How to print passport photos at home or at a photo counter

Step by step

1. Choose your document. Open Passport Photo and pick the passport, visa or ID from the list (search by country or document). Read the note it shows: it tells you when an office takes the photo itself.
2. Add a photo. Someone else holds the camera at eye level, about 1 to 1.5 metres away, while you stand about half a metre in front of a plain light wall, facing a window. The app crops it to the size and head rule, then checks it.
3. Pick the paper. Under Print, choose 4×6 or 5×7 for a photo counter, or A4 or Letter for your own printer.
4. Save the sheet. Tap Save the 4×6 print (JPG), or Save the A4 sheet (PDF) for paper.
5. Print, measure and cut. Order or print it, measure one photo, then cut them out along the grey lines.

Ordering it as an ordinary photo print

The 4×6 sheet is a normal photo: a JPG of 1800 × 1200 pixels, marked as 300 dpi so it prints at its true size. Order it like any other snap at a photo counter, a self-service kiosk or an online photo service, as a 4 × 6 in (10 × 15 cm) print. The 5×7 sheet is 2100 × 1500 pixels, ordered as a 5 × 7 in (13 × 18 cm) print. Two 2 × 2 in photos or eight 35 × 45 mm photos fit on a 4×6; the 4×6 guide has every size.

• Choose no borders.
• Don’t let it crop: turn off any “fill” or “crop to fit” option.
• Turn off automatic enhancement if the order offers it. Several offices refuse photos changed by software.
• Pick the finish your document asks for (below).

Printing on your own printer

Choose A4 or Letter and save the PDF. Print it at 100 % (“Actual size”), not “Fit to page”. At the bottom of the page is a short line with the words “This line should measure 50 mm”. Measure it. If it’s longer or shorter, the printer scaled the page and every photo is the wrong size, so print again at 100 %.

Use photo paper, not plain paper, and the printer’s best photo setting. Some offices are strict about home printing:

• India: computer prints aren’t accepted for a passport: use photo paper (Passport Seva instructions).
• Australia: glossy photo paper of at least 200 gsm, printed by dye-sublimation, not inkjet (Australian Passport Office).
• United Kingdom: printed to a professional standard on photo paper (GOV.UK).

For those, order the 4×6 sheet as a photo print instead.

Matte or glossy?

Most rules just ask for photo paper. These say more:

Where your document says nothing about the finish, check its own page before you order.

Cutting them out

Each photo has a thin grey line round it, just outside its edge, in the gap between photos. Cut on the inside of the line so the photo keeps its full size. A paper trimmer, or a craft knife along a steel ruler, gives straighter edges than scissors. Hold the photos by their edges.

Then measure one: it should be exactly the size your document asks for, such as 35 × 45 mm or 2 × 2 in (50.8 mm).

Where a home-made photo won’t do

Canada’s passport needs photos taken in person by a commercial photographer or studio, with their name, address and the date on the back (canada.ca). The app warns you when you choose it.

Some offices take the photo themselves, so there’s nothing to print. In the app’s list:

• France (passport or ID card): only an approved photographer or booth, which gives you the e-photo code (service-public.gouv.fr).
• Germany, applying in Germany: since May 2025, digital photos only, from a certified photographer or the office’s own terminal (personalausweisportal.de). Missions abroad may still take a printed one: see the German passport page.
• Philippines: the DFA takes your photo when you apply (DFA).
• Mexico: taken at the SRE office or consulate on the day (gob.mx).
• Brazil, age 5 and over, and Malaysia, age 4 and over: taken at the appointment (Polícia Federal, Imigresen). Younger children bring one.
• Pakistan: taken at the Regional Passport Office (DGIP). India’s Aadhaar: taken at the enrolment centre (UIDAI).
• US driver’s licences: taken at the DMV in most states; Texans renewing by mail from out of state are the exception (Texas DPS).

Elsewhere, home prints are allowed but often turned away. South Africa’s photo sheet is for offices that don’t capture the photo digitally, and home prints are often refused there, so have the sheet printed as a photo (DIRCO). Chinese consulates advise a photo-studio ID photo (Chinese embassy), and Australia’s Passport Office doesn’t recommend online services or apps.