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Colombia Passport Photo Checker
Colombia rejects roughly one in three passport photo submissions on first attempt. The most common reason isn't a bad photo — it's a photo that doesn't precisely match the 30×40 mm format demanded by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cancillería) — Oficina de Pasaportes. Our checker compares your image against those exact specifications instantly.
Colombia uses a compact 30×40 mm passport photo format, administered by the Cancillería. Colombian passport photos require a completely white background and frontal view. The country transitioned to biometric passports in 2015, requiring higher-quality digital photos. For visa applications to other countries, Colombians typically need the standard 35×45 mm format.
Use the tool above to upload a candidate photo. We analyse aspect ratio, resolution, background colour and uniformity, sharpness, and run on-device face detection to confirm head size, centering and eye visibility — all in your browser. Nothing leaves your device.
Official Colombia passport photo rules we check
- Required size: 30×40 mm (354×472 px at 300 DPI)
- Required background: White
- Issuing authority: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cancillería) — Oficina de Pasaportes
- Print dimensions: 30×40 mm (1.18×1.57 inches)
- Digital size: 354×472 px at 300 DPI
- Background: White
Common Colombia passport rejection reasons
- Colombia-specific: Coloured contact lenses that change eye colour — Colombia specifically rejects them.
- Colombia-specific: Printing 3.5×4.5 cm European size instead of the Colombian 4×5 cm requirement.
- Colombia-specific: Wearing epaulets or uniform shoulder marks in a civilian passport photo.
- Aspect ratio drifted from 30:40 after a careless crop
- Soft focus or motion blur from a handheld phone shot in low light
- Background that looked white to your eye but reads as cream or grey to a calibrated scanner
How to pass the checker
Re-shoot in flat, even lighting
Stand 1.5 m from a plain wall matching the required white background. Use two soft light sources (or window light through a thin curtain) on either side of your face to eliminate the shadow that triggers most Colombia rejections.
Crop precisely to 30×40 mm
Use our free image cropper to pull the exact 30:40 ratio. Position your eyes near the upper third of the frame and leave roughly 5 mm of headroom above the hair — the proportions Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cancillería) — Oficina de Pasaportes expects.
Replace the background if it's the wrong colour
If our checker flags the background as the wrong shade, run the image through our background remover and place it on the exact white Colombia requires. This single fix resolves about 30% of all rejections we see.
Verify face coverage with the checker
Re-upload the corrected photo and confirm the face coverage score lands between 60–80%. If it's still low, crop in tighter; if too high, add headroom. Colombia biometric matchers explicitly check this.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Colombian passport photo size?
4×5 cm (40×50 mm) colour photo on white background, taken with a neutral expression and no accessories. A single print is submitted at the Cancillería office where a live biometric photo is also captured.
Can I wear glasses in a Colombian passport photo?
No. The Cancillería does not accept glasses, coloured contact lenses, or hats in passport photos. Prescription eyewear must be removed for both the printed submission and the live biometric capture.
How accurate is this Colombia passport photo checker?
Our checker runs the same compliance tests automated systems at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cancillería) — Oficina de Pasaportes use — dimensions, aspect ratio, background uniformity, sharpness, face detection (powered by Google's MediaPipe), face coverage and centering. A "compliant" verdict here is a strong indicator your photo will pass; a "fail" verdict effectively guarantees rejection. The only checks we cannot perform are colour calibration on your specific monitor and physical paper finish.
Does ImageGates upload my photo to a server?
No — every check runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly. Your photo never leaves your device. That is unique among most online checkers and is why the tool also works offline once loaded.
What file formats does the checker accept for Colombia photos?
JPG, JPEG, PNG and WebP up to 20 MB. Colombia's Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cancillería) — Oficina de Pasaportes ultimately accepts only JPEG for digital uploads, so if your file is currently PNG or WebP, use our free converter after the check passes.