Passport Photo Size 2026: Exact Requirements for US, UK, EU, China & 20 Countries
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Here's a scenario that plays out more than you'd think: someone books flights, takes a perfectly good photo against a white wall, uploads it to the UK passport renewal portal — and gets rejected. The photo itself was fine. The background was wrong. UK passports want light grey. White is a US thing.
That one detail costs people rebooking fees, rushed appointments, and a lot of unnecessary stress.
Passport photo rules aren't complicated, but they're different enough between countries that guessing is genuinely risky. This guide covers the exact 2026 requirements for 20 countries — not the vague "check your government website" advice you'll find elsewhere, but the actual dimensions, background colours, head height ranges, and file size limits that determine whether your application goes through or bounces back.
⚡ Quick Reference — 20 Countries (2026)
Find your country, grab the specs, then use the linked tool to crop to the exact dimensions without uploading your photo anywhere.
| Country / Document | Photo Size | Head Height | Background | Digital Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 US Passport / Visa / DS-160 | 2×2 in (51×51 mm) | 25–35 mm | White or off-white | 600×600 to 1200×1200 px | Square 1:1. No glasses since Nov 2016. → 2×2 Photo Cropper |
| 🇬🇧 UK Passport | 35×45 mm | 29–34 mm | Light grey or cream (NOT white) | ≥ 600×780 px | New applicants: within 1 month. Digital renewal: 50KB–10MB. |
| 🇬🇧 UK Visa (UKVI) | 35×45 mm | 29–34 mm | White or off-white | ≥ 600×780 px | White is fine here — but not for the UK passport itself. |
| 🇨🇦 Canada Passport | 50×70 mm | 31–36 mm | White or light grey | ≥ 900×1200 px | Non-square format. Two identical prints needed for paper applications. |
| 🇦🇺 Australia Passport | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White or light grey | ≥ 600×780 px | Within 6 months. No glasses. |
| 🇮🇳 India Passport | 51×51 mm (2×2 in) | 25–35 mm | White | 1000×1000 px, max 1MB | Same square format as US. → 2×2 Photo Cropper |
| 🇮🇳 India OCI / Visa | 35×45 mm | 25–35 mm | White | ≥ 800×1000 px, max 1MB | Not the same as India Passport — portrait rectangle, not square. |
| 🇩🇪 Germany / EU Biometric | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | Light grey preferred | ≥ 827×1063 px at 300 DPI | Germany leans towards light grey rather than white. |
| 🇪🇺 Schengen Visa | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White, light grey, or plain light | ≥ 600×780 px | Standard across EU, though individual embassies occasionally vary. |
| 🇨🇳 China Passport / Visa | 33×48 mm | 28–33 mm | White | 354×472 px at 300 DPI | Unique size — not the standard ICAO 35×45 mm. Easy to get wrong. |
| 🇯🇵 Japan Passport | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White or light grey | ≥ 600×780 px | Within 6 months. No glasses. |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea Passport | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White | ≥ 600×780 px | Eyes must be fully open and level. |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore Passport | 35×45 mm | 25–35 mm | White | ≥ 600×780 px | No glasses. |
| 🇲🇾 Malaysia Passport | 35×50 mm | 25–35 mm | Blue background | ≥ 600×857 px | One of the few countries that requires blue — most people don't know until they're rejected. |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil Passport | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White | ≥ 600×780 px | Neutral expression, mouth closed. |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico Passport | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White | ≥ 600×780 px | Within 6 months. |
| 🇦🇪 UAE Visa | 43×55 mm | 70–80% of frame | White | 200KB–5MB for e-visa | Portals reject files that are too small just as much as too large. |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Visa | 40×60 mm | 70–80% of frame | White | Min 200×300 px | Wide format — different from most. |
| 🇷🇺 Russia Passport / Visa | 35×45 mm | 32–36 mm | White or light grey | ≥ 600×780 px | Standard ICAO. |
| 🇿🇦 South Africa Passport | 35×45 mm | 25–35 mm | White or off-white | ≥ 600×780 px | Standard ICAO biometric. |
Not sure which tool to use? US passport, US visa, DS-160, USCIS forms, India Passport → 2×2 Photo Cropper. Everything else in this table → Passport Photo Cropper with your country's preset.
🇺🇸 US & India: The Square That Trips Everyone Up
What catches people off guard with US photos is how strictly the square requirement is enforced. It's not "roughly square" — it's exactly 51×51 mm, and the DS-160 portal will auto-reject anything even slightly off. A file that's 50×51 mm fails. There's no human reviewer catching these edge cases.
What the US State Department actually requires:
- Size: Exactly 51×51 mm (2×2 inches) — locked 1:1 square
- Resolution: 600×600 px minimum, 1200×1200 px maximum
- Head height: 25–35 mm from chin to crown
- Eye position: 29–35 mm from the bottom of the photo
- Background: White or off-white, plain
- Glasses: Not allowed — this changed in November 2016 and still catches people out
- Expression: Neutral, mouth closed
The DS-160 file size trap: The form requires a JPG between 54KB and 240KB. PNG is flat-out rejected — not resized, not converted, just rejected. If your photo came out as a PNG, convert it to JPG first, then compress it under 100KB. That puts you safely inside the DS-160 window and above the USCIS minimum of 60KB in one step.
