the last six months and a good likeness of you; 2 by 2 inches in overall size; and the facial image must be between 1 inch and 1⅜ inches measured from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin. The State Department's passport photo page adds that you should face the camera directly with a neutral expression, both eyes open and mouth closed, against a plain white or off-white background free of shadows, textures or objects.

The manual also explains why head size matters: if your face is too small in the frame, the photo cannot be used; if it is too large, it may not be possible to crop it to the right size, and a very close shot can cause fish-eye distortion, where the nose looks bigger and the ears smaller. That is the reason selfies fail so often.

United Kingdom

GOV.UK distinguishes between digital and printed photos. For an online application you need a digital photo taken in the last month, in colour, unaltered by software, at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall, and between 50 KB and 10 MB. It must show you facing forward with a plain expression and your mouth closed, eyes open and visible, no hair in front of your eyes, no head covering unless for religious or medical reasons, no shadows on the face or behind you, against a plain light-coloured background. If you use your own device, include your head, shoulders and upper body and do not crop it: GOV.UK does the cropping for you. GOV.UK says photos from a booth or shop are more likely to be approved than ones taken on your own device.

For a paper application you need two identical printed photos, 45 mm high by 35 mm wide, not cut down from a larger picture, printed to a professional standard in colour on plain white photographic paper with no border. The image from the crown to the chin must be between 29 mm and 34 mm high, against a plain cream or light grey background.

Canada

Canada's official requirements ask for photos 50 mm wide by 70 mm high, with the face between 31 mm and 36 mm from chin to crown. For digital photos, the page lists a JPEG or JPG file in portrait orientation with a 3:2 aspect ratio, between 1,200 × 1,800 and 3,000 × 4,500 pixels, and between 200 KB and 5 MB, unaltered in any way (the page includes photo-editing software, filters and AI tools in that). Check the live page before you submit, as these digital limits are the part most likely to change.

How to make one at home

1. Find a plain wall in a light colour, with nothing on it, and stand a little way in front so you do not cast a shadow on it.
2. Use soft, even light from the front (a big window works), with no shadows across your face and no glare on glasses. Do not use flash.
3. Get someone else to take it at eye level, from a little further away than feels natural, and crop afterwards. Selfies taken up close distort the face, which is exactly what the US manual warns about.
4. Look straight at the lens with a neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open.
5. Crop to the exact size with the passport photo maker. Choose the country, drag the photo until your head fits the guide, and download it at the resolution you need (300 dpi by default). It also builds a print sheet with several copies on a 10 × 15 cm, 13 × 18 cm or A4 sheet.
6. Check the file size if you are uploading it. If a site asks for a maximum, the image reducer brings the file under the limit, and the image resizer sets exact pixel dimensions.

The tool runs in your browser, so the photo of your face is not uploaded to a server. It crops and sizes: it does not change the background, retouch the face or guarantee that an authority will accept the picture. If the wall behind you is not plain, retake the photo rather than trying to fix it.

Common reasons photos are rejected

• The head is too small or too large in the frame.
• Shadows on the face or on the background, or a background that is not plain and light.
• Glare or reflections on glasses, or frames that cover the eyes.
• A tilted head, a smile that opens the mouth, or eyes that are not clearly open.
• Photo altered with filters or retouching software, or an old photo.
• Wrong print size, often because the printing program scaled the image to fit the paper. Print at 100% and measure the result with a ruler.

Two steps people forget: if your photo comes from an iPhone in HEIC, convert it to JPG before cropping, and for how many pixels a sharp print needs, the guide to DPI for printing does the sums.

Sources and further reading

• US Department of State: U.S. Passport Photos
• US Department of State, Foreign Affairs Manual: 8 FAM 402.1 Passport Photographs
• GOV.UK: Get a passport photo
• Government of Canada: Passport photo requirements

Figures checked on 3 October 2026.