How to Make a Passport Photo at Home: Sizes for the US, UK, Canada, India & the EU

You can make a perfectly usable passport or ID photo at home with a phone, a plain wall and ten careful minutes — as long as the finished photo matches the official size for your application. This guide covers the standard sizes for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India and the EU/Schengen area, and how to produce them exactly.

The sizes at a glance

Notice the pattern: most of the world uses either a square 2 × 2 inch photo or the 35 × 45 mm rectangle, while Canada's passport photo is noticeably larger and taller. Using the wrong one is one of the most common reasons photos are rejected, so confirm which document you are applying for before you start.

Step 1: Take the photo properly

1. Background: stand in front of a plain, light-coloured wall with nothing hanging on it. Avoid patterned wallpaper, doors with panels and busy rooms.
2. Light: face a window or a bright, even light source so there are no shadows on your face or behind your head. Avoid a lamp directly overhead.
3. Camera position: have someone else take the photo at eye level, about 1 to 1.5 metres away, or use a tripod and timer. Selfies distort facial proportions and are rejected by some authorities.
4. Pose: face the camera squarely, both ears and shoulders visible, eyes open, mouth closed, neutral expression — unless your official rules say otherwise.
5. Glasses and head coverings: rules vary by country and change over time. Check your official requirements — many authorities now require glasses to be removed.
6. Clothing: wear everyday clothes with a colour that contrasts with the background. Avoid uniforms and, for light backgrounds, plain white tops that blend in.

Step 2: Crop and size it exactly

Your phone photo is a big rectangle; the passport photo is a specific ratio with your head centred. Cropping by eye almost never lands on the exact size, so use a sizing tool:

1. Open our Passport Photo Maker and add your photo.
2. Pick your country from the list — the tool sets the exact pixel dimensions (for example 600 × 600 for the US and India, 413 × 531 for the UK and EU, 600 × 840 for Canada).
3. Choose the background option if your photo needs a clean white or light background — but read the warning below first.
4. Use the zoom and position sliders so your head and shoulders fill the frame the way the preview shows, then download the JPG.

Step 3: If the portal also has a file-size limit

Online applications often add a second rule: the photo must also be under a file-size cap such as 200 KB or 240 KB. If your sized photo is too heavy, run it through our Image Compressor using the exact target-size mode — type the KB limit and the tool produces a file just under it. If a portal instead asks for specific pixel dimensions outside the passport presets, set them directly in the Image Resizer.

Common reasons passport photos get rejected

• Wrong dimensions or wrong aspect ratio for the document.
• Shadows across the face, or a shadow of the head on the wall behind.
• Head too small or too large in the frame — follow your official head-size guidance.
• Eyes closed, smiling broadly, or head tilted.
• Photo is a scan of an old printed photo, or is blurry, pixelated or heavily filtered.
• Photo is too old — many authorities require a recent photo, commonly taken within the last six months; check your rules.

Frequently asked questions