Passport photo requirements by country 2026: a direct comparison of the six markets PassSnap supports

The quick comparison table

Size: the most consequential difference

Size is the first thing to get right, and the differences are larger than most people expect. The United States uses a 51×51mm square (2×2 inches) — a format shared by very few other countries at a similar size. The UK, Australia, and New Zealand use 35×45mm, a portrait rectangle that is both narrower and shorter than the US format. Canada uses 50×70mm, a format used by Canada alone among major passport-issuing countries and substantially larger than any of the others — the total photo area of a Canadian passport photo is more than twice that of a UK photo and nearly three times that of the smallest common format. Hong Kong SAR uses 40×50mm — neither the US square nor the standard ICAO rectangle, but its own unique format. This causes particular problems for Hong Kong permanent residents living in the United States or UK who need to renew their HKSAR passport. A standard US 2×2 inch photo is the wrong shape. A UK 35×45mm photo is too small. The only way to get the right size outside Hong Kong is to specifically request it from a lab that stocks it, or to prepare the file yourself with the correct dimensions. The face-height requirement adds another layer of complexity. All six countries require the face to occupy a specific proportion of the frame, but the precise range differs. The US standard is the most lenient — 50 to 69 percent, which translates to a head measuring 25 to 35mm in a 2×2 inch print. Canada and Australia require the face to fill 31 to 36mm and 32 to 36mm respectively within their taller frames. Hong Kong requires 32 to 36mm in the 50mm frame height. These numbers are not interchangeable. A photo taken at the correct distance for a US passport photo will produce a face that is too small for a Canadian photo and too large if the camera is moved to compensate for Canada's taller format without recalculating the distance.

Background colour: where it gets complicated

Background colour is the rule most often misreported in online guides. Here is the accurate picture for each country. The United States requires a plain white background. Off-white is technically acceptable if it is close to white, but any visible colour cast, shadow, or texture causes rejection. The 2026 AI ban has made this slightly more complex — smartphone cameras often apply automatic colour correction that turns a genuinely white background into a slightly warmer or cooler tone in the saved image. Disabling automatic white-balance correction before shooting on a white background reduces this risk. The United Kingdom's official GOV.UK guidance requires a "plain light-coloured background." The official wording does not specify white, grey, or cream. Professional studios in the UK consistently use light grey or cream because these provide better facial contrast for biometric scanning than pure white. A white background is not prohibited by the official text and is accepted successfully in large numbers of UK applications, but light grey or cream is the more reliable choice if you have control over the background colour. Canada requires plain white or light-coloured for passport applications, with explicit guidance that the background must contrast with both the face and the clothing. In practice, Canadian photo studios consistently use plain white. Australia's official guidance specifies plain white or light grey. The no-retouching rule makes this more consequential than in other countries — you cannot fix a background colour problem in post-processing, because any editing whatsoever, including background correction, is prohibited. Get the background right at capture. New Zealand is the most explicit: the official guidance specifies a non-white background — light grey or off-white — because these colours produce better contrast for biometric processing than pure white. A pure white background submitted to the NZ passport portal will fail the automated background check. This is the opposite of the US requirement and the most commonly misunderstood rule for US residents applying for NZ visas or passports. Hong Kong SAR requires plain white. This is consistent with most East Asian passport authorities and aligns with the US standard.

Glasses: one of the starkest cross-country differences

Most countries have moved to a blanket glasses ban, and the migration accelerated between 2016 and 2024. Among the six PassSnap markets, four prohibit glasses entirely for passport and standard visa photos: the US (since 2016), UK (since 2016), Canada (since 2017), and Australia (since 2024 with strict enforcement, with medical certificate as the only exception). New Zealand and Hong Kong SAR are the exceptions. Hong Kong SAR allows clear prescription glasses in passport photos — provided the lenses are completely clear (no tint, no photochromic residual, no blue-light coating with any colour cast) and there is absolutely no glare anywhere on the lenses. This rule requires careful testing at the actual shooting location, because the same glasses that look glare-free in one lighting setup can produce edge reflections in another. New Zealand allows prescription glasses specifically for citizenship applications — not for passport or visa applications, where glasses are discouraged. Clear frames with no glare and full eye visibility are permitted for citizenship. The practical implication for anyone who wears glasses and is applying for documents in multiple countries is straightforward: take two sessions. One session with glasses removed covers every country without exception. If you specifically want a compliant HK SAR passport photo with glasses, that requires a separate session where you can confirm the no-glare condition.

Recency: the UK outlier

Five of the six countries require the photo to have been taken within the last six months. The United Kingdom requires photos taken within the last month — both for passport applications through HMPO and for visa applications through UKVI. This one-month window is the strictest recency requirement among all major English-speaking passport authorities and is frequently overlooked by applicants who have experience with other countries' six-month standards. The practical implication is that if you are gathering documents for a UK application over several weeks, the photo should be taken in the final days before submission rather than at the start of the process. A photo taken at the beginning of a four-week document-gathering process may already be approaching the one-month limit by the time you submit.

The studio requirement: Canada's unique rule

Canada is the only one of the six countries that requires a commercial photographer's involvement in passport and immigration photo submissions. For paper applications, the photographer must stamp or handwrite their name, full studio address, and the date the photo was taken on the back of each printed photo. For digital portal submissions — including the PR card and citizenship portals — a scanned photographer receipt or signed studio declaration must be uploaded alongside the photo file. The other five countries have no studio requirement. You can take the photo yourself, have a friend take it, or use a photo studio — the output is treated the same regardless of its origin. Canada's requirement exists partly as an identity-fraud prevention measure and partly as a quality-assurance mechanism, since professional studios are expected to enforce the composition requirements before printing.

How PassSnap fits into this

PassSnap 2.0 supports all six markets as dedicated photo types. When you select a country and document type before capture, the app applies the correct crop dimensions, face-height guidance, and digital export specifications for that specific market automatically. The guided capture shows whether the face fills the correct proportion of the frame in real time — so the difference between the US's 50-69% face-height range and New Zealand's 60-70% range is handled by the app rather than by the applicant having to calculate camera distances and check measurements manually. For Canadian applications, PassSnap prepares the correctly formatted file which you then take to a photo lab for printing and the required back-of-photo stamp. The app handles the composition and sizing step; the studio handles the documentation step. This split workflow is practical for applicants who want to control the framing before visiting a studio.

Before you take the photo

Before you set up for a session, confirm exactly which country and document type you are preparing for, and look up that country's specific requirements in PassSnap's supported photo types list rather than relying on generic passport photo guidance. The most common mistake in multi-country photo preparation is assuming that a photo prepared for one country will transfer to another — it rarely does without at least a size adjustment.

If you are preparing photos for more than one country in the same session, choose the setup that works for all of them. A light grey background satisfies UK, Australia, and New Zealand — but not the US or Canada, which require white or near-white. If you need to cover both groups, a plain white wall works for the US, Canada, and Hong Kong SAR, and is technically acceptable for the UK as well, while a light grey wall is the better choice for Australia and New Zealand. The overlap between these two groups makes it difficult to satisfy all six with a single background — a white wall is the pragmatic compromise if you need one setup to cover everything.

Remove your glasses regardless of which country you are preparing for, unless you are specifically taking a HK SAR passport photo or an NZ citizenship photo and can confirm the no-glare condition. Preparing a glasses-free photo eliminates the most common cross-country compliance risk.

FAQ

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