The U.S. passport rule
“You can smile in your photo. Just make sure your eyes are open and your mouth is closed.”
That sentence is on the State Department’s Passport Photos page, last updated March 24, 2026. It sets two conditions, and both are about the face rather than the mood: your eyes are open, and your lips are together. A neutral expression meets them too, so a smile is allowed, never required.
The page for online renewal uploads says the same in its own reminder list: a neutral expression or a natural smile, without showing teeth, with both eyes open. A wide grin fails on both counts. It opens the mouth, and it narrows the eyes.
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Visas and other passports ask for a neutral face
Of these four documents, only the U.S. passport allows a smile. Each row is that document’s own rule.
| Document | Expression |
|---|---|
| U.S. passport | Neutral, or a natural smile with the mouth closed |
| U.S. visa (DS-160) | Neutral |
| Korean passport | Neutral |
| UK passport | Neutral |
The U.S. visa photo, the one the DS-160 takes and an embassy may ask for at the interview, follows the State Department’s visa photo requirements: a neutral expression, both eyes open. Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks for a neutral face with the mouth closed, and GOV.UK asks the same of a UK passport photo.
One photo for two documents
A U.S. passport photo and a U.S. visa photo are the same size, 2 × 2 in, with the same head range, so many people take one photo for both: a passport for themselves, a visa application for a parent, a Korean passport renewal next to a U.S. one. If the photo has to serve more than the U.S. passport, keep a neutral face. A neutral photo meets every one of these rules; a smiling one meets only the passport’s.
The other rules still differ by document. A Korean passport photo is 35 × 45 mm with the head measured without the hair, so it is cut differently from the same photo. The Korean passport photo rule shows it.
A smile that passes
If you want to smile in a U.S. passport photo, these keep it inside the rule.
- Close your lips first, then smile. Starting from a closed mouth keeps the smile from opening it.
- Keep it small. A smile that pushes your cheeks up also narrows your eyes, and both eyes must stay open.
- Look straight into the lens with your head level. The rules ask for your head straight and facing the camera, smile or not.
- Take several shots and pick the one where your eyes are fully open and your lips meet.
- Ask someone else to take it from about 4 ft away. That frames and lights the face better than a photo at arm’s length. How to take a passport photo at home covers the light and the wall.
If you are not sure, choose the neutral face. It is the expression every document on this page accepts, and it is the one that can’t be read as a grin.
Children and babies
The same rule applies to children: eyes open, mouth closed. The State Department makes one exception, for babies: “It is okay if a baby’s eyes are not entirely open. All other children must have their eyes open.” A baby’s expression doesn’t have to be still, but no other person or hands can be in the photo. How to take a baby passport photo at home explains how to manage both.
What our check does with a smile
Our check runs before you pay and measures your head size, eye line and background. It also looks at your expression. For a U.S. passport, a smile passes as long as your lips are together; when the check can’t tell whether they are, it asks you to confirm before going on. For a visa or a Korean passport, it flags a smile, and asks you to confirm a neutral face when it can’t tell. It never changes your expression: we only level, scale and crop the photo you took.
Only the office that issues your document decides whether a photo is accepted. If yours comes back, Passport photo rejected: why it happens and what to do next explains the letter and the next photo.