Philippines Passport Photo Size — You Don't Bring One

You do not bring a photo. Philippines passport photo rules taken from the government source, with the date we checked it.

You do not bring a photo.

The DFA consular office photographs you against its own light blue backdrop. That colour describes their studio wall, not a background you are supposed to supply.

What other sites get wrong

Each of these is repeated across commercial photo sites. We checked the authority's own page and could not confirm any of them.

“A Philippine passport photo is 35 × 45 mm.”

No government page says this. The DFA photographs you on site, so there is no print specification to state.

What gets a Philippines photo rejected

Every line below is the authority's own wording. These are the reasons applications actually come back — more often than a wrong measurement.

Rotation or tilting of the head either in an up/down or left/right direction must be avoided.
Contrived expressions such as raised eyebrows, squinting or frowning are not acceptable.
Eyeglasses should always be removed before capturing the applicant’s photo.
These accessories should be removed prior to photo capturing... The wearing of earrings is not allowed.
applicant may smile, but without showing their teeth and gums.

Compare one rule across every country → glasses

Which route applies to you

Ordinary route

You do not bring a photo.

The DFA consular office photographs you against its own light blue backdrop. That colour describes their studio wall, not a background you are supposed to supply.

There is no printed specification for this route, and none is missing from our data — the authority does not publish one, because you never supply a photo.

Where official sources disagree

These are not errors on our side. Both pages below are official, and they say different things.

What you actually do

both ears of the applicant should be visible — DFA head office capture guidance (dfa.gov.ph)
Ears may or may not be visible — Consulate General, San Francisco (pcgsanfrancisco.org)

Sources and what we could not verify

Passport FAQ — DFA Office of Consular Affairs consular.dfa.gov.ph checked 2026-08-26

also: consular.dfa.gov.ph · pcgsanfrancisco.org

not verified: any printed passport photo specification — none exists, and we did not invent one · a live copy of the DFA head-office page: the whole domain is behind Cloudflare, so an archived snapshot was the only route

Questions people actually ask

Do I need to bring a photo for a Philippines passport application?

No. The DFA consular office photographs you against its own light blue backdrop. That colour describes their studio wall, not a background you are supposed to supply.

What size is a Philippines passport photo?

There is no official print size. We checked the government source and found none — any millimetre figure you see elsewhere is not from the authority.

Why do official pages give different answers?

They genuinely disagree. On what you actually do: DFA head office capture guidance says “both ears of the applicant should be visible”; Consulate General, San Francisco says “Ears may or may not be visible”. We show both rather than picking one.