For USCIS immigration portals specifically, the range is 60KB to 2MB — Compress to 200KB works well here.
→ 2×2 Photo Cropper — pre-set for US & India, with face alignment guide
🇬🇧 UK: The Background Colour That Nobody Warns You About
The UK is where the most avoidable rejections happen. People do everything right — correct size, recent photo, good lighting — then submit with a white background because that's what they've always seen for passport photos. White is the US standard. UK passports want light grey or cream, and the automated system knows the difference.
UK Passport requirements (HM Passport Office, 2026):
- Size: 35×45 mm — portrait rectangle, not square
- Background: Light grey or cream. Not white. Not off-white. This is the single most important thing on this list.
- Head height: 29–34 mm from chin to top of head
- Eyes: Open, looking at the camera, no glasses
- Expression: Neutral, mouth closed
- Age of photo: Within 1 month for new applicants; 6 months for renewals
One more thing worth knowing: UK visa (UKVI) and UK passport have different background rules. If you're applying for a UK visa from overseas, white background is correct. The light grey requirement only applies to the UK passport itself. These are processed by different government departments with genuinely different specs.
For digital passport renewal, you need a JPG between 50KB and 10MB at 600×780 px minimum. The automated checker will tell you exactly what failed if it rejects your photo — which is actually more useful than most systems.
→ Passport Photo Cropper — UK Passport and UK Visa presets available
🇨🇳 China: Don't Assume 35×45 mm
Most countries use either the US 2×2 square or the ICAO 35×45 mm rectangle. China uses neither. Chinese visas and passports require 33×48 mm — a slightly narrower, slightly taller format that doesn't match any global standard. Submitting a standard 35×45 mm photo to a Chinese consulate will get it returned.
China requirements:
- Size: 33×48 mm
- Head height: 28–33 mm
- Background: Pure white
- Digital: 354×472 px at 300 DPI
- Expression: Neutral, mouth closed
Worth noting: Chinese ID cards use a completely different size again — 26×32 mm (358×441 px digitally). If you're preparing both a visa and a domestic ID document, double-check which format each one needs.
→ Passport Photo Cropper — China Visa (33×48 mm) preset
🇨🇦 Canada: Bigger Than You'd Expect
Canada's format — 50×70 mm — is larger than most countries and requires two identical printed photos for paper applications. Easy to overlook if you're used to the standard 35×45 mm.
- Size: 50×70 mm
- Head height: 31–36 mm
- Background: White or light grey
- Digital: ≥ 900×1200 px, max 4MB for online portal
- Recency: Within 6 months
→ Passport Photo Cropper — Canada Passport preset
🇦🇪 UAE & Saudi Arabia: Both Ends of the File Size Window Get You
These two are worth calling out because their portals enforce both a minimum and a maximum file size. Most portals just set a maximum. UAE e-visa requires between 200KB and 5MB — a file at 150KB gets rejected just like one at 8MB does.
UAE visa: 43×55 mm, white background, JPG, 200KB–5MB. After cropping, Compress to 200KB keeps you inside the window.
Saudi Arabia visa: 40×60 mm, white background, minimum 200×300 px.
Both use non-standard formats that most generic photo tools don't include as presets.
→ Passport Photo Cropper — UAE and Saudi Arabia presets available
🛠️ Taking the Photo at Home
A phone photo taken properly is good enough for a passport application. Consulates accept self-taken photos all the time. The problems come from how people actually take them.
Use the rear camera. Front cameras have wider lenses that distort facial geometry. The biometric scanners in UK and Australia renewal systems can detect this distortion and flag it. Rear cameras don't have this problem.
Light from in front of you, not the side. Face a window, or put two lights either side of the camera. Shadows on your face or on the background are a rejection reason at every consulate.
Stand a metre back from the wall. Getting too close casts a shadow behind you that shows up clearly. One metre of clearance is usually enough.
Take more photos than you think you need — ten shots takes thirty seconds and gives you options. Then:
- US / India Passport → 2×2 Photo Cropper
- Everything else → Passport Photo Cropper
After cropping, check the file size before uploading. Every portal has limits, and some of them will surprise you:
| Portal | File Size Limit | Quick Fix |
|---|---|---|
| US DS-160 | 54KB–240KB, JPG only | Compress to 100KB |
| USCIS portal | 60KB–2MB | Compress to 200KB |
| UK online renewal | 50KB–10MB | Usually fine as-is |
| India OCI | Max 1MB | Compress to 500KB if needed |
| UAE e-visa | 200KB–5MB | Compress to 200KB |
| Canada online | Max 4MB | Usually fine as-is |
| Australia ImmiAccount | Max 5MB | Usually fine as-is |
Photo came out as PNG and the portal needs JPG? Convert to JPG first, then compress.
