How can I check if my photo is ICAO compliant?

Upload your photo or take one with your camera — PassportPic.ai runs the same six ICAO Doc 9303 checks a passport reviewer would: face ratio, head pose within ±5°, neutral expression, eyes open, plain background, and (where required) no glasses. You get a pass/fail readout per rule in under 30 seconds. The check itself is free; finished compliant files are $4.99.

How do I make a photo ICAO compliant?

If the photo fails on cropping, framing, or background, PassportPic.ai fixes those automatically: it centres the face inside the ICAO 70–80% band, replaces the background with a plain spec-compliant colour, and outputs at 300 DPI. If the photo fails on something the AI can't fix — eyes closed, smile, glasses, head tilt — you'll need to re-take. We never digitally edit the face itself; per US State Dept guidance (Jan 2026), AI-manipulated faces are rejected.

ICAO stands for the International Civil Aviation Organization — a United Nations agency that sets global standards for civil aviation and travel documents. Its Doc 9303 standard defines the technical requirements for machine-readable passports and travel documents, including passport photo specifications. ICAO standards are adopted by all 193 member states.

Which countries follow ICAO Doc 9303?

All 193 ICAO member states follow Doc 9303 as the base standard. This includes the United States, United Kingdom, all EU countries, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, China, UAE, Brazil, and South Africa. Countries may add their own specific requirements on top (such as exact photo dimensions or background colour), but the core ICAO rules — face ratio, frontal pose, neutral expression, plain background — apply universally.

What are the ICAO Doc 9303 photo specifications in detail?

ICAO Doc 9303 Part 9 specifies: 35×45 mm physical print (most authorities); colour or greyscale at 300 DPI minimum; JPEG quality ≥ 90 with no visible compression artefacts; face fully in focus from forehead to chin; uniform diffuse lighting with no shadow on face or behind head; face occupies 50–80% of photo height (most national authorities target 70–80%); head pose within ±5° of frontal in all three axes (roll, pitch, yaw); both eyes open and looking at the camera; mouth closed with neutral expression; plain light-coloured background; no glasses for most documents (2016 update); no head coverings except for religious reasons.

Does ICAO allow glasses in passport photos?

For most passports and travel documents, glasses are no longer allowed under updated ICAO guidance. This is because glasses cause reflections and partial face occlusion that interfere with facial recognition at automated border e-gates. The US, UK, EU, Canada, and Australia all now prohibit glasses. A small number of ID documents may still permit clear prescription frames — PassportPic.ai loads the specific rule for your country and document type automatically.

What is the required face size in an ICAO-compliant photo?

ICAO Doc 9303 requires the face (chin to crown) to occupy 50–80% of the photo's total height. In practice, most authorities target 70–80%. PassportPic.ai measures face height as a percentage and crops your photo to put the face precisely in the centre of the ICAO-compliant zone for your specific country and document type.

Is a smartphone photo ICAO compliant?

Modern smartphones produce photos at high enough resolution to meet the ICAO 300 DPI spec — that part is fine. What usually fails is composition: selfies pull the face too small, focal-length distortion at arm's length warps the face, and the room behind you isn't a plain background. PassportPic.ai handles framing and background, but you'll still want to: hold the phone at full arm's length (not closer), use the rear camera (not the selfie cam — wider field of view distorts less), and stand in even daylight near a plain wall.

Where can I see a sample ICAO-compliant photo?

The official ICAO Doc 9303 specification at icao.int includes reference images. For your specific country, the better reference is the source page linked from any of our country-specific pages — for example /us-passport-photo, /gb-passport-photo, or /schengen-visa-photo each link to the issuing authority's published sample. PassportPic.ai itself produces compliant output you can use as your own reference once processed.

100% private — AI runs in your browser

ICAO-Compliant Passport Photos Checked by AI

ICAO Doc 9303 sets the passport photo standard followed by all 193 member states. Upload an existing photo or use your camera — PassportPic.ai checks every requirement (face ratio, pose, expression, background) and produces a compliant file in under 30 seconds.

Upload Photo Take Photo

ICAO Doc 9303 · Universal Requirements

What ICAO requires

These six rules apply to every ICAO member state passport and travel document.

RequirementICAO Doc 9303 SpecHow PassportPic.ai checks it

Face-to-photo ratio

50–80% of photo heightAI measures face zone automatically and crops to centre

Frontal pose

Head straight, ±5° toleranceAI detects head tilt in degrees and flags anything over 5°

Neutral expression

Mouth closed, no smileAI checks expression and warns if mouth is open or smile detected

Eyes open

Both eyes fully visible, looking at cameraAI verifies both eyes are open and forward-facing

Plain background

White or off-white, no shadowsAI removes background automatically and replaces with plain white

No glasses

Not allowed for most documentsRules are loaded per country and document type — glasses check applied where required

Supported countries

All major passports covered

Select your country to see exact ICAO Doc 9303 specifications and get your compliant photo.

