Mexico Passport photo requirements

Mexico passport photo requirements, in plain English

Mexico's passport photo rules come from the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE). They are short and strict: a recent, color, front-facing photo on a plain white background, with a serious face (no smiling), no glasses, and the head uncovered and fully visible. Every rule below is taken from the SRE's official requirements page and its photo-example sheet.

Size and framing

The photo must be 45×35 mm (4.5×3.5 cm), in color, with your head shown complete and centered, facing the camera. The SRE's example sheet rejects three framing mistakes outright:

• Cara muy cerca — face too close / cropped in too tight.
• Cabeza muy lejos — head too far away / too small in the frame.
• Foto de perfil — a profile or side-angle shot.

Aim for a full head at a moderate distance, shot straight on.

Expression — do not smile

Unlike the U.S. passport, Mexico does not allow a smile. The official photo examples are captioned "sin sonreír" (without smiling). Use a serious, neutral expression with your mouth closed.

Glasses — take them off

Photos must be taken "sin lentes" (without glasses). The SRE explicitly flags "lentes puestos" (glasses on) as a rejected example, so remove all eyeglasses before your photo.

Head coverings

Your head must be uncovered ("cabeza descubierta") and fully visible ("cabeza completa"). Hats, caps, and other head coverings are not permitted.

Background

Use a plain white background ("fondo blanco"). The SRE rejects a gray or stained/blotchy background ("fondo gris o manchado"). Snapassport standardizes your background to the exact compliant white automatically, so a slightly off-color or uneven wall is corrected for you.

Recency

The photo must be recent — taken no more than 30 days before your appointment ("no mayor a 30 días de anterioridad"). This is one of the shortest recency windows of any common passport.

Where Mexico's rules are silent

The SRE's published guidance does not spell out lighting, shadows, red-eye, or infant-specific rules. For those, Snapassport applies the international ICAO best-practice defaults: even lighting with accurate skin tones, no shadows on the face or background, no red-eye, and — for babies — the same front-facing, white-background, eyes-open standard with no other people, hands, or props in the frame.