Passport & Visa Photo Size Guide for India, US, UK & Schengen
7 min read · June 2026
A passport or visa application is the one place where a photo of the wrong size gets your whole submission rejected. Every country sets its own rules for dimensions, background colour, head size and file size, and a photo that is fine for one is rejected by another. This guide lists the requirements for the countries people ask about most, and shows how to turn an ordinary photo into one that matches.
The rules that apply almost everywhere
Before the country-specific numbers, a handful of rules are nearly universal, and getting these right solves most rejections:
- Plain, light background — white or off-white, with no shadows, patterns or objects behind you.
- Face the camera straight on with a neutral expression and both eyes open.
- Even lighting with no harsh shadows across the face or background.
- Recent photo — usually taken within the last six months.
- No glasses in most modern rules, and nothing covering the face apart from religious headwear that does not obscure features.
Sizes by country
- India (passport): 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm), white background. Online portals often want a digital copy between roughly 10 KB and 1 MB depending on the service.
- United States (passport & visa): 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm), white or off-white background. The head should measure between 1 inch and 1⅜ inches (25–35 mm). The online DV/visa systems usually require a square JPEG, often 600 × 600 pixels or larger and under a stated file size.
- United Kingdom: 35 × 45 mm for printed photos, light grey or cream background. The digital version uploaded online has its own pixel and file-size guidance during the application.
- Schengen visa (most of Europe): 35 × 45 mm, light background, with the face taking up 70–80% of the frame.
- Canada: 50 × 70 mm — taller than most — with the head measuring 31–36 mm from chin to crown.
- Australia: 35 × 45 mm, plain light background, similar to the Schengen standard.
These change from time to time and individual consulates can add requirements, so always cross-check against the official application page before you submit. Use this list to get into the right ballpark, not as a legal source.
Inches, millimetres and pixels — how they relate
Printed sizes are given in millimetres or inches, but online forms want pixels, and the bridge between them is resolution (DPI). At 300 DPI — the usual print standard — a 35 × 45 mm photo works out to about 413 × 531 pixels, and a 2 × 2 inch photo to 600 × 600 pixels. If a portal asks for a specific pixel size, match that exactly; if it asks for a print size, 300 DPI is a safe assumption.
Turning a normal photo into a compliant one
You do not need a studio. A clear, well-lit photo against a plain wall, taken straight on, can be shaped into a compliant image in a couple of steps:
- Open the Passport Photo tool and upload your picture.
- Pick the country/document preset or enter a custom size, then position the crop so your head sits within the frame at the right proportion.
- Set a target file size in KB if the portal demands one — the tool compresses to match while keeping the photo sharp.
- Download. You now have a correctly sized, correctly compressed image ready to upload or print.
If a form specifically wants the background removed or replaced with pure white and your wall is off-colour, do that edit first, then crop and compress.
Common reasons photos get rejected
- Head too large or too small in the frame — the most frequent failure.
- A visible shadow on the background.
- Smiling or tilting the head instead of a neutral, straight-on pose.
- The file is above the size limit, or below a stated minimum.
- Wrong aspect ratio, so the photo looks stretched.
Get the background plain, the pose neutral, the crop proportioned to the country's rule and the file within its size window, and your photo will sail through. The numbers differ from one country to the next, but the discipline behind a compliant photo is the same everywhere.
Make a passport-ready photo
Crop to size and compress to an exact KB — free and instant.
Open Passport Photo Tool