US Passport Photo Guides

A US passport photo is 2 x 2 inches, in color, on a plain white or off-white background, taken within the last 6 months, with the head between 1 and 1 3/8 inches from chin to top of the head. That standard is the same whether you apply in person, renew by mail or renew online, but what you hand over changes: a print for the paper forms, a digital file for online renewal.

The guides below take each route in turn, including children's and babies' photos, the passport card, and what happens when the State Department rejects a photo. Every rule is checked against travel.state.gov and dated, so you can see when it was last verified.

To make or check the photo itself, the US passport photo page has the exact specification the free check applies, with the official source of each value. Not sure what a rejected photo looks like? See the passport photo examples.