Passport photo guides
The country pages on this site tell you the numbers. These guides cover everything the numbers don't: the lighting, the clothing, the expression, the printing, and the reasons a technically correct photo still gets sent back.
Getting a passport photo right is really two separate problems, and most people only think about one of them. The first is geometry — the print size, the chin-to-crown head height, how far down from the top edge your head sits. That part is arithmetic, and the cropper on each country page handles it for you.
The second problem is everything that happens before you press the shutter, and it is the one that actually gets applications rejected. A shadow on the wall behind you cannot be cropped out. A white shirt that merges into a white background cannot be fixed by resizing. Glasses with a glint of window reflection across one lens will fail whatever dimensions the file has. Neither can a slight smile that pulls your cheeks up and changes the distance between the landmarks the facial-recognition software measures.
These guides are organised around that split. If you are about to take the photo, start with the first group. If you have the photo already and need it on paper, the second. If something came back rejected and you are trying to work out why, the third.
Before you shoot
Decisions you have to make before the shutter goes, because none of them can be fixed by cropping afterwards.
What to wear for a passport photo
Colours that disappear into the background, collars that work, and the jewellery and makeup rules.
Can you smile in a passport photo?
Mostly no — but the US allows a closed-mouth smile and the UK does not. Country by country, plus what "neutral" means to the software.
Newborn and infant passport photos
How to photograph a baby who cannot sit up, hold still, or keep their eyes open on cue.
Taking & printing
The practical end: setting up a usable shot at home, and getting it onto paper at the right physical size.
Rules & reference
What the authorities actually publish, where specs differ between documents, and why submissions come back.
Passport photo requirements in 2026
Every size, background rule and head-height range on this site in one comparison table, plus what changed in the last year.
Why passport photos get rejected
The failure modes that actually come back from passport offices, and how to catch each one first.
Passport photo vs. visa photo
When the two specs are identical, when they quietly differ, and why reusing the wrong one costs you weeks.
US visa photo size (DS-160 and USCIS)
The 2×2in spec, the 600×600px digital upload, and the differences between DS-160 and USCIS forms.
USCIS photo requirements
Photo rules for green card, naturalisation and work permit filings, form by form.
MyKad and Malaysian IC photo size
The IC photo spec, how it differs from the Malaysian passport photo, and what JPN actually checks.
Looking for a specific country instead?
Each of the 32 countries and visa programmes covered here has its own page with the exact print size, head-height range, background rule and digital output resolution, plus a crop guide built to those figures. The full country list has all of them, and passport photo requirements in 2026 puts every specification side by side in one table if you are comparing two countries, or applying for a passport and a visa at the same time.
Where the figures on those pages come from, how they get checked, and what happens when two official sources disagree is set out in the editorial policy.