Brazilian Passport Photo Size: It Depends Where You Apply
If you searched for the Brazilian passport photo size, the honest answer is that it depends on where you are standing when you apply. Inside Brazil, most applicants need no photo at all, because the Polícia Federal photographs you at the appointment. Outside Brazil, every applicant needs one, and the consulate asks for the passport photo size of the country you live in, not a special Brazilian one. That is why a New York applicant and a Lisbon applicant are told two different sizes, and why sites listing one size for Brazil get it wrong for most readers.
Find your situation below, then get the photo for that case only.
The short answer by situation
| Where and who | Do you bring a photo? | Size |
|---|---|---|
| In Brazil, age 5 or older | No. The Polícia Federal takes it at the appointment. | None |
| In Brazil, child under 5 | Yes, one printed photo. The child still has to attend. | 5 × 7 cm, white background |
| Consulates in the US (New York, Boston and others) | Yes, upload and print | 2 × 2 inches, the US passport size |
| Consulate in London | Yes, upload and print | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, the UK size |
| Consulate in Lisbon | Yes, upload and print | 3 × 4 cm |
| Consulates in Toronto and Montreal | Yes, upload and print | 5 × 5 cm (2 × 2 in) or 5 × 7 cm, with the photographer's stamp and date on the back |
| Foreign tourist applying for a Brazil eVisa | Digital upload only | 3.5 × 4.5 cm, 413 × 531 pixels, JPEG up to 2 MB |
Every case uses the same look: colour, plain white background, facing the camera, neutral expression, taken in the last six months.
Applying inside Brazil: the police take the picture
For a passport requested in Brazil, the photo is part of the biometric appointment, so there is nothing to print. The Polícia Federal's document list says applicants over 5 are photographed during the appointment and only children under 5 bring a picture: a recent 5 × 7 cm print on a white background, and the child must still come in person (gov.br/pf, documentação necessária). The police explain the exception as a kindness to small children, who rarely sit still for the counter camera, and a way to avoid delays.
So if you are an adult with an appointment at a Polícia Federal post, skip the photo shop. If you are booking for a toddler, the print is worth getting right ahead of time; our baby passport photo guide covers the lay-flat method that works for children who cannot sit up straight yet.
Applying at a consulate: you bring the photo, in local size
Abroad, it works the other way round, and this is the part most "Brazil passport photo" pages miss. Consulates do not photograph you at the counter. You upload a scan of your photo with your documents on the e-consular system so staff can check the application, then you hand over or mail the printed photo, usually glued to the signed RER receipt.
The size follows local practice. The New York consulate's checklist asks for a 2 × 2 inch photo and says the specifications are exactly those of a US passport photo (Consulado-Geral em Nova York). Boston asks for a colour 2 × 2 inch photo on white, with no glasses or hair accessories, taken within six months, and takes passport applications by mail only, with no online pre-check (Consulado-Geral em Boston). London asks for the standard local passport size, 3.5 × 4.5 cm (Consulado-Geral em Londres).
Two consulates have rules worth reading twice. Lisbon's list asks for a 3 × 4 cm photo with no smile, which is smaller than the 3.5 × 4.5 cm passport photos sold in most Portuguese shops. Toronto and Montreal accept 5 × 5 cm or 5 × 7 cm, but want the photographer's stamp with the date and place written on the back, which rules out a print you made at home.
Your consulate's own page is the final word, because each one writes its own checklist. Look for the "passaporte" page under your consulate on gov.br/mre before you print anything.
Applying through a US or UK consulate?
Our free tool makes a 2 × 2 inch US-size photo or a 35 × 45 mm UK-size photo from a phone picture, on a plain white background.
Make your photoWhy you see so many different sizes online
The numbers floating around are all real, but each belongs to a different document. The 5 × 7 cm figure is the under-5 rule inside Brazil and one of the Canadian options. The 3 × 4 cm figure is the classic Brazilian ID photo, used for the identity card (RG, now the CIN) when a printed photo is needed, and Lisbon's consular passport size. The 35 × 45 mm figure is the UK and European passport size and also the Brazil eVisa upload. Each is right for one reader and wrong for the rest.
The eVisa deserves its own warning. Since April 2025, US, Canadian and Australian tourists need an eVisa for Brazil, and its upload wants a 3.5 × 4.5 cm image of 413 × 531 pixels on white, as a JPEG up to 2 MB (brazil.vfsevisa.com). That is a visa photo for foreign visitors, not a Brazilian passport photo. Our Brazil eVisa photo guide covers that upload step by step.
Getting the print right the first time
A wrong-size print costs more abroad than at home, because the slip-up usually shows up after you have mailed the packet or travelled to the consulate. A few habits prevent it:
- Match the upload to the print. Scan or photograph the same print you will hand in, so the e-consular check and the paper copy agree.
- Leave the glasses off. Boston bans them outright and most consulates follow ICAO rules that make glasses a common reason for rejection.
- Print on photo paper at true size. A 2 × 2 inch photo printed scaled-to-fit on a home printer can come out a few millimetres off; our guide to printing passport photos explains how to keep it exact.
- Check the back of the print. In Canada, no stamp means no photo.
If you are comparing sizes across several countries for a family with more than one nationality, the passport photo sizes by country chart puts them side by side.
One more 2026 change: the consular fee was halved
If you last renewed abroad a few years ago, the price is lower now. From June 1, 2026, Portaria MRE nº 664/2026 cut the fee for ordinary passports issued abroad by half. The Boston consulate's page lists US$60 for adults and US$40 or US$20 for minors, depending on age (Consulado-Geral em Boston). Inside Brazil, the Polícia Federal fee is set separately in reais.
Before you book
Work out which row of the table you are in first. If you are in Brazil and over 5, you need no photo. If you are abroad, open your own consulate's passport checklist, note the size it names, and get that print, with a stamp on the back if you are in Canada.