By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: July 2026
HM Passport Office wants a 35×45 mm photo with your head 29–34 mm from chin to crown, plain light background, taken in the last month. Upload any straight-on photo and PassportNinja does the sizing, the head-height check and the background — free, with a printable 10×15 cm sheet.
Make my photo now →The UK uses the common European 35×45 mm portrait format, but with its own head-size band: your face must measure 29 to 34 mm from the bottom of your chin to the crown of your head. That's a touch taller than the Schengen visa rule, so a photo sized for an EU visa isn't automatically right for a UK passport — pick the UK template so the head is scaled correctly.
Read this before you print. UK printed-photo guidance asks for a plain cream or light-grey background, while the online "apply or renew" digital-photo check wants a plain, evenly-lit, light background. PassportNinja always outputs a clean, even white background. White is widely accepted for the digital upload route and reads as a plain light background; if you're specifically printing for a paper application that insists on cream/light-grey, keep that wording in mind. When in doubt, use the digital route.
PassportNinja handles the mechanical part: it crops to the exact size, scales your head to the required height and replaces the background with plain white, then gives you a digital file at 600 dpi plus a printable 10×15 cm sheet. It does not judge lighting, expression or glasses, and it can't guarantee acceptance — that's always the issuing office's call. Follow the checklist for the things a tool can't see.
Renewing online is usually the easiest path: you upload one digital photo and never touch a printer. If you need physical prints for a paper form or for a child's first application, use the 10×15 cm sheet.
HM Passport Office's own checklist says a photo must be "unaltered by computer software". That sentence deserves a straight answer rather than being quietly ignored, because every online photo tool sits somewhere against it.
What the rule is aimed at is retouching the person: smoothing skin, slimming a face, brightening eyes, removing a blemish, filtering. That is what makes a photo fail a biometric check, and it is what gets applications rejected. Cropping to the right size, straightening, and putting the subject on a plain light background are the mechanical steps every passport photo booth also performs — they don't change your face.
Where you should be careful: if the background replacement leaves a halo around your hair, or shaves off the edge of an ear, that is an alteration of the picture and a checker can flag it. So look at the outline of your head and shoulders at full zoom before you submit, and if the cut-out isn't clean, re-shoot against a genuinely plain wall instead of relying on the software. A good original photo needs the least intervention, which is exactly what the rule is asking for.
If you apply online, the numbers the service enforces are specific and worth knowing before you upload:
Glasses are allowed only if you can't remove them for medical reasons, and never tinted — the safe move is to take them off. Head coverings are fine for religious or medical reasons as long as your face is clear from the bottom of your chin to the top of your forehead.
Ultimately the passport service makes its own decision and this tool can't grant approval — what it can do is take the size, framing, background and head height out of the equation so that the only thing left to get right is the photo you took.
35 mm wide by 45 mm high, with your head measuring 29–34 mm from chin to crown, on a plain light background. PassportNinja sizes this exactly.
PassportNinja outputs plain white. That's accepted for the online digital-photo route and reads as a plain light background. UK printed-photo guidance mentions cream or light-grey, so for a paper application keep that wording in mind.
Keep a neutral expression with your mouth closed. Glasses are best avoided; if you must wear them, your eyes have to be clearly visible with no glare or heavy frames.
Yes — no account, no watermark, no pay-to-download. Ads keep the server running. See also our Schengen visa photo guide if you're applying for an EU visa instead.