UK passport (digital)
We check your photo against the digital passport photo rules GOV.UK publishes and hand back your original file with a report. We do not crop, change the background or retouch this photo. HM Passport Office crops the photo in its own service and decides whether to accept it.
What the authority does not publish
- GOV.UK does not publish the accepted upload formats, a maximum pixel size, an aspect ratio or a colour space. The checks for them report not checked.
- GOV.UK does not publish a head size or an eye line for digital photos.
- GOV.UK does not say whether KB and MB are decimal or binary, and it has no sentence on uniforms.
- The staff guidance tolerates a background edited to remove shadows or marks. The customer pages do not repeat that, and say the photo must be unaltered by computer software.
What you get
- Your original photo, unchanged. The file you uploaded, unchanged, which is what GOV.UK asks you to upload.
- Your checked report. Every rule we measured, what we found and which rules only a person can judge, with GOV.UK’s wording next to each one.
Sources
Sources checked on 2026-09-20. Issued by UK Home Office, HM Passport Office (GOV.UK).
UK passport (print)
We check your photo against the printed passport photo rules GOV.UK publishes, then crop and scale it to 35 x 45 mm. GOV.UK asks for a photo unaltered by computer software, so we replace the background or soften shine on the skin only if you ask for it and confirm that such a photo may be rejected. We may correct the brightness or the contrast once for the whole photo, which HM Passport Office tells its examiners to accept, and you can undo it. We never change your features or the shape of your face. HM Passport Office decides whether to accept the photo.
What the authority does not publish
- GOV.UK publishes no pixel size, file format, colour space or print resolution for the photo you start from.
- GOV.UK does not publish an eye line for printed photos, and it has no sentence on uniforms.
- No page we read says whether a 35 x 45 mm photo cropped from a phone picture counts as "a cut down version of a larger picture".
- GOV.UK does not say that photos printed at home are refused. It asks for a print of a professional standard.
What you get
- Your original photo. The file you uploaded, unchanged.
- 35 x 45 mm photo. Your photo cropped and scaled to 35 x 45 mm, ready for a photo lab.
- 4×6 inch print sheet. Copies of the 35 x 45 mm photo laid out on one 4×6 inch sheet, for a photo lab.
- Printing and submission checklist. What size to print, what to check before you print and the wording of the rules your photo was measured against.
Sources
Sources checked on 2026-09-20. Issued by UK Home Office, HM Passport Office (GOV.UK).
What we do not claim
We cannot promise that an authority will accept a photo, and we do not submit applications for you. The issuing authority always decides.