Methodology
Where our photo rules
actually come from.
A passport photo is only worth a dollar if it gets accepted. Here is exactly how we make sure the spec behind your photo is the real one.
Most recent spec verification: August 3, 2026.
The process
Four steps, every document.
We read the primary source, not a summary.
Every document spec starts at the issuing authority itself: the passport office, the ministry of the interior, the embassy. Not a competitor’s page, not a forum, not an old PDF someone re-hosted. The exact rule for head height, eye position, dimensions, and background comes from the government that accepts or rejects the photo.
A person reviews it, by name.
Lisa, our compliance reviewer, reads the official spec and translates it into the numbers our checker enforces. When the automatic check is unsure about a tricky photo, a person looks at it. We do not pretend a model decides everything.
The checker enforces the actual rule.
The compliance check is not a vibe. It measures head height and eye position against the official range for your specific document, flags the wrong background, and tells you in plain English what to fix, before you pay.
We date it, and we revisit it.
Each spec records the date it was last verified against its source. Rules change. A country switches from a 35×45mm to a different size, or starts refusing glasses, and when they do, the spec gets re-checked and re-dated. Nothing flips to published without passing our verification gate.
Who reviews the specs
Lisa, our compliance reviewer
Lisa reads the official photo specs from passport offices around the world, keeps each one matched to its government source, and looks at the tricky photos our automatic check is unsure about. When a country changes its rules, she is the one who catches it. You can read more about the team on our about page.
The standards underneath
The same standards the authorities use.
Most national passport photo rules trace back to two international standards. ICAO Doc 9303 is the specification for machine-readable travel documents. It defines the head position, proportions, expression, and lighting a passport photo must meet so it works for biometric identification. ISO/IEC 19794-5 is the face-image standard those systems are built on.
When a country publishes its own photo spec, it is almost always a local expression of these. Our checker measures head height, eye position, and centering against the published range for your specific document, which is why a photo that passes here is built to the same rules the issuing authority is checking for.
U.S. applicants
For U.S. passports and visas we check against the U.S. Department of State photo requirements: 2x2 inches, correct head size, neutral expression, plain white background. The State Department allows sizing, cropping, and a plain background, but not filters or retouching that change how you look, so that is the line our tool holds to. The final decision always belongs to the issuing authority, which is why a rejected photo is refunded.
What it means for you
You get the rule, not a guess.
When you pick your document, the size, head height, eye line, and background you are checked against are the ones the issuing authority published, traced back to a source you can open and read yourself. Each document page links to that source.
If a photo still gets rejected, you get your dollar back. We would rather refund than be wrong, and the verification process above is how we keep that rare.
Checked against the real spec.
Compliant or your dollar back. Ready in three minutes.
Start your photo for $1