Guide
Making a passport or visa photo at home, sized and ready to print
Passport, visa and ID photos have strict rules about size, head position and background, and photo booths and studios charge for something your phone can do. This tool turns an ordinary photo into a correctly sized document photo and a print sheet with several copies, entirely in your browser.
Taking a suitable photo
Stand facing the camera in front of a plain, light wall, about half a meter away from it to avoid shadows. Use soft, even light, such as daylight from a window in front of you, never a harsh flash or overhead lamp. Look straight into the lens with a neutral expression and mouth closed, shoulders visible, hair away from the face. Remove glasses if the rules require it, as many now do. Have someone else take the picture from around 1.5 meters at eye level; selfies distort faces.
Choosing the document
Pick the preset for your document: United States passport or visa, United Kingdom, Schengen visa and EU passports, India passport or visa, Canada, Australia, China visa, Japan, or the generic ICAO size used by most other countries. Each preset knows the photo dimensions and the allowed head height, from chin to the top of the hair. For other documents, enter a custom width and height.
Automatic framing
The tool detects your face and places the frame so that the head height falls within the allowed range and the face is centered. Guides in the preview show where the chin should be and a shaded band for the top of the hair. Drag or resize the frame to fine-tune. If no face is found, place the frame by hand.
Background
Many documents require a white, off-white or light gray background. If your wall is not plain enough, choose white, light grey or light blue, and the background is replaced using an AI cut-out model that runs on your device. The model, about 46 MB, downloads once the first time you use it. Choose “Keep” if the original background already meets the rules.
Downloading the photo
The single photo is saved as a JPG at 300 dpi, the resolution most online application portals and printers expect, with that resolution written into the file. Many online passport and visa applications accept such a file directly; check the portal’s pixel and file size limits.
Printing a sheet
For paper applications, download a print sheet: a 4 × 6 inch or 10 × 15 cm sheet with several copies, or an A4 page. Copies are arranged with cut lines, and the spacing adapts so as many as possible fit. Print at actual size on glossy or matte photo paper, at home or at a photo kiosk, then cut along the lines.
Common reasons for rejection
Shadows on the face or background, glare on glasses, a tilted head, hair covering the eyebrows, a smile with teeth where it is not allowed, a blurry or overly retouched picture, and photos older than six months. Check these before printing.
Privacy
Your photo is processed on your device and never uploaded. That matters for an image that will be used on identity documents.
Related tools
To check the print resolution of any image, use the Image DPI Converter. For other background changes, Remove Image Background offers more options.
Checked against the current version of the Passport Photo Maker on .