Canadian passport photo — 50 × 70 mm, and why a commercial photographer must take it

A Canadian passport photo measures 50 mm wide by 70 mm high (2 × 2¾ inches), with the face 31 to 36 mm from chin to crown. You need two identical, unaltered photos taken no more than six months before you apply, on a plain white or light-coloured background, with a neutral expression and your mouth closed. Unlike the US and UK, Canada does not allow a do-it-yourself photo: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires a commercial photographer or photo studio, professional printing, and no alteration of any kind, cropping included. A crop made on this page does not meet those rules, so do not send it with a passport application. What it can do is show you exactly how the photo should be framed before you visit a studio.

Canadian passport photo specifications

All figures are from IRCC’s passport photo page on canada.ca, dated 23 September 2026 and read on 21 October 2026.

What IRCC counts as an altered photo

This is the rule that rules out home-made and app-made photos. IRCC treats a photo as altered if it has been changed in any way, by any means, including:

• technical corrections to colour, brightness, contrast or sharpness;
• cropping around the head and shoulders, such as cutting you out and pasting you on a white background;
• changing the size or shape of the eyes, nose, mouth or ears;
• removing glare, red-eye, scars or birthmarks, or changing hair colour;
• changing the colour of clothing;
• changing the background, including removing shadows.

Filters and AI tools are named explicitly. An altered photo leads to a refused application.

What you can use this page for

Because the photo itself must come from a studio, the useful job here is preparation and checking:

1. Choose a photo of yourself, taken against a light wall. Photo type opens on Canada passport — 50 × 70 mm, with IRCC’s warning shown beneath it.
2. Turn on Show face-position guides. The yellow line sits about 15 mm below the top edge for the crown of your head. The blue band, roughly 46 to 51 mm down, is where your chin should fall. The dashed oval shows a rough head outline, and the vertical line marks the centre.
3. Move and scale the picture by dragging it, with Zoom, Horizontal position and Vertical position, or with the arrow keys (Shift for larger steps), plus and minus, and 0 to reset.
4. Look at the result honestly. Is your face square to the camera? Are the edges of your face clear against the background? Is light clothing blending into the wall? These are the things the studio will need to get right.

If you press Make passport photos, the tool still saves a 591 × 827 pixel image (50 × 70 mm at 300 DPI) and a 4 × 6 inch sheet holding four copies about half a millimetre apart. Treat those as a preview or for an unrelated form that happens to use this size, never for a passport.

Checking a studio’s prints before you submit

Bring IRCC’s page to the photographer; canada.ca suggests handing over the requirements. When you collect the prints:

• Measure. A photo should be 50 mm across and 70 mm tall. The face, from the chin to the top of the head, should be 31 to 36 mm. IRCC’s visa specification defines the crown as the top of the head, or where the top of the skull would be if hair or a covering hides it.
• Read the back of one photo. The date and the studio’s full name and address should be written or stamped clearly.
• Look at the paper. It should be plain, high-quality photographic paper; IRCC does not accept heavyweight paper.
• Count them. You need two identical photos.
• For online renewal, check the digital file: JPEG, at least 1,800 pixels high, between 200 KB and 5 MB.

Reasons IRCC refuses photos

The canada.ca page lists these problems:

• smiling, frowning, an open mouth, or a face not square to the camera;
• shadows around the ears, in the background, or across the face or shoulders;
• glare, flash reflections, or red-eye, whether present or edited out;
• sunglasses or tinted lenses, even prescription ones;
• hats or head coverings not worn daily for religious or medical reasons;
• light-coloured clothing that blends into the background;
• hands in the picture, which matters for children;
• any of the alterations listed above, or a home print.

Some situations are allowed with care. A wheelchair user can have a white blanket placed behind the head. A newborn can be photographed in a car seat with a white blanket behind the head. Medical headwear or a nasal cannula is accepted with a signed letter of explanation.

Visitor visa photos are a different size

If you are applying for a Canadian visitor visa rather than a passport, IRCC’s temporary resident visa specification is different. It asks for a frame of at least 35 × 45 mm and a head of 31 to 36 mm from chin to crown. You need two identical photos on quality photographic paper, taken within six months, against a plain white or light-coloured background. That page also allows non-tinted prescription glasses if the frames do not cover the eyes. For that 35 × 45 mm shape, the general Passport Photo Maker offers other presets; check the visa office’s current instructions before you rely on any home print.

Related tools

To check the pixel size and print resolution of a studio’s digital file, use DPI Checker. EXIF Reader shows the camera and date recorded in a photo’s metadata, a quick way to see when a picture was taken. Image Cropper covers general crops that have nothing to do with official documents.