What governments actually publish about passport and ID photos
Every guide to passport photos quotes the same kind of number: the head must fill some share of the frame. We wanted to know how many of those numbers the issuing authorities actually publish. So we opened the authority’s own page for 104 official document photo specifications across 37 countries, and counted.
The short answer
Authorities are consistent about the printed size and the background. They are much less consistent about the head-height figure, and largely silent about the digital file.
| Item | Published by the authority | Authority publishes no such figure | Not established |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printed size in millimetres | 83 | 15 | 6 |
| Head height as a share of the photo | 56 | 40 | 8 |
| Background colour | 76 | 20 | 8 |
Out of 104 documents. “Not established” means we have not settled whether the authority publishes it — not that it is missing.
The head-height number is the weak one
Printed size is published for 83 of 104 documents (80%). The head-height share is published for 56 (54%). For 40 documents across 20 countries and regions, the authority publishes no head-height figure at all. It may require the whole head to be visible, or say nothing about the head.
This matters because software cannot work with “the whole head must be visible”. It needs a number. So every passport-photo service, ours included, supplies one for those 40 documents — in our data all 40 of them carry a number. The difference is whether anyone tells you the number is not the government’s.
| Country or region | Documents with no published head-height figure |
|---|---|
| Australia | Citizenship (online), Residence permit, Visa, Work permit |
| Brazil | Visa |
| Chile | Visa |
| Colombia | Citizenship, Visa |
| Indonesia | Driving licence, Passport |
| Italy | Driving licence, Visa |
| Japan | Residence permit |
| Malaysia | Driving licence, Visa, Work permit |
| Mexico | Citizenship |
| Morocco | Passport |
| New Zealand | Citizenship |
| Pakistan | Passport |
| Philippines | Citizenship, Residence permit, Work permit |
| Singapore | Citizenship, ID card, Residence permit |
| Spain | Driving licence, ID card |
| Tunisia | ID card, Passport |
| Türkiye | Citizenship, Visa |
| United Arab Emirates | Residence permit, Visa |
| United Kingdom | Residence permit, Work permit |
| Vietnam | Driving licence, Passport, Visa, Work permit |
Digital requirements are mostly absent
Photos are increasingly uploaded rather than printed, but the pixel requirement is stated far less often than the millimetre one. Of 104 documents, 17 carry a pixel rule we could read in the authority’s own material, 21 have a pixel figure whose published status we have not established, and 66 have no digital submission specification on file at all. A maximum file size is stated for 42 of 104.
| Country or region | Document | How it is stated | Pixels |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Visa | range | 600×600 to 1200×1200 |
| China | Visa | range | 354×472 to 420×560 |
| South Korea | Passport | range | 395×507 to 431×550 |
| India | Passport | preferred | 630×810 |
| India | Visa | range | 350×350 to 1000×1000 |
| India | OCI | range | 200×200 to 900×900 |
| Singapore | Passport | preferred | 400×514 |
| Singapore | Citizenship | preferred | 400×514 |
| Singapore | ID card | preferred | 400×514 |
| Singapore | Residence permit | preferred | 400×514 |
| Finland | ID card | exact | 500×653 |
| Finland | Passport | exact | 500×653 |
| Indonesia | Driving licence | exact | 480×640 |
| Mongolia | ID card | exact | 413×531 |
| Mongolia | Passport | exact | 413×531 |
| Malaysia | Work permit | exact | 99×142 |
| Poland | Driving licence | exact | 480×615 |
What we are not saying
- We are not saying those 40 documents have no head rule. Many authorities describe the head in words instead of a percentage, and a photo that satisfies the words is compliant.
- We are not saying the supplied numbers are wrong. Ours are chosen to satisfy the wording with room to spare.
- We are not speaking for any authority. This counts what we read on their pages. No authority has reviewed it.
- Requirements change without notice. Check the current requirement with the issuing authority before submitting a photo.
How we counted
A figure counts as published only when two things hold: the item is not marked as unpublished, and the source address on file for that document has been opened and read. If only the first holds we count it as not established, rather than assume it is official. “Source checked on” is the date that address was opened; it is not a re-check of every field on that date. The method is set out on sources and verification.
Use these numbers
Every figure here is counted from the requirement pages on this site, each of which carries a provenance label and the source address it came from.
Cite as: PhotoSpec, “What governments actually publish about passport and ID photos”, https://getphotospec.com/what-governments-publish/