Mexico Passport Photo Requirements 2026
Written and fact-checked by the PassportLayout team · Last verified:
Official requirements from Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, SRE), checked against the sources on the date above.
Quick Summary
For ordinary passports, the SRE photographs you at the appointment — glasses off, head completely uncovered. When an office or procedure asks for printed photos, the spec is 35×45 mm, in color, white background, facing forward, no smiling, and taken no more than 30 days before the application.
Photo Dimensions
Where a printed photo is requested, Mexico uses the international 35 × 45 mm format (3.5 × 4.5 cm) — 45 mm high by 35 mm wide. The photo-example sheet published through the SRE consular network spells out the whole package in one line: white background, facing forward, no smiling, no glasses, full head in frame, no more than 30 days old, 45 mm × 35 mm.
Photos must be in color and printed on photographic paper. Mexico does not use the square 2×2 inch format of its northern neighbor, so photos prepared for other applications in that size will not fit the Mexican paperwork.
Does the SRE Take the Photo for You?
Yes — for ordinary passports the picture in the booklet is always captured live. Among the steps of the procedure, the official SRE passport pages require the applicant to permit the capture of biometrics: photograph, fingerprints, iris recognition, and signature. Mexico is one of the few countries that scans the iris as part of passport enrollment, which is also why the capture rules are strict about anything covering the eyes or face.
Printed photos still matter in specific situations. Some SRE offices and consular procedures — contingency measures, certain paper forms for minors, and emergency documents — ask applicants to bring photos with them. One official requirements page asks for "dos fotografías tamaño pasaporte": two passport-size photographs, without glasses, facing forward, in color with a white background, head uncovered, taken no more than 30 days before the application. If your appointment confirmation or consulate checklist mentions photos, that is the spec to print.
Face and Head Size
The SRE's photo-example sheet requires the full head (cabeza completa) in the frame and rejects both extremes by example: a face too close to the camera fills the frame and clips the head, while a head too far away shrinks the face below what biometric matching needs. Aim for the ICAO portrait convention of the head filling roughly 70–80% of the frame height — about 31 to 36 mm in the 45 mm print — with the face centered.
Drag the red guide line to the crown and the blue line to the chin in our tool, and the crop lands in that band automatically.
Background Requirements
The background must be plain white (fondo blanco). Among the rejected examples on the consular sheet is a photo with a "fondo gris o manchado" — a gray or stained background — which is exactly what happens when a white wall is photographed in dim light or the subject stands close enough to cast a shadow. Light the wall evenly, step away from it, and check that no corner of the frame drifts toward gray.
Expression and Pose
Face the camera directly, without smiling (sin sonreír), with both eyes open. Profile and angled shots are explicitly shown as rejected examples — "rostro y cuerpo de lado" (face and body turned sideways) and "foto de perfil" (profile photo) both fail. Keep the head straight, shoulders square to the camera, and the expression neutral with the mouth closed.
Glasses
Glasses are not allowed — full stop. The official wording is that the photograph is taken sin lentes (without glasses), and the consular example sheet shows "lentes puestos" (glasses on) among the rejected photos. Unlike countries that tolerate thin, glare-free frames, Mexico's rule has no carve-out for prescription eyewear in the picture itself, and the capture desk will ask you to remove them before the camera and iris scanner do their work.
Attire and Head Coverings
The SRE requires the head to be completely uncovered (cabeza totalmente descubierta) with nothing covering the face. Hats, caps, headbands, and hair arranged across the eyes or face all run afoul of the rule. Wear ordinary clothing in a color that separates cleanly from the white background — dark or mid-tone tops photograph best; a white shirt on a white wall can blur the shoulder line the biometric systems use for framing.
Photo Recency: The 30-Day Rule
Here is the requirement that trips up the most applicants: printed photos must be taken no more than 30 days before the application (con una anterioridad no mayor a 30 días). Most countries allow six months; Mexico allows one. A leftover print from last year's visa application, however perfect, is out of date for the Mexican paperwork. Schedule the photo session inside the same month as your appointment.
Complete Specifications Table
| Requirement | Specification |
|---|---|
| Booklet photo | Captured live at the SRE office / consulate (with iris scan) |
| Printed photo size | 35 × 45 mm (3.5 × 4.5 cm) |
| Color | Color only |
| Background | Plain white — gray or stained backgrounds rejected |
| Expression | No smiling, facing forward, full head in frame |
| Glasses | Not allowed |
| Head covering | Head completely uncovered, nothing covering the face |
| Recency | Taken within 30 days of the application |
| Quantity (when requested) | Two passport-size photographs |
Common Rejection Reasons
- Photo older than 30 days at the time of the application
- Gray or stained background instead of clean white
- Glasses worn in the photo
- Face too close to the camera, or head too far away
- Profile or angled pose instead of facing forward
- Smiling or non-neutral expression
- Hat, cap, or hair covering parts of the head or face
- Black-and-white print, or wrong dimensions
Tips for a Perfect Mexican Passport Photo
Treat the 30-day clock as the organizing rule: book the appointment first, then take the photo. Shoot against a white wall with daylight coming from behind the camera, stand half a meter off the wall, and take off glasses, hats, and anything else near the face before you start — the rules for the print and the rules at the capture desk are the same, so a photo that passes at home predicts a smooth appointment.
Load the photo into PassportLayout.online, drag the crown, chin, and center guide lines onto your face, pick the Mexico preset, and print the generated sheet at 100% scale on photo paper. One sheet yields the two requested prints plus spares for consular forms — all identical, which is exactly what reviewing officers want to see.
Create your Mexican passport photo for free
Exact 35×45 mm crop, print-ready sheet at 300 DPI. Your photo never leaves your device.
Create your Mexican passport photo — freeFrequently Asked Questions
Do I need to bring a printed photo to my Mexican passport appointment?
Usually not. For ordinary passports, the SRE office or consulate captures your biometrics at the appointment — photograph, fingerprints, iris recognition, and signature — so the picture in the booklet is taken there. Printed photos come into play only when a specific office or procedure requests them, and in those cases the spec is 35×45 mm, color, white background, no glasses, head uncovered, taken within the last 30 days.
Can I wear glasses in a Mexican passport photo?
No. The SRE rule is unambiguous: the photograph is taken without glasses, with the head completely uncovered, facing forward, and with nothing covering the face. The consular photo-example sheet even shows a picture with glasses on as one of the rejected examples, so remove them for printed photos and expect to remove them at the capture desk.
How recent does a Mexican passport photo have to be?
Taken no more than 30 days before your application. This is one of the strictest recency rules in the world — most countries allow six months — so do not reuse an old print. A photo session in the same month as your appointment is the safe play.
What size is a Mexican passport photo?
45 mm high by 35 mm wide (3.5 × 4.5 cm) — the standard international passport format. It must be in color on a white background, showing the full head, facing forward, without smiling. Our free tool crops to exactly this size and lays out a printable sheet at 300 DPI.
Sources
- Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores — Trámite de Pasaporte — biometric capture at the appointment: photograph, fingerprints, iris, signature; no glasses, head uncovered (verified July 7, 2026)
- SRE — Requisitos para obtener pasaporte ordinario por primera vez — two passport-size photos, color, white background, 30-day recency (verified July 7, 2026)
- SRE consular network — Ejemplos de fotografías para trámite de pasaporte (PDF) — 45 × 35 mm spec and rejected-photo examples (verified July 7, 2026)
- ICAO Doc 9303 — Machine Readable Travel Documents — international biometric portrait standard