Mexico Passport Photo Requirements

Mexico asks for two 35 x 45 mm photos, no glasses, no earrings, and taken within the last 30 days - a freshness rule most countries skip. The full spec from the SRE, and why a US 2 x 2 inch photo will not do.

Flat vector illustration in near-neutral charcoal and slate of a dim passport office at dusk: a single warm amber desk lamp lights a hand filling in a paper application form that has two small printed ID portrait photos clipped to it, a small webcam on a short stand and an ink stamp and a card-reader printer sit on the grey counter, a row of empty waiting chairs stands in shadow to the left, and a tall window on the right shows a fading sunset street with a bare flagpole silhouette.

A Mexican passport photo must be 35 x 45 mm, in colour on a plain white background, front-facing without glasses, and taken no more than 30 days before your appointment. Those rules come from the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), the ministry that issues every Mexican passport (pasaporte). The 30-day rule is the one that catches people out: where the US, UK, and most countries accept a photo up to six months old, Mexico wants a genuinely recent image.

This guide covers the Mexican spec only. For the rules every country shares, see passport photo requirements explained; for how the dimensions differ nation to nation, passport photo size by country.

The exact Mexican passport photo spec

Every value below is published by the SRE, taken from its consular passport application (form OP5) and its requirement pages. It is a portrait photo, and you supply two identical copies.

Size	35 x 45 mm (3.5 x 4.5 cm), portrait
Background	Plain white (fondo blanco), no shadows or objects behind you
Colour	Colour photo, front-facing, not smiling
Glasses	Not allowed (sin lentes / sin anteojos), including prescription glasses
Face and head	Head uncovered, forehead and ears visible, no earrings
Recency	Taken no more than 30 days before your passport appointment
Number of photos	Two identical prints (dos fotografias)

The 30-day rule is Mexico's distinctive requirement

The SRE asks for photographs "tomadas con una anterioridad no mayor a 30 dias" - taken no more than 30 days before you process the passport. That is far tighter than the six-month window the US and most other countries accept, and it exists so the photo genuinely looks like you look now. A flattering photo from a previous document, even one that is perfectly sized, can be turned away for being too old. So take a new photo specifically for this application rather than reusing one.

Because of that freshness rule, there is little point sizing an old photo. Shoot a fresh one against a plain white wall in even light, then crop and resize it. A poor background or a stale image is one of the more common reasons passport photos get rejected.

No glasses, no earrings, forehead and ears uncovered

The SRE's consular application (form OP5) states the appearance rules in one line: photos must be "recientes, fondo blanco, de frente, a color, sin sonreir, sin anteojos, ni aretes, frente y orejas descubiertas." In plain terms:

No glasses. The rule says sin lentes, and it means ordinary prescription glasses too, not only sunglasses. Take them off for the photo.
No earrings. Mexico specifically bars earrings (sin aretes), which many countries do not - remove them.
Forehead and ears visible. Keep hair off your face so the edges of your face, your forehead, and your ears show.
Neutral face. Look straight at the camera with your mouth closed and a neutral expression - not smiling.

These rules line up with the international biometric standard behind what makes a passport photo biometric, with the no-glasses and no-earrings points being where Mexico is stricter than average.

Do you even have to bring a photo?

Sometimes the SRE takes it for you. When you apply at a passport office or consulate, staff also capture your photograph and fingerprints on the spot as part of the biometric passport - the gob.mx guidance lists "permitir la toma de biometricos, fotografia, huellas dactilares" among the steps. The two 35 x 45 mm photos the SRE asks you to bring are requested "para agilizar el tramite," to speed processing along.

What this means in practice: bring two compliant photos to be safe, since the requirement pages still ask for them, but do not be surprised if you are also photographed at the counter. Either way, the photo you hand over has to meet the 35 x 45 mm spec above. Because rules and biometric setups vary between offices and consulates, confirm what your specific location wants when you book your MEXITEL appointment.

Why a US 2 x 2 inch photo will not work

A US passport photo is a 2 x 2 inch (51 x 51 mm) square. Mexico's is a 35 x 45 mm portrait rectangle. They are different shapes, so a US photo cannot simply be reused for a Mexican passport - cropping a square down to 35 x 45 mm cuts into the frame and throws off how much of it your head fills.

Mexico uses a 35 x 45 mm portrait; the US uses a 2 x 2 inch square. A photo cut for one does not fit the other. Mexico shares its size with the UK, Europe, and most of the 35 x 45 mm countries.

Make a Mexico passport photo online

Once you have a fresh photo taken against a plain white wall, you can size it without paying a booth. babapic's Mexico passport photo maker crops your photo to the 35 x 45 mm ratio with a drag-to-position box and resizes it to exactly 413 x 531 pixels, which is 35 x 45 mm at 300 DPI (see what DPI means). It runs entirely in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded.

It sizes and crops, and that is all it does: it will not whiten a grey background or take glasses off your face, so those have to be right in the photo you start from. To compare Mexico against another country, the full passport photo maker hub covers the rest. As with any government application, confirm the current rules with the SRE or your consulate before you submit.

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