Australia passport photo
Drop a photo here
or choose a file from this device
JPG, PNG, HEIC or WebP, up to 25 MB
Your photo is processed on this device and never uploaded.
The requirements
| Print size | 35 x 45 mm |
|---|---|
| Head height, chin to crown | 32-36 mm Chin to crown 32-36 mm. The Australian Passport Office accepts any photo between 35-40 mm wide and 45-50 mm high, so the head range is fixed in millimetres rather than as a percentage. |
| Background | Plain white or light grey background that contrasts with the face |
| Glasses | Only with a medical reason, usually with a doctor's note. |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed, both eyes open. |
| Head covering | Only for religious or medical reasons, and the face must be visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead. |
| Ears | No |
| Photo age | 6 months |
| Also required |
|
Australia accepts a size range rather than one size: 35-40 mm wide by 45-50 mm high. This spec uses 35x45 mm, the smallest accepted frame and the size most photo services print. The Passport Office states that it does not recommend online passport photo services or mobile apps, so the country page must present the tool as a way to prepare a print that the applicant checks against these rules, not as an approved substitute.
Applying in Australia
Australia accepts a range of photo sizes rather than one, and then makes the print itself the hard part. Photos must be good quality colour prints produced using dye sublimation rather than an inkjet printer, on heavy-weight glossy paper of at least 200 gsm. An ordinary home printer cannot meet that, so the print sheet on this site is not the answer for an Australian application. Two identical photos are required, less than six months old, against a plain white or light grey background that contrasts with your face.
The glasses rule is the strictest wording we have read anywhere. You must not wear glasses unless you cannot remove them for medical reasons, and the Passport Office adds that vision impairment alone is not an acceptable reason. Retouching is excluded as firmly, and the examples given are removing moles, wrinkles or scars, which is what a phone's beauty mode does by default. Shadows, reflections, a head tilted in any direction and hair obscuring the edges of your face are all named failures.
One thing you should hear from us rather than find elsewhere. The Australian Passport Office states that it does not recommend using an online passport photo service or a mobile app, because these may put you in danger of identity fraud. That warning is correct, and it is about uploading. Our processing runs inside your browser and your photo is never sent anywhere, which is the specific risk being described. That is an explanation, not an endorsement, and we are not claiming one.
Why photos get rejected here
Retouching of any kind
The examples the Passport Office gives are removing moles, wrinkles or scars. Phone beauty and skin-smoothing modes do exactly this, often by default in the front camera, which is one more reason to use the rear one.
An inkjet print, or paper under 200 gsm
Prints must be dye sublimation quality on heavy-weight glossy paper of at least 200 gsm. This is a rule about the paper and the printer rather than about the image, and it is why a photo printed at home fails here.
Wearing glasses
Glasses may only be worn when they cannot be removed for medical reasons, and poor eyesight does not count. If they are medically unavoidable, the frames must not obscure the eyes and there must be no reflection on the lenses.
A head tilted in any direction
The face must be centred and looking straight at the camera, with the edges of the face clearly visible. A small tilt that looks natural to you reads as a non-frontal pose.
Shadows or reflections
Lighting must be uniform and show natural skin tone. A shadow on the background or a reflection on skin, jewellery or lenses is a named reason for refusal.
A patterned head covering
Religious head coverings are accepted, but they must be plain with no pattern at all. The guidance rules out even small patterns, so a scarf that satisfies the religious condition can still fail on the fabric.
What helps
Order the prints, do not make them
The dye sublimation and 200 gsm requirements rule out home printing. Prepare and check the image here, then have it printed by a post office, a professional photographer, a camera store, a pharmacy or a chain store with printing facilities.
Take the earbuds out, keep the hearing aid in
Hearing aids may be worn. Wireless earbuds are not hearing aids and must be removed, which is an unusually specific rule and a simple one to overlook.
Turn off every enhancement before you shoot
Retouching is banned outright, and the phone does it silently. Switch off beauty, smoothing and portrait modes rather than trying to undo them afterwards.
A child under three may have their mouth open
Anyone over three needs a neutral expression, eyes open, facing the camera. Under three the mouth may be open, though nobody else may be visible in the frame.
Check where your passport office is
The Brisbane Passport Office has temporarily relocated to 324 Queen Street, Brisbane City. Confirm the address before travelling to an appointment.
Babies and young children
Australia draws the line at three years old. Anyone over three must face the camera straight on with eyes open and a neutral expression. For a child under three the mouth may be open, which removes the hardest requirement to meet with a toddler. What does not change at any age is that nobody else may be visible in the photo, so a supporting hand or a parent's shoulder in the frame fails. Lay a baby on a plain white or light grey surface and photograph from directly above, keeping your hands out of shot.
Glasses
Australia is effectively a no-glasses country, and the wording leaves less room than most: you must not wear glasses in a passport photo unless you cannot remove them for medical reasons, and vision impairment alone is not an acceptable reason. Needing glasses to see is therefore not a reason to keep them on. Where they genuinely cannot be removed, the frames must not obscure the eyes and there must be no reflection on the lenses. For almost everyone the answer is to take them off.
Head covering
A religious head covering is accepted if you usually cover your head for religious reasons, and the Passport Office adds a condition most countries leave out: the covering must be plain, without patterns, and the guidance says even small patterns are not acceptable. The whole face must show from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead. Jewellery and piercings are also covered by this section, and must not obscure any part of the face or reflect light back at the camera.
Applying online
We could not confirm a digital photo upload route or any pixel and file size specification from an official page. The Passport Office site blocks automated access, and the fee and processing-time pages were unreachable when we checked, so no fee or turnaround figure is published here. The requirement we could confirm is two identical prints, professionally produced, brought or sent with the application.
Questions about Australia photos
Can I print Australian passport photos at home?
No. Prints must be produced using dye sublimation rather than an inkjet printer, on heavy-weight glossy paper of at least 200 gsm. That is a specification about the printer and the paper, and a home setup does not meet it.
I need glasses to see. Can I keep them on?
No. The Passport Office states that vision impairment alone is not an acceptable reason to wear glasses in the photo. Only a medical reason why they cannot be removed qualifies.
Can I wear a hearing aid or wireless earbuds?
A hearing aid may be worn. Wireless earbuds may not, and the guidance says specifically that they are not considered hearing aids and must be removed.
My toddler will not hold a neutral expression.
For a child under three the mouth may be open, so a neutral expression is not required. From three years old the ordinary rules apply. Either way nobody else may appear in the photo.
Why does the Passport Office warn against online photo services?
Because uploading a passport photo hands a standardised portrait of your face to a third party, which it describes as an identity fraud risk. The warning is about the upload. Our processing runs in your browser and the photo is never sent anywhere, which removes that particular risk.
Why does this page not give an Australian passport fee?
We could not confirm the current fee from an official page, so we do not publish one. Check the Australian Passport Office site directly rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
Where these numbers come from
Official sourceEvery measurement on this page comes from the issuing authority's own published requirements.
- Passport photoschecked September 2, 2026
Reviewed by Editorial teamHow we check our numbers