Sri Lankan Passport Photo: requirements and cropper
Crop a photo to the official Sri Lanka spec and check the head height as you go — free, and entirely in your browser.
You may not need to prepare a photo at all. The Department of Immigration & Emigration now states that printed photographs are no longer accepted and that photos are captured digitally through department-registered studios. The detailed 35 × 45 mm and 70–80% figures come from an official embassy specification and may be legacy guidance for overseas applicants — see the conflict below. No pixel or file-size specification for the digital submission was published.
Crop a photo to the Sri Lanka spec
Drag the two markers. Put the blue one on the very top of the head — including hair — and the red one on the bottom of the chin. Every measurement below is calculated from that, because Sri Lanka measures head height as 70–80% crown to chin, not the face.
Your photo
Result
More options
Full requirements
| Printed photo size | 35 × 45 mm (1.38 × 1.77 in) |
|---|---|
| Head height | 70–80% of image height |
| Background | Plain light background — white, light blue or light grey |
| How recent | Taken within the last 6 months |
| Glasses | Spectacles are not permitted. The eyes must be clearly visible. |
| Head coverings | Caps and scarves, including for religious reasons, are permitted provided the forehead and ears are clearly visible and the covering casts no shadow on the face. |
| Expression & pose | Straight-looking, centred, neutral expression. Eyes open with no hair covering the face, forehead or ears. |
| Children & infants | Children under 16 are no longer included on a parent's passport; a separate passport, and therefore a separate photo, is required. |
| Not published | digital dimensions, file size, file format, minimum resolution, copies required — the official source does not state these, so nothing is shown rather than a number we made up. |
Source: Department of Immigration & Emigration, Sri Lanka — read 2026-07-26.
How to take and crop the photo
- Take or choose a photo shot straight on, from about arm's length or further, in even light with no shadow falling on the face or the wall behind it. Phone selfies taken close up distort the face and are a common rejection reason.
- Stand far enough from the wall that you cast no shadow on it. The background needs to be plain light background — white, light blue or light grey — the tool fills only the area outside your photo's edges, it does not replace the wall behind you.
- Drop the photo into the tool above. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read directly by your browser.
- Drag the blue marker to the very top of the head, including hair, and the red marker to the bottom of the chin. This is the measurement every official spec is written against.
- Check the head-height readout against the official 70–80% figure.
- Download the photo, or generate a print sheet if you need physical copies.
Why Sri Lanka photos get rejected
Drawn from the official guidance rather than guesswork. Most rejections are not about dimensions at all:
- Spectacles worn in the photo
- Head covering obscuring the forehead or ears
- Photo more than six months old
- Background not plain or light
- Shadow on the face or background
- Red-eye
Where official sources disagree
More than one official source publishes a figure for this, and they do not match. Both are shown rather than one being picked silently:
- Whether printed photos and the detailed mm figures still apply: One source says Printed photographs no longer accepted; photos taken by registered studios to ICAO standards. Another says Explicit 3.5 × 4.5 cm print size and a 70–80% face-height proportion.
When this happens, the office that will receive your application is the authority worth asking. Neither of us can resolve a contradiction in their own documentation.
Background and other notes
A sri lankan passport photo is 35 × 45 mm — about 1.38 × 1.77 inches. The head must fill 70–80% of the image height. The background must be plain light background — white, light blue or light grey. The photo must have been taken within the last 6 months.
File size and disclaimer
This is not official advice. img-fix is not affiliated with any government or immigration authority. The figures on this page were read from Department of Immigration & Emigration, Sri Lanka on 2026-07-26, and requirements change without notice. Check the official source before you submit.
Sri Lanka photo questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The cropping, resizing and compressing all happen inside this page, using your browser's own image APIs. There is no server to upload to — the site is static files. Open your browser's network tab, use the tool, and you can watch nothing leave.
It also keeps working with your Wi-Fi switched off once the page has loaded.
What size is a sri lankan passport photo?
35 × 45 mm (1.38 × 1.77 in), according to Department of Immigration & Emigration, Sri Lanka.
Can this tool change my background?
No, and that is deliberate. Background replacement means guessing where your hair ends, and the guess is visible — a halo or a chewed-up fringe is exactly the kind of artefact that gets a photo rejected as digitally altered. Sri Lanka requires plain light background — white, light blue or light grey, so photograph yourself against a matching wall.
The fill colour setting only paints the area outside your photo's edges when the required crop is larger than the image you supplied.
How recent does the photo have to be?
Taken within the last 6 months. Reusing the photo from your previous passport is a standard rejection reason.
Can I wear glasses?
Spectacles are not permitted. The eyes must be clearly visible.
Are head coverings allowed?
Caps and scarves, including for religious reasons, are permitted provided the forehead and ears are clearly visible and the covering casts no shadow on the face.
Do the rules differ for babies and children?
Children under 16 are no longer included on a parent's passport; a separate passport, and therefore a separate photo, is required.
Do I even need to bring a photo?
Often not. The Department of Immigration & Emigration now states that printed photographs are no longer accepted and that photos are captured digitally through department-registered studios. The detailed 35 × 45 mm and 70–80% figures come from an official embassy specification and may be legacy guidance for overseas applicants — see the conflict below. No pixel or file-size specification for the digital submission was published.
Why do different official pages give different numbers?
They do, and we show both rather than picking one silently. For Whether printed photos and the detailed mm figures still apply: one official source says Printed photographs no longer accepted; photos taken by registered studios to ICAO standards, while another says Explicit 3.5 × 4.5 cm print size and a 70–80% face-height proportion. When sources disagree, ask the office that will receive your application.
Will a photo from this tool definitely be accepted?
Nobody can promise that, and any site that does is selling you certainty it does not have. A photo is judged on framing, background, lighting, expression, sharpness and how recent it is. This tool handles the geometry and the file size precisely; the rest is down to how the photo was taken. The requirements here were read from Department of Immigration & Emigration, Sri Lanka on 2026-07-26 — check the source before you submit, because rules change.
Related specifications
Same print size — 35 × 45 mm
- French Passport & CNI Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed.
- German Passport & ID Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · solid
- Indian Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · plain white
- Irish Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · completely plain light grey · max 9 MB
- Italian Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 70–80% · white
- Japanese Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · white is recommended; a plain light blue is also accepted
Comparing print sizes across every country in one place is easier on the passport photo size comparison page.