How to Print Passport Photos at Home Without a Rejection

Passport, visa and ID photos are a common reason people want to use their home printer for something official. Printing your own can be acceptable, but it is less forgiving than printing holiday snaps: the size, the head position and the print quality all have to be right. This guide explains how to print passport photos at home, what to check before you start, and where home printing is not allowed or not worth it.

Important: passport offices set their own rules and update them. The figures below are examples taken from the US State Department and GOV.UK photo pages listed in the sources (the UK page was rechecked in October 2026). Always read the current page for your own country and application before taking or printing a photo.

Step 1: check whether a printed photo is needed at all

Many passport services now accept a digital photo uploaded with an online application. The UK, for example, lets you get a digital photo from a booth or shop with a code, or take one with your own device during the online application. If a digital photo is accepted, you do not need to print anything. Printing is mainly for paper forms and for some visas and ID cards.

Step 2: read the size and composition rules

Two examples show how much the rules differ:

Rule	United States (passport)	United Kingdom (printed passport photo)
Photo size	2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm)	45 mm high x 35 mm wide
Head size	1 to 1 3/8 inches, chin to top of head	29 to 34 mm, chin to crown
Paper	Matte or glossy photo-quality paper	Plain white photographic paper, no border
How recent	Taken in the last 6 months	Taken in the last month
Editing	No filters or digital alterations	Unaltered by computer software

Both countries also set rules for the background, lighting, expression and glasses. The UK adds that its photos cannot be cut down from a larger picture and must be printed to a professional standard. Read the full list on the official page; a correct print of a non-compliant photo will still be rejected.

Step 3: take a photo that meets the rules

Most rejections are caused by the photo, not the printer. In general:

• Use a plain background of the colour your rules require, with no pattern or objects.
• Light the face evenly, from the front, to avoid shadows on the face and behind the head.
• Have someone else take the photo from about arm’s length or further, with the camera at eye level, so the face is not distorted.
• Turn off beauty filters, portrait effects and retouching; edits are not allowed.
• Take several shots and choose the sharpest.

Step 4: lay the photo out at exact size

You need the printed photo to come out at the exact dimensions, with the head inside the required range.

1. Crop the photo to the official shape: square for a US 2 x 2 photo, 35:45 for a UK print. Position the head so that, at final size, the chin-to-crown distance falls inside the allowed range.
2. Create a page in a word processor or photo app the size of your paper, for example 4 x 6 inches (10 x 15 cm) or Letter/A4.
3. Insert the photo at exact size, typing the width and height in the picture size settings rather than dragging corners. If you need two identical photos, place two copies side by side with a few millimetres between them for cutting.
4. Do not add borders, frames or text.

Step 5: print on photo paper at 100%

• Paper: use photo paper. Copy paper absorbs ink, looks dull and may not be accepted. For US photos, matte or glossy photo-quality paper both work; for UK prints, plain white photographic paper with no border. Our guide to photo printing at home explains how photo papers differ.
• Paper type setting: choose the photo paper type that matches the pack, so the printer lays down the right amount of ink.
• Quality: choose the best photo quality. Fine dots, banding or streaks make a print look non-professional and can lead to rejection. If you see lines, clean the print head first; see print head clogging.
• Scale: set 100% or actual size. Fit to page or borderless printing slightly enlarges the image and ruins the measurements. Our guides to fit to page vs actual size and borderless photos explain why borderless mode crops the edges.
• Drying: leave the print flat until the ink is dry before handling.

Step 6: measure, then cut

Before you cut, measure the printed photo with a ruler: the outer size, and the head from chin to crown. If anything is out of range, fix the layout and print again rather than trimming the photo smaller, which changes the composition and, for the UK, is not allowed.

Cut with a paper trimmer or a craft knife and metal ruler for straight edges. Do not fold, bend, staple or write on the front. The UK lists creases, tears and marks among its rejection reasons.

Printing problems that lead to rejection

GOV.UK publishes a list of reasons printed photos are turned down, and several of them are about the print rather than the person in it. Photos can be rejected if they are:

• not printed to a professional standard, or not clear and in focus;
• printed with borders, or cut down from a larger picture;
• creased or torn;
• marked on either side (unless a countersignature is required);
• showing red eye;
• attached to the form rather than left loose, if the instructions say so.

The US page similarly warns against photos that are blurry, grainy or pixelated, and against visible printer dots. Most of these come down to three things a home printer user controls: a sharp original photo, a clean print head with the right paper setting, and careful cutting and handling. If a test print shows any banding or graininess, sort that out before printing the final copies; our guide to printer dpi explains why a low-resolution image looks grainy even on a good printer.

Home printing or a photo shop?

Home printing makes sense if you have a decent photo printer, photo paper already in the drawer and time to measure carefully. If your printer is a basic text printer, shows banding, or you only need one set of photos, a pharmacy, photo shop or booth that guarantees compliance may be cheaper than wasted photo paper and ink. It also saves you if the rules for your application are strict about print quality.

Final checklist

Current official rules read; plain background and even light; no edits; correct crop and head size; photo paper and photo setting; 100% scale; measured and cleanly cut; no bends or marks. If all of those are right, a home-printed photo has a good chance of being accepted where self-printed photos are allowed.