Home › Visa Photo Checker › Costa Rica
Costa Rica Visa Photo Checker
Compliance for Costa Rica visa photos is unforgiving. The Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division pushes most submissions through automated biometric matchers, and even tiny issues — a slightly off background tone, a head 2 mm too small, soft focus — are enough to send your application back to the start.
This page runs all the checks they run. Drop in your photo above and you'll get an instant compliance report listing every potential rejection reason, prioritised by severity, with a fix path for each one.
Costa Rica follows the 35×45 mm standard for passports, administered by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Costa Rican passport photos must be taken against a white background with no accessories or glasses. The country requires a neutral facial expression and photos taken within the last 6 months.
Official Costa Rica visa photo rules we check
- Required size: 35×45 mm (413×531 px at 300 DPI)
- Required background: White
- Issuing authority: Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division
- Print dimensions: 35×45 mm (1.38×1.77 inches)
- Digital size: 413×531 px at 300 DPI
- Background: White
Common Costa Rica visa rejection reasons
- Costa Rica-specific: Ordering an off-spec size — the international 35×45 mm default is not 35×45 mm used by Costa Rica, and studios often print the wrong size unless the exact dimensions are stated in millimetres.
- Costa Rica-specific: Photos taken with a warm-white desk lamp that shifts skin tone away from the reference — Latin American passport offices frequently flag colour cast at the enrolment counter.
- Costa Rica-specific: Uploading a photo whose background reads as off-white or cream once compressed — always verify the RGB values before submitting.
- Costa Rica-specific: Submitting a photo older than 6 months even if you look the same — Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division matches EXIF dates against the application date when available.
- Aspect ratio drifted from 35:45 after a careless crop
- Soft focus or motion blur from a handheld phone shot in low light
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 Costa Rica rejections.
Crop precisely to 35×45 mm
Use our free image cropper to pull the exact 35:45 ratio. Position your eyes near the upper third of the frame and leave roughly 5 mm of headroom above the hair — the proportions Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division 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 Costa Rica 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. Costa Rica biometric matchers explicitly check this.
Related visa checker pages
MexicoUnited StatesColombia
Popular visa checker pages
United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomIndiaSchengen Zone
Frequently asked questions
Where do I apply for a passport in Costa Rica?
Costa Rica nationals apply through Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division at the nearest passport office. Payment is usually made online before the appointment. Booking an appointment online first is standard practice and rarely optional.
Is a white background required in Costa Rica passport photos?
Yes. Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division requires a white background at the 35×45 mm print size. Substituting another colour or an off-white tone triggers rejection at the biometric pre-check even when the framing and lighting are otherwise correct.
What is the Costa Rica passport photo size in pixels?
413×531 pixels at 300 DPI. At 300 DPI that maps to the physical 35×45 mm print. If the online portal specifies a different pixel target, resize from a 300 DPI master file rather than re-cropping a smaller original.
How accurate is this Costa Rica visa photo checker?
Our checker runs the same compliance tests automated systems at the Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería / Ministério das Relações Exteriores) — Passport Division 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.