Passport Photo Size by Country

In short Most of the world uses a 35 × 45 mm passport photo with the head between 32 and 36 mm from crown to chin, which follows ICAO Doc 9303 in framing the head at roughly 70 to 80 per cent of the image height. The exceptions are the part worth knowing, because a photo cut for one country is usually refused by another. The United States is the biggest: a square 2 × 2 inch print with the head at 1 to 1⅜ inches, so the face fills 50 to 69 per cent of the frame — a US photo cannot simply be trimmed to 35 × 45, because both the shape and the head size are wrong. Canada frames wider still at 50 × 70 mm, and additionally requires the photographer's name, address and the date on the back of the print, which no digital tool can supply. China uses 33 × 48 mm, close enough to 35 × 45 to look like a rounding error and different enough to be rejected. And the pair that catches most people is the one that looks identical: Britain and the Schengen area both print 35 × 45 mm, but Britain wants a 29 to 34 mm head and Schengen wants 32 to 36 mm, so a photo cropped to European requirements is routinely refused in the UK for the head being too large. What none of these numbers can tell you is whether a particular photograph will be accepted. Size and head height are the measurable part; expression, lighting, shadow on the background, glare on spectacles and hair across the face are judged by a person, and a photo can be correct to the millimetre and still be sent back.