Passport photos

A good passport photo is critical for a usable, secure passport.

Many countries, including Australia, use biometric technology to match your face against the image on your passport. Your photo needs to meet these guidelines so the biometric technology will work.

When you apply for a passport, you'll need to include 2 good-quality photos that meet all of the requirements on this page.

For a quick overview of these requirements, watch our video.

Who can take your passport photo

We recommend getting a professional passport photo provider to take your photos. You can find providers at:

post offices
professional photographers
some large chain stores with printing facilities
many camera stores
some pharmacies and chemists
other established reputable businesses.

We do not recommend using an online passport photo service or a mobile app. These may put you in danger of identity fraud.

Passport photo guidelines

Photo size

Your photos must be:

35–40 mm wide
45–50 mm high.

The height of your face, from your chin to your crown, must be 32–36 mm.

Photo quality

Your photos must be:

less than 6 months old
good quality colour prints, produced using dye sublimation (not from an inkjet printer).

They must have:

a clear, in-focus image with no marks or red-eye
a plain white or light background that contrasts with your face
uniform lighting with appropriate brightness and contrast to show your natural skin tone
your face centred and looking straight at the camera
the edges of your face clearly visible.

They must not have:

any retouching, such as removing moles, wrinkles or scars
any shadows or reflections
your head tilted in any direction
your hair obscuring the edges of your face.

Anyone over 3 years old must have a neutral expression, eyes open, and mouth closed.

For children under 3 years old, their mouth may be open. But no one else can be visible in the photo.

Facial and head accessories

In general, you should have nothing on your face or head in your photo. But there are some exceptions.

Religious head coverings

If you usually cover your head for religious reasons, you can wear the covering in your passport photo.

Religious head coverings must be plain, without patterns (even small patterns).

You must wear them in a way that shows your entire face from the bottom of your chin to the top of your forehead. The edges of your face on either side must also be visible.

Jewellery and piercings

If you usually wear jewellery or have a piercing, you must ensure it doesn't obscure any part of your face. This is especially true around your eyes, mouth and nose.

There must also be no reflection from any rings or studs.

Glasses

You must not wear glasses in a passport photo unless you can't remove them for medical reasons. Vision impairment alone is not an acceptable reason to wear glasses in your photo.

If you can't remove your glasses for medical reasons, you must ensure:

the frames don't obscure your eyes
there's no reflection from your lenses.

Hearing aids

If you usually wear a hearing aid, you can wear it in your passport photo. This applies to adults, children and infants.

Acceptable and unacceptable photo examples

Acceptable	Unacceptable
Acceptable	Side on to camera	Hair obscuring face
Acceptable	Insufficient contrast	Background not plain
Acceptable	Background too dark	Eyes/edges of face obscured
Acceptable	Eyes not open/toy visible	Parent visible
Acceptable	No glasses	Shadows on image and background