The background rules, country by country
White is not the universal answer. France forbids it, the UK wants cream or light grey, and four authorities reject software-replaced backgrounds.
Open a photo
It stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account, watermark or limit.
JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC. Drag a file here if you prefer.
Drag the blue line to the top of your hair, the red line to the bottom of your chin, and the green line to the centre of your face. The crop follows.
Every file carries its real print size, so a photo lab lays it out at the right dimensions instead of guessing 72 DPI.
- Photo size
- 50.8 × 50.8 mm 2.00 × 2.00 in
- Head height
- 25–35 mm 49–69% of the height
- Background
- White or off-white
- At 300 DPI
- 600 × 600 px 1200 × 1200 at 600 DPI
What each country asks for
White is the assumption almost everybody makes, and it is wrong in more places than it is right.
| Background | Countries |
|---|---|
| Plain white | 🇲🇽 Mexico, 🇨🇺 Cuba, 🇨🇷 Costa Rica, 🇵🇦 Panama, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, 🇷🇺 Russia, 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇸🇮 Slovenia, 🇷🇸 Serbia, 🇹🇷 Turkey and 44 more |
| Plain light blue | 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇸🇰 Slovakia |
| White or off-white | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Plain white or off-white | 🇺🇸 United States (Visa) |
| Plain white or light-coloured | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Plain cream or light grey | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Single colour, preferably light grey | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Plain light grey or light blue - white is forbidden | 🇫🇷 France |
| Plain light-coloured, single tone | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| Uniform, plain white | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| Grey, light blue or white | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| Plain light grey, white or cream | 🇮🇪 Ireland |
| Plain light-coloured | 🇪🇺 Schengen Visa |
| Plain white or light grey | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| White | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Before you replace a background
The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico all state that photos altered with software are not accepted, and background replacement is the alteration they name most often. If you are applying to one of those, a plain wall and a step forward will serve you far better than any cut-out — including this one.
Related guides
Why you should not let software retouch your passport photo
They have just used a tool that replaced their background with white, and something they half-read has made them wonder whether that will get the application rejected.
What a passport photo actually costs
They are about to pay a counter price and want to know whether it is the going rate or whether they are being had.
Printing passport photos on a 4 × 6 sheet
They have a photo and want six of them on paper without paying counter prices, and every guide they have found skips the step where the print comes out the wrong size.
Why passport photos get rejected
Their application came back, or they are about to send one and want to know what they are risking.
Passport photo sizes, and why the head height matters more
They have been given a size in millimetres or inches and want to know what it means for the photo they are about to take.
Can you smile in a passport photo?
They are about to take the photo, phone in hand, and cannot remember whether smiling is allowed.