Once you’ve finally landed a passport appointment, printed out the paperwork, and filled out all the necessary forms, there’s one last important step: check the passport photo requirements and snap a winning shot.
When you get a new passport, there’s not a lot about the finished product that you can control. If you’re an American citizen, it’s going to be navy blue. The leathery cover will be embossed in gold with the crest of this great country, and the ID page will list such (largely) unchangeable information as your first and last names, date of birth, sex, and place of birth. The date of issue and subsequent date of expiration are also ultimately out of one’s control. The one opportunity to really leave your mark—and, it follows, mess something up—is the photo.
When it comes time to renew or replace your passport, the photo is something you’ve got to bring with. The DMV this is not—only certain facilities have the capacity to snap your picture then and there. But that doesn’t mean you can bring in just any old headshot—it must meet the US Department of State’s specific passport photo requirements, or else you’ll risk rejection at your appointment, which we all know aren’t always easy to get.
Below, we break down what to know about the passport photo requirements of today: namely, size and resolution, plus where to get them snapped. Is it possible to look good in your passport photo? Well, that’s another question entirely.
Resolution, print-size, and quality
The Travel.State.Gov website helpfully requires that submitted images be “high resolution.” This means the image must be 330 PPI or higher, a metric that can be checked by opening it in preview on your device and hitting “Tools” and “Show Inspector.” It is possible to take a high resolution photo on your cell phone, although it cannot be a selfie—you must be facing the camera head on, and somebody else has to capture the image.
This head-on image cannot have filters. Once taken, it must be printed on photo-quality paper that is two inches long and two inches wide, a perfect square. Your face (from the tip of the chin to crown of the head) must account for between one inch and one inch and three-eighths of the image. It must be color photography.
Other requirements
The photograph must have been taken of you within the past six months—really, there’s little to no reason not to have it taken in the immediate lead-up to renewal. This requirement exists to ensure your photo reflects your “current” appearance. To make sure you can be easily identified from your photo, you must have a neutral facial expression (soft smiles only, hide those pearly whites for now) and you cannot be wearing glasses or a hat of any kind. It is also best to dress demurely—think solid colors and classic necklines. No chunky jewelry above the neck, no headphones, no nothing. Whatever is out of frame might as well not exist—what’s going on from the waist down is irrelevant and entirely your business.
Where to get your passport photo taken
It’s entirely possible to take your passport photo at home—have a friend or lover shoot the pic and print it yourself. As mentioned above, though, there’s a huge margin for error here from the image making itself to the subsequent printing and sizing. To play it totally safe, it’s generally advisable to leave it to a professional facility. Select acceptance facilities do offer photo services—which ones close to you do so can be identified here. Another popular option is any company that offers photo services—most ubiquitously, a convenience store such as CVS or Walgreens.
