How to make a passport photo at home
- Pick the document. Choose the passport, visa or ID card the photo is for. The size, head height and background rules appear under the menu with a link to the official page.
- Take or choose a photo. Stand about 1–1.5 m (4 ft) from a plain white or light-grey wall, face a window, and have someone take the photo at eye level with your head and shoulders in the frame.
- Mark your head. Drag the green line to the top of your head, the orange line to the bottom of your chin, and the blue line through the middle of your face. The preview crops to the official size as you go.
- Check the preview. The shaded band shows where the top of your head is allowed to be. Read the background check, and retake the photo if it warns you.
- Download and print. Download the single photo for an online form, or the 4 × 6 in print sheet. Print it at 100 % (actual size) at a photo kiosk or on photo paper, then cut along the lines.
What it does
- 19 passport, visa and ID photo specs — US, UK, Schengen, Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan, Korea and more — each linked to the official rules and the date we checked them
- Crops to the official head height: you mark the top of your head and your chin, the tool scales and places the head inside the allowed range
- Single photo as a JPG at print resolution (and at least the pixel size the official online form asks for)
- Print sheet for a 4 × 6 in or 10 × 15 cm photo print, as JPG or PDF, with thin cut lines
- A rough background check (light, plain, not coloured) — with an honest warning when it isn’t
- Runs in your browser: the photo is never uploaded, and we don’t retouch or replace your background
Passport photo size by country
These are the sizes this tool crops to, taken from each government’s own page (checked on 5 October 2026). An asterisk means the official page gives the face as a percentage of the photo height, and the millimetre range is worked out from that percentage.
| Document | Photo size | Head height | Background | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States passport | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm | plain white or off-white, no shadows, texture or lines | official rules |
| United States visa (DS-160, immigrant visa, DV) | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm), 600 × 600 px digital | 25–35 mm | plain white or off-white | official rules |
| United Kingdom passport (printed photo) | 35 × 45 mm | 29–34 mm | plain cream or light grey | official rules |
| Schengen visa | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | plain and light-coloured | official rules |
| Germany passport / ID card (applications abroad) | 35 × 45 mm | 31.5–36 mm* | one colour, shadow-free, contrasting with face and hair | official rules |
| France passport / ID card | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | plain light blue or light grey — white is not accepted | official rules |
| Italy passport | 35 × 45 mm | 31.5–36 mm* | white, evenly lit | official rules |
| Netherlands passport / ID card | 35 × 45 mm | 26–30 mm | light grey, light blue or white, one even colour | official rules |
| Ireland passport | 35 × 45 mm (up to 38 × 50 mm) | 31.5–36 mm* | plain light grey, white or cream | official rules |
| Canada passport | 50 × 70 mm (2 × 2¾ in) | 31–36 mm | plain white or light-coloured | official rules |
| Australia passport | 35–40 × 45–50 mm | 32–36 mm | plain white or light grey | official rules |
| India passport (Passport Seva online upload) | 630 × 810 px (35:45) | 36–38.25 mm* | white | official rules |
| India visa / OCI | 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm) | 25–35 mm | plain light-coloured or white | official rules |
| China visa | 33 × 48 mm | 28–33 mm | white or close to white, no border | official rules |
| Japan passport | 35 × 45 mm | 32–36 mm | plain, no shadow or pattern (white recommended) | official rules |
| South Korea passport | 35 × 45 mm (413 × 531 px online) | 32–36 mm | uniform white, no border | official rules |
| South Africa passport / ID | 35 × 45 mm | 29–34 mm | light grey or plain cream | official rules |
| Poland passport / ID card | 35 × 45 mm | 31.5–36 mm* | uniform and light | official rules |
| Malaysia visa (eVisa / ESD) | 35 × 50 mm | 30–35 mm | plain white (blue also accepted for some visa types) | official rules |
Some countries take the passport photo themselves at the appointment, so there is nothing to print: Mexico, Brazil (age 5 and over), Philippines, Germany (applications inside Germany).
How the cropping works
Every passport rule comes down to two numbers: the photo size and the height of your head inside it. You mark the top of your head and your chin; the tool scales the photo so your head lands in the middle of the allowed range and places it with the usual margin above the hair, then cuts the frame to the exact size. The output is saved at 300 dpi for printing — and never smaller than the pixel size the official online form asks for, such as 600 × 600 px for a US visa or 630 × 810 px for an Indian passport.
The background check looks at the pixels above and beside your head and tells you if they look too dark, too busy or too coloured. It is a rough check on pixels, not an official verdict. The tool never retouches your face or replaces the background, because most passport offices reject edited photos.
Take a passport photo on iPhone without any tool
You don’t need an app to take the photo itself. Stand in front of a plain white or light-grey wall facing a window, ask someone to hold the iPhone at your eye level about 1–1.5 m away, and use the normal Photo mode with the 1× lens — not Portrait mode, which blurs the background, and not the front camera at arm’s length, which distorts the face. Turn off filters. Then crop the photo here, or print it at a photo kiosk that offers passport sizes.
While you’re at it, check the passport itself: how to check your passport’s expiration date, the six-month rule, how long a passport is valid, and the documents you need to apply. To see whether your passport is valid enough for a trip, use the passport validity calculator.
What this tool can’t do
- It can’t guarantee acceptance. Lighting, focus, shadows, glasses, expression and head position are judged by a person or software at the passport office.
- Canada and Australia want professional prints; the tool is useful there to check the size, not to make the print.
- For a UK online application, GOV.UK wants the uncropped original — upload that, not the cropped version.
- Germany has accepted only digital photos from the authority or a registered photographer for applications inside the country since 1 May 2025.
- Rules change. Each row links to the official page so you can check the current version.
Keep the passport details where you’ll find them
A new passport photo usually means a renewal. Paperlock, our iPhone app, reads the expiry date from a photo of your passport, keeps it in a Face ID-locked vault, and — once you turn reminders on — reminds you 6 months before it expires, then again 30 and 7 days before.