United States Passport Photo Size

In short A United States passport photo is 51 × 51 mm with the head measuring 25 to 35 mm from crown to chin, on a plain white or off-white background. That head range works out at 49 to 69 per cent of the image height, which is outside the 70 to 80 per cent ICAO Doc 9303 asks for, and deliberately so. That is precisely why a photo cut to another country's requirements is likely to be refused here even when the paper size matches. The United States is the big exception: a square 2 × 2 inch photo with the head between 1 and 1⅜ inches, which is 50 to 69 per cent of the image rather than the 70 to 80 ICAO asks for. A US photo therefore cannot be trimmed down to 35 × 45 — the head sits too small in the frame and the aspect ratio is wrong in both directions. In pixels, the print needs 603 × 603 at 300 dpi, which is the normal minimum for printing, and 1205 × 1205 at 600 dpi, which is what many online applications ask for. Note that dpi is not a property of a file at all — it is the pixel count divided by the print size, so quoting megapixels answers a different question. What none of this settles is whether a particular photograph will be accepted: size, head height and background are the measurable part, while expression, lighting, shadow on the background, glare on spectacles and hair across the face are judged by a person, and any of them can fail a photo that is correct to the millimetre.