Why are passport photos 35 × 45 mm in some countries and 2 × 2 inches in others?
TL;DR Two standards from two traditions. 35 × 45 mm is the ICAO-derived European size that most of the world adopted; 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm) is the American one, kept by the United States and adopted by India for its overseas processes. A handful of countries use neither — China's 33 × 48, Canada's 50 × 70, Myanmar's 38 × 46, Mexico's 26 × 32 — and those are where guides go wrong most often.
The two families
The 35 × 45 family composes the head at 70–80% of the height and comes with ICAO's guideline sheet. The 2 × 2 family composes the head at roughly 50–69% of a square, leaving more air. A photo made for one family cannot be cropped into the other without either cutting the chin or shrinking the head below the band.
The ones that are neither
China's visa is 33 × 48 with a 58–69% head — the tightest ceiling on this site. Canada's visa is 50 × 70. Myanmar's eVisa is 38 × 46. Mexico's visa is a tiny 26 × 32. New Zealand's passport is a 3:4 digital file, not a print at all. Each of these was recorded wrongly somewhere on the web, several of them on this site until this month, because a guide copied the nearest familiar size.
One from each family, and the exceptions
| Document | Size | Head in frame (as we compose it) | Background | Max age | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore passport | 35 × 45 mm | 56–78% | pure featureless white | 3 months | www.ica.gov.sg |
| United States visa | 51 × 51 mm | 50–69% | plain white or off-white | 6 months | travel.state.gov |
| India passport | 51 × 51 mm | 50–69% | plain white | 3 months | www.blsinternational.com |
| China visa | 33 × 48 mm | 58–69% | white or close to white, no edge frame | 6 months | bio.visaforchina.cn |
| Canada visa | 35 × 45 mm | 69–80% | plain white or light-coloured | 6 months | www.canada.ca |
| Myanmar visa | 38 × 46 mm | 60–80% | plain white | 3 months | evisa.moip.gov.mm |
| Mexico visa | 26 × 32 mm | 60–80% | plain white | 1 months | embamex.sre.gob.mx |
| New Zealand passport | 51 × 68 mm | 65–80% | plain, light-coloured, strongly contrasting with your face | 6 months | www.passports.govt.nz |
A real case
A heartland photo shop's price list offers "passport size" and "US size". A customer needing a Chinese visa photo took "passport size" — 35 × 45 — and was refused at CVASC for a head over 69%. The shop was not wrong about its sizes; the visa was not on the list.
Common questions
- Can a shop cut a 35 × 45 down to a smaller size?
- Down to a size with the same or a taller proportion, yes, if the head band still fits. Into a square or a wider shape, no — the head band breaks first.
- If a form just says "passport size", which one?
- In Singapore, 35 × 45 on white — the ICA baseline. That is what the custom-size option here defaults to.
Related documents
- United States visa — 51 × 51 mm
- India passport — 51 × 51 mm
- China visa — 33 × 48 mm
- Canada visa — 35 × 45 mm
Sources
Read on the issuing authority's own pages on the dates shown on each document page:
- United States visa: travel.state.gov
- India passport: www.blsinternational.com (read 2026-09-02)
- China visa: bio.visaforchina.cn (read 2026-09-06)
- Canada visa: www.canada.ca (read 2026-09-06)
SGfoto is independent — not affiliated with or endorsed by any government or issuing authority — and does not guarantee acceptance. Requirements change; the authority's page is the one that counts. Rebuilt 2026-09-16.