Why passport photos get rejected (and how to fix it)
Head size, shadows and backgrounds cause most rejections. Here's a checklist to run through before you send a photo.
Photos get rejected for a handful of reasons, and almost all of them are about framing and light rather than the camera.
- Correct
- Head too small
- Head too large
- Head tilted
- Shadow behind
- Busy background
The checklist
- Head size. Measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the hair. Too small usually means the photo was taken from too far away and cropped loosely. Line up your chin and crown with the red guides in the tool.
- Shadows. A dark halo on the wall behind you or one side of your face darker than the other. Step away from the wall and face the light.
- Background. Must be plain, with no pattern, furniture, or texture. Use the “Replace background” option if your wall isn't perfect, except for countries that forbid edited photos, such as Canada.
- Tilt. The head should be straight and the face pointing at the camera. Use the “Straighten” slider to fix a slight tilt.
- Expression and eyes. Neutral face, eyes open and visible, nothing covering them.
- Glasses. Take them off. They're banned in some countries and cause glare in others.
- Quality. Blurry, pixelated, over-sharpened or filtered photos are refused. Use the original from your camera.
- Wrong size or file. Printed at “fit to page” instead of actual size, or a digital file over the size limit. The tool exports the exact size and shows the file size after download.
- Age of the photo. Most countries want a photo from the last 6 months, and it must look like you now.
If your photo was rejected
Read the reason in the letter or email, retake the photo fixing that one issue, and send the new photo the way the notice asks. Don't send the same photo again with only a different crop if the problem was lighting or expression.
Updated November 2026.