⚠️ Rejections That Didn't Need to Happen
Most passport photo guides tell you the dimensions. They don't tell you the edge cases that actually cause rejections in practice.
| What Got Rejected | Who It Hits | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| White background on UK passport | Extremely common, especially first-time UK applicants | UK passport = light grey. UK visa = white is fine. Different rules. |
| Wrong dimensions | All portals | Use a country-specific preset, not a generic square crop |
| File too large or too small | DS-160, India OCI, UAE e-visa | Compress to the target range after cropping |
| Photo more than 6 months old | All countries | Get a new one — or check the EXIF date (see below) |
| Glasses | US, UK, Canada, Australia, Schengen, Japan | No exceptions in these countries |
| Head too high or too low | All biometric portals | Chin to crown should fill about 70–80% of the frame height |
| Shadow on face or background | All countries | Light from the front, stand away from the wall |
| PNG submitted to DS-160 | US applicants | Convert to JPG before uploading |
| EXIF date flagged as too old | DS-160, India OCI, UAE | See the section below |
🔍 The EXIF Date — The Rejection Reason Nobody Mentions
This one doesn't appear in official guides, but it's real.
Some portals — DS-160 and certain India OCI submissions among them — automatically read the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field embedded in your JPG. This is the date the photo was taken, recorded by your camera or phone. If that date is more than 6 months ago, the portal can flag the photo as too old, even if it was actually taken recently.
How does this happen? Two common ways: your phone or camera had the wrong date set, or you processed the image through software that stripped or overwrote the EXIF data.
If you're not sure, EXIF Viewer will show you exactly what's in your photo's metadata — no upload required, runs entirely in your browser. If the date is wrong because the camera clock was off, EXIF Editor lets you correct it to the actual date.
To be clear about one thing: if you're using a genuinely old photo, don't change the date. Use a current photo. Falsifying metadata on a government visa application is document fraud, not a workaround.
❓ Questions People Actually Ask
What's the standard passport photo size?
Most of the world uses 35×45 mm — UK, EU, Schengen, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and many more. The US and India Passport use 51×51 mm (2×2 inch square). Then there are the exceptions: Canada (50×70 mm), China (33×48 mm), UAE visa (43×55 mm), Malaysia (35×50 mm with a blue background), Saudi Arabia (40×60 mm).
What background does a UK passport photo need?
Light grey or cream — not white. White is the US requirement. This is the most consistently misunderstood rule in UK passport applications, and the automated system enforces it without mercy. UK visa (UKVI) applications are different and do accept white. Same dimensions, different background, different government department processing them.
What is 2×2 inches in pixels?
At 300 DPI for print: 600×600 pixels. That's also the minimum for the DS-160 form. The 2×2 Photo Cropper exports at 600×600 px by default.
How do I get my passport photo under the DS-160 limit?
DS-160 needs a JPG between 54KB and 240KB. Crop first, then Compress to 100KB — that puts you safely inside the limit. If your file is PNG, convert to JPG before compressing. DS-160 won't accept PNG regardless of the file size.
Is it safe to use an online passport photo tool?
Depends entirely on the tool. Most upload your image to a remote server — and your face is biometric data, a different category of sensitivity from a holiday photo. BulkPicTools processes everything in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Your photo stays on your device, and closing the tab clears it from memory.
Can I use a selfie?
Yes, but use the rear camera on a timer rather than the front camera. Front cameras have wider lenses that distort your face, and the automated biometric scanners on UK and Australia digital renewal portals will catch it. Rear camera, facing a window, standing away from a plain wall — that works reliably.
What's the difference between the two crop tools?
2×2 Photo Cropper is built for US passports, US visas (DS-160), USCIS forms, and India Passport — anything using the 51×51 mm square. Passport Photo Cropper covers 20+ other countries with individual presets. US or India Passport document → use 2×2. Everything else → Passport Photo Cropper, select your country.
🚀 Tools for Every Step
| What you need | Tool | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 US Passport / DS-160 / USCIS | 2×2 Photo Cropper | Locked 1:1, face alignment guide, 600×600 px export |
| 🇬🇧 UK / 🇪🇺 EU / 🇦🇺 AU / 🇨🇦 CA / 🇨🇳 CN + 15 more | Passport Photo Cropper | 20+ country presets, biometric head-height guide |
| File too large for portal | Compress to 100KB · Compress to 200KB | Hit a specific file size target without losing quality |
| Photo is PNG, portal needs JPG | Image to JPG Converter | Convert with smart background fill |
| Need to check or fix EXIF date | EXIF Viewer · EXIF Editor | Read and edit metadata locally, nothing uploaded |
Requirements are based on official government sources as of 2026. Photo acceptance is ultimately subject to the relevant authority's assessment — always verify on the official portal before submitting.
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