Rules compared across countries
How old can a passport photo be?
The six-month figure is repeated everywhere as though it were international. It is not in ICAO Doc 9303 at all, and the authorities that do impose a limit set it themselves. In several of these countries the question cannot come up: you are photographed at the counter, so there is no older photograph to submit.
Six months is the figure most authorities use, but it is not a shared rule — one of them says three, several say nothing, and in the rest you are photographed on the spot, so an old photo was never an option.
Allowed, with conditions — 6 countries
🇵🇰 Pakistan — Six months — on the online route, which is the one where you supply the file.
“Not be more than 6-months old”
🇧🇩 Bangladesh — Three months — the shortest limit we found, and it applies to the one route where a photograph is handed in at all: a newborn’s first passport.
“the photo should not be older than 3 months”
🇻🇳 Vietnam — Six months, stated at the top of the photo requirements for the online application.
“Ảnh mới chụp (không quá 6 tháng)”
🇯🇵 Japan — Six months. It appears in the list of photographs that are refused, not in the specification itself.
A photo taken more than 6 months before the date of application — our English rendering of the Japanese original, which we could not retrieve to quote directly
🇰🇷 South Korea — Six months before the date you apply, written into the opening paragraph of the specification.
“여권사진은 여권발급 신청일 전 6개월 이내 촬영된 사진으로 본인임을 확인할 수 있도록 실제 소지인을 그대로 나타내어야 하며, 변형하여서는 안됩니다”
🇵🇱 Poland — Six months, phrased as an instruction to the applicant rather than as a limit on the file.
“zdjęcie powinno być aktualne – zrób je nie wcześniej niż 6 miesięcy przed złożeniem wniosku”
Not stated — 5 countries
🇮🇳 India — No age limit is published for the District Centre route, the one where printed photos are handed in. On the ordinary route the counter photographs you at a Passport Seva Kendra.
🇳🇵 Nepal — No age limit is stated for the under-five route, the only one that takes a printed photograph. Everyone else is photographed at the district office.
🇳🇬 Nigeria — You upload a file you supplied yourself, and the portal’s photo rules — which are detailed about pixels, background and head size — name no age limit at all.
🇪🇸 Spain — The photo regulation covers size, background, glasses and head covering, and says nothing about when the photograph was taken.
🇮🇹 Italy — Italy names the ICAO format instead of publishing its own figures, and ICAO sets no limit on the age of a photograph.
Not applicable — 2 countries
🇵🇭 Philippines — The photograph is captured during the appointment, so nothing you already own is submitted.
🇮🇩 Indonesia — Taken at the immigration office during biometric enrolment.
Questions people actually ask
Is the six-month rule an international standard?
No. ICAO Doc 9303 Part 3, the specification every passport is built to, contains no rule about how old a photograph may be — we read the 2021 edition looking for one. Where a six-month limit exists it was set by that country, which is why one authority we read sets three months instead.
Which countries put a time limit on the photo?
Of the authorities we checked, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Poland. Five of them say six months. Bangladesh says three, for the newborn route that is the only one where a photograph is handed over.
How would anyone know when my photo was taken?
They do not measure it — they look at it. The rule exists so that a photograph no longer resembling you can be refused without argument, and it is applied by the person at the counter comparing the print to your face. A recent photograph that looks like you rarely attracts the question; an old one that does not, does.
My country says nothing about photo age. Can I use an old photo?
Silence is not permission. Every authority we read can refuse a photograph that does not show a true likeness, and that clause is what an old photo actually fails. If nothing is published, the judgement sits with the counter rather than with a date.
Why is this not a question in some countries?
Because you never hand a photograph over. In the Philippines and Indonesia every passport route photographs you during the appointment, so there is no older image to date. Two other authorities photograph most applicants too, but each keeps one route where prints are handed in, so they are listed as not stated rather than not applicable.
Check your own photo
The tool measures head height against the figure on that country's own page. It cannot tell how old a photograph is; that is the one thing on this page a tool can never check for you.
Open the photo tool →