🇺🇸United States 🇬🇧United Kingdom 🇨🇦Canada 🇦🇺Australia 🇩🇪Germany 🇫🇷France 🇮🇳India 🇯🇵Japan 🇨🇳China 🇦🇪UAE 🇧🇷Brazil 🇿🇦South Africa

View all 150+ countries →

Common rejections

Why ICAO photos fail

Six failure modes account for nearly every ICAO rejection. PassportPic.ai flags each before you finalise the photo.

Face outside 70–80% of photo height

Phone selfies pull the face too small; macro shots make it too big. Either direction rejects. PassportPic.ai measures chin-to-crown and crops to centre the face inside the ICAO band.

Head tilted more than ±5° off-axis

Slight tilts you don't notice in a mirror — chin up, shoulder roll, head turn — break the biometric template. We detect tilt in degrees and flag anything above tolerance before you finalise.

Background not plain

Patterns, gradients, soft shadows behind the head, and off-white walls all reject. Pure white is technically accepted but fine hair edges halo against it — light grey is the safer choice for most subjects.

Open mouth, visible teeth, or eyes closed

ICAO requires neutral expression and both eyes fully visible. A slight resting expression is fine; an active smile is not. Hair covering an eyebrow or eye is rejected separately.

Glasses or reflective elements

Updated ICAO guidance removed the prescription-glasses exception in 2016 — frames cause reflections and partial occlusion that interfere with e-gate facial recognition. Religious head coverings are still allowed.

Low resolution or JPEG compression artefacts

ICAO Doc 9303 requires 300 DPI at print size and JPEG quality ≥ 90 — so visible blocking, banding, or pixel-level noise reject. WhatsApp / Telegram forwarded images almost always fail this test.

FAQ

ICAO photos, answered

Nine questions covering how to check, how to make, what Doc 9303 actually says, and where smartphone photos go wrong.

Get started

Ready to get your ICAO-compliant photo?

Upload a photo or use your camera. AI checks all six ICAO Doc 9303 requirements in under 30 seconds. Photos never leave your device.

Get Started →

No account needed · 150+ countries · Photos stay on your device

Loading…

What ICAO requires

These six rules apply to every ICAO member state passport and travel document.

RequirementICAO Doc 9303 SpecHow PassportPic.ai checks it

Face-to-photo ratio

50–80% of photo heightAI measures face zone automatically and crops to centre

Frontal pose

Head straight, ±5° toleranceAI detects head tilt in degrees and flags anything over 5°

Neutral expression

Mouth closed, no smileAI checks expression and warns if mouth is open or smile detected

Eyes open

Both eyes fully visible, looking at cameraAI verifies both eyes are open and forward-facing

Plain background

White or off-white, no shadowsAI removes background automatically and replaces with plain white

No glasses

Not allowed for most documentsRules are loaded per country and document type — glasses check applied where required

Why ICAO photos fail

Six failure modes account for nearly every ICAO rejection. PassportPic.ai flags each before you finalise the photo.

Face outside 70–80% of photo height

Phone selfies pull the face too small; macro shots make it too big. Either direction rejects. PassportPic.ai measures chin-to-crown and crops to centre the face inside the ICAO band.

Head tilted more than ±5° off-axis

Slight tilts you don't notice in a mirror — chin up, shoulder roll, head turn — break the biometric template. We detect tilt in degrees and flag anything above tolerance before you finalise.

Background not plain

Open mouth, visible teeth, or eyes closed

ICAO requires neutral expression and both eyes fully visible. A slight resting expression is fine; an active smile is not. Hair covering an eyebrow or eye is rejected separately.

Glasses or reflective elements

Low resolution or JPEG compression artefacts

ICAO Doc 9303 requires 300 DPI at print size and JPEG quality ≥ 90 — so visible blocking, banding, or pixel-level noise reject. WhatsApp / Telegram forwarded images almost always fail this test.

ICAO-Compliant Passport Photos Checked by AI

What ICAO requires

All major passports covered

Why ICAO photos fail

ICAO photos, answered

How can I check if my photo is ICAO compliant?

How do I make a photo ICAO compliant?

What is ICAO?

Which countries follow ICAO Doc 9303?

What are the ICAO Doc 9303 photo specifications in detail?

Does ICAO allow glasses in passport photos?

What is the required face size in an ICAO-compliant photo?

Is a smartphone photo ICAO compliant?

Where can I see a sample ICAO-compliant photo?

Ready to get your ICAO-compliant photo?

ICAO-Compliant Passport Photos Checked by AI

What ICAO requires

All major passports covered

Why ICAO photos fail

ICAO photos, answered

How can I check if my photo is ICAO compliant?

How do I make a photo ICAO compliant?

What is ICAO?

Which countries follow ICAO Doc 9303?

What are the ICAO Doc 9303 photo specifications in detail?

Does ICAO allow glasses in passport photos?

What is the required face size in an ICAO-compliant photo?

Is a smartphone photo ICAO compliant?

Where can I see a sample ICAO-compliant photo?

Ready to get your ICAO-compliant photo?