Australian Passport Photo Requirements (2026)

The exact specifications

These are the rules as published on the Australian Passport Office's passport photos page — check it before a lodgement if you're cutting anything fine, since photo standards are enforced to the millimetre by both lodgement staff and the APO's automated checks.

Expression and pose

Anyone over 3 years old must face the camera square-on with a neutral expression: mouth closed, no smile, eyes open and clearly visible. Hair can't cast shadows across the face, and nothing — hair, headwear, hands — can obscure the edges of your face from chin to forehead. Head tilts, raised eyebrows and "slight smiles" are all in rejection territory. Think driver's licence, not LinkedIn.

Glasses, head coverings and medical exemptions

• Glasses: off. Australia banned glasses in passport photos unless you genuinely cannot remove them for medical reasons — and vision impairment alone doesn't count. If you qualify, include a signed letter from your medical practitioner with the application.
• Religious head coverings are fine — provided they're plain (no patterns), worn so your whole face is visible from the bottom of your chin to the top of your forehead, and the sides of your face aren't obscured.
• Fashion headwear is not fine. Caps, headbands and hats come off.

Rules for babies and young children

Children under 3 get concessions: they don't need a perfect neutral expression, and an open mouth is acceptable. What's not negotiable, at any age:

• Nobody else in the frame — no parent's hands holding the baby's head, no shoulder in the corner.
• Eyes open wherever possible, face unobstructed, no dummy.
• Same plain light background — the classic technique is laying the baby on a plain white sheet and photographing from directly above, or draping white cloth over the car seat.

If you're applying for a newborn's first passport, the child passports guide covers the documents and consent side.

The guarantor endorsement (paper applications)

Paper applications need a guarantor who signs the form and endorses one of your two photos. On the back of one photo, in black pen, they write:

"This is a true photo of [your full name]" — and sign it.

Who can be a guarantor, per the APO's guarantor rules:

• An adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months (or, for a child under 1, since birth);
• Holds a current Australian passport with at least 2 years' validity when issued, or has been on the Australian electoral roll at their current address for at least 12 months;
• Not related to you by birth, marriage or de facto relationship, and not living at your address.

A smudged endorsement, blue ink, or a guarantor who turns out to be your cousin are all real-world reasons applications bounce. Choose a colleague, neighbour or long-standing friend.

Where to get photos taken — and what they cost

Prices vary by outlet — treat these as ballparks. For the sake of $20, professional photos are the cheapest insurance in the whole application.

Top reasons passport photos get rejected

1. Wrong size or face proportion — photo outside 45–50 × 35–40 mm, or the face outside 32–36 mm.
2. Shadows — on the face or the background, usually from home lighting.
3. Expression — smiling, mouth open (over age 3), or eyes partly closed.
4. Glasses — still the most common "didn't know the rule" rejection.
5. Background — patterned, dark, or not uniform.
6. Photo too old — taken more than 6 months ago.
7. Digital editing — retouching, filters, or heavy compression artifacts.
8. Endorsement errors — wrong wording, wrong pen, or an ineligible guarantor.

A rejected photo doesn't just cost a reshoot — it stalls the whole application and restarts your wait. If you're on a deadline, that's the difference between making the flight and paying for Priority processing. Check the current processing times and build in slack.