How to take a passport photo at home with your phone

Is a home photo allowed where you apply?

Light and background

• Daylight from the front. Face a window on a bright day. Light from one side puts a shadow on half your face; ceiling lights cast shadows under the eyes.
• A plain, light wall. Most countries ask for white, off-white or light grey (the UK asks for a plain, light-coloured background). If your walls are coloured, the U.S. page suggests covering one with a white sheet or blanket.
• Stand about half a metre in front of the wall, so your shadow falls behind you, out of the picture.
• No pictures, plants, door frames or patterns behind you.

Camera position and distance

• Someone else takes it. A selfie at arm's length makes the nose look bigger and the ears smaller, and it is hard to keep the camera straight. If you really are alone, put the phone on a shelf or a stack of books at eye level and use the timer, but check your country's rules first.
• Use the main (rear) camera at its highest quality, not the front camera.
• Eye level, about 1–1.5 metres away, phone held upright. Include your head and shoulders with space around them; the cropping comes later.
• Turn off portrait mode, beauty mode and filters. Photos must not be edited to change your appearance.
• Tap your face on the screen to focus, and hold still.

Pose and expression

• Face the camera straight on, head level, shoulders square.
• Neutral expression with your mouth closed and both eyes open.
• Hair away from your eyes.
• Take off glasses. The U.S. doesn't allow them except with a doctor's note, and in the UK they are only allowed if you have to wear them.
• No hats or head coverings, except for religious or medical reasons, with your whole face visible.
• No headphones. Wear everyday clothes in a colour that stands out from the background.

Crop to the right size

Each country has its own photo size and head size: the U.S. uses 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm), the UK, Australia and the Schengen countries 35 × 45 mm, and Kenya 5 × 5 cm. Cropping by hand rarely gets the head size right. The Passport Photo Maker does it for you:

1. Choose your document from the list (18 passports and visas).
2. Add your photo. The tool finds your face and crops it with the head at the official size.
3. Read the checks for background, light, sharpness and glasses, and retake the photo if something fails.
4. Download the digital photo, or a 4 × 6 in print sheet with several copies.

The photo is processed on your phone and never uploaded.

Printing or uploading

• Printing: take the 4 × 6 in print sheet to a photo lab or kiosk and ask for a normal photo print. Don't resize it. The U.S. asks for matte or glossy photo-quality paper; Canada doesn't accept home prints at all.
• Uploading: use the original digital file. For a UK online application, GOV.UK asks for at least 600 × 750 pixels and a file between 50 KB and 10 MB, and says not to crop it yourself, because it will be cropped for you.
• Never upload a photo of a printed photo, a scan of an old passport photo, or a screenshot.

Mistakes that get home photos rejected

• A shadow on the wall behind the head, or on one side of the face.
• Selfie distortion, a tilted head, or a camera held below the chin.
• Beauty filters, smoothing or portrait-mode blur.
• Glare on glasses, or tinted lenses.
• A head that is too small in the frame, or a cut-off chin or hair.
• An old photo: most countries want one from the last 6 months, and the UK's online service from the last month.