The figures
| What is measured | What this rule publishes |
|---|---|
| Print size | 50 x 70 mm at 300 dpi |
| Head, chin to crown | 44.3% to 51.4% (31–36 mm) |
| Eye line, from the bottom | 55.0% to 72.0% (38.5–50.4 mm) (guidance) |
| Background | White or a plain light colour |
| Online application photo | at least 420 x 588 px, JPEG, up to 4.00 MB |
Make this photo Opens the photo tool with this rule already chosen. It runs in your browser: the photograph is never uploaded, and there is no account and no watermark.
What else this rule says
- Read this before using the upload. For an online application Canada asks for a file “saved directly from the camera without any changes” — and a crop is a change, so use this to check a photographer’s file and to make the paper prints. The minimum it states, 420 x 540 pixels, is not the shape of its own 50 x 70 mm frame; 420 x 588 is, and clears both figures. About 240 kB is suggested and 4 MB is the ceiling.
- No eye line is published, so the band shown is where the eyes fall on a head sitting centred in the frame. It is guidance rather than a requirement, and is never painted red.
Where these figures come from
Transcribed from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — canada.ca, Citizenship photo specifications. Checked 2026-09-19. Rules change; the figures above are what to check against the form in front of you.
What the tool does with them
- Locks the crop to this document’s shape, and draws the head and eye bands inside it, so you can see the rule on your own photograph instead of reading about it.
- Finds the crown, the chin and both pupils by measuring the picture — no face model is downloaded — and says in millimetres whether the head is too large or too small for this rule.
- Reads the background colour and how evenly it is lit, and says which of the two is the problem when there is one.
- Writes the print at the exact millimetres with the resolution in the file, a sheet of them with cut marks, and the upload file at the pixel and file size this rule states.
Other documents, Canada
- Passport (Passeport) — 50 x 70 mm
- Permanent residence and PR card (Résidents permanents) — 50 x 70 mm · 715 x 1000 px
- Visitor visa (temporary resident visa) (Visa de résident temporaire) — 35 x 45 mm