Passport, visa and exam photo sizes: the official rules in one table

* Where the official rules limit photos you make yourself

Some authorities require a professional photo, forbid any editing, or crop the photo themselves. Read the rule before you use a photo made on your own device:

• US passport: The State Department says not to change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, and that it checks every photo for digital enhancement or alteration: leave the background option on “Keep the original” and fix the wall and lighting instead. Renewing online? Upload your original photo (JPG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF, 54 KB to 10 MB) and crop it in the application; the 2 × 2 in crop here is for paper forms.
• US visa: The State Department recommends a professional visa photo service, says most webcams and mobile phones cannot give images of sufficient quality, and does not accept photos digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance. Leave the background on “Keep the original”.
• US Diversity Visa (DV lottery) entry: The State Department says a photo that does not fully meet the rules, has been manipulated, or is the same photo sent with a prior year's entry may make you ineligible, and once you have a confirmation number, a second entry sent to fix it would disqualify all your entries. Use a new photo, leave Background on “Keep the original”, and enter only at dvprogram.state.gov.
• UK passport: Applying online? Upload your original, uncropped photo: GOV.UK says not to crop a photo taken on your own device, because the online service crops it for you. For a paper application, GOV.UK says printed photos must not be cut down from a larger picture or altered by software, so prints from this tool may be rejected. Use the 35 × 45 mm and 600 × 750 px crops made here only where another form asks for those sizes.
• Canada passport: Not for a Canadian passport application: IRCC says passport photos must be taken in person by a commercial photographer or photo studio, professionally printed (photos printed at home are refused) and not altered in any way, including cropping, background changes, filters and AI tools. The online-renewal digital photo must also come straight from a commercial photographer's camera. Use this 50 × 70 mm crop only to practise framing or for another form that asks for this size.
• Canada visa & permits (IRCC): IRCC says digital photos must not be altered in any way, so leave Background on “Keep the original”. Permanent residence (PR card and PR confirmation portal) and citizenship applications use other rules: 50 × 70 mm prints or larger files taken by a commercial photographer, saved straight from the camera and not cropped or edited, so a photo made here is not for those. Your IRCC document checklist decides whether a visa or permit application needs a photo at all.
• Australia passport: The Australian Passport Office recommends a professional passport photo provider and says it does not recommend online photo services or mobile apps. Prints must be dye-sublimation colour prints on glossy paper of at least 200 gsm, not inkjet, and online renewal takes your photo only by a photo code from a photo provider, not an upload. A photo made here can still be refused, so use it only if you can meet those rules, or for other forms that ask for 35 × 45 mm.
• Australia visa (Home Affairs): Home Affairs says a scan of a photo or a photograph of a photo is not acceptable, the photo must be unedited, and it recommends a professional passport photo provider; its citizenship page adds that it does not recommend online photo services or mobile apps. Leave Background on “Keep the original”. A photo made here can still be refused, and your visa's own checklist or form decides what you must attach.
• New Zealand passport: Applying online? This tool does not make that file: the online service needs a 3:4 JPEG of at least 900 × 1200 px and 250 KB, and the 35 × 45 mm crop made here is a different shape and smaller. Crop your original photo to 3:4 instead, as DIA's phone guides show, and test it in DIA's online photo checker. For paper applications DIA strongly recommends a passport photo business, wants a true image not altered in any way, and does not accept inkjet prints or matte paper. Selfies are rejected, so have someone else take the photo.
• New Zealand visa (INZ): INZ says you cannot change a visa photo with AI or editing tools, including cutting out your head and shoulders and placing them on a plain background, so leave Background on “Keep the original”. INZ is more likely to accept a professional photographer's photo, and selfies are allowed only in the NZeTA mobile app. The online form checks your upload and shows an error message if the photo does not meet the rules.
• Ireland passport: DFA says photos taken at home are less likely to meet its requirements and must not be digitally enhanced or changed, so leave Background on “Keep the original”. A photo booth or photo provider with a photo code is the route DFA suggests if home photos keep failing. For paper forms, your witness must write the form number on the back of two of the four photos and sign and stamp them.
• Germany passport & ID card: Not for a German passport or ID card application in Germany: since 1 May 2025 the photo must be taken digitally by a registered photo service provider (who sends it to the authority through a certified cloud and hands you a Data-Matrix code) or by the passport authority itself. Paper photos were accepted only in exceptional cases until 31 July 2025. A printed 45 × 35 mm photo is still possible only when you apply at a German mission abroad that cannot take the photo itself, and the register then marks it as not verifiable. Use this crop to practise framing, or for that case after checking with the mission.
• France passport & ID card: Not for a French passport or identity card application: service-public.fr and ANTS say the photo must be taken by an authorised professional photographer or in a photo booth using a system approved by the Ministry of the Interior, and in mainland France it cannot be taken at the counter. A home print, or a photo cropped here, does not meet that rule, and a non-compliant photo is rejected. Use this 35 × 45 mm crop to check framing before you visit a photographer, or for another form that asks for this size.
• China visa: The online visa application (COVA) checks an uploaded photo automatically and has its own drag-and-crop tool. If the photo still fails after several uploads, the Chinese Embassy in the US says to bring a standard printed photo when you submit your passport. Visa centers and consulates in other countries may add their own rules. The tool cannot check skin tone, exposure, shadows, glare or head tilt, which the official chart lists as reasons for refusal.
• Japan visa: Japanese embassies and consulates do not all use the same size: the Embassy of Japan in India and the Consulate-General in Mumbai ask for 45 × 45 mm, and US consulates such as Denver also accept 2 × 2 in. Check the page of the mission or accredited agency that takes your application. For JAPAN eVISA you upload the photo instead (JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP or HEIC, up to 2 MB recommended) and fit it into the site's red frame; a photo copied from a passport or driving licence is not accepted.
• Singapore passport & IC: ICA says the photo must not be altered or enhanced in any way, including with photo editing software, and that a flipped (mirror-image) photo is refused, so leave Background on “Keep the original”. ICA does allow resizing to the required dimensions, but it does not recommend selfies: ask someone else to take the picture. A photo that does not meet the rules delays the application, and only ICA decides whether it is accepted.
• OCI card: MHA's OCI photo specification says not to retouch, enhance or soften the photo, and the OCI FAQ asks for a light background that is not white: keep Background on “Keep the original” and stand in front of a light grey wall instead. The portal's older 2 × 2 in guide shows a smaller head (1 to 1 3/8 in) than the current FAQ's 80% face coverage, which the guides here follow; if your Indian mission's checklist gives a head size, use that.