Sao Tome and Principe Passport Photo — Exact Size & Requirements

A compliant passport photo for Sao Tome and Principe means a photo the issuing authority accepts without sending you back for a retake. Because São Tomé and Príncipe has not published a formal official photo specification on a government website, applicants must navigate two competing standards depending on their specific application route — and choosing the wrong one is the most common and avoidable mistake.

The size conflict you need to know about. Commercial visa and travel sources split into two camps. One group lists 2×2 inch (51×51 mm) with a white background and head height of roughly 25–35 mm — a format closely associated with US-bound visa applications, citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programmes, and some embassy requirements. The other group cites the 35×45 mm ICAO standard (used across most European and West African passports) with a head height of 26–30 mm. The national Santomean passport almost certainly follows the ICAO biometric standard, while 51×51 mm is typically required for US immigration or certain investment-visa routes. Before you print anything, confirm in writing which size your specific application requires. Our service prepares the 51×51 mm (1205×1205 px at 600 dpi) format by default — widely required and accepted for São Tomé submissions abroad — and can resize to 35×45 mm if you need it.

• Size: 51×51 mm (2×2 inch) — 1205×1205 px at 600 dpi for the standard international route; confirm 35×45 mm with your embassy if applying for a national biometric passport
• Background: plain white (#FFFFFF), no shadows, no gradients, no patterns
• Face coverage: head must fill 50–69% of the total frame height
• Expression: neutral, relaxed, mouth closed, eyes open and clearly visible
• Glasses: permitted only if lenses are clear, eyes are fully visible, and there is no glare or tinted coating
• Head covering: not permitted except for documented religious reasons; head must remain fully visible from chin to crown
• Photo age: taken within the last 6 months, in full colour, properly lit with no harsh shadows on the face or background

• Common reasons passport photos are rejected for São Tomé and Príncipe applications
• Submitting the wrong size — using 35×45 mm when the application route requires 51×51 mm (or vice versa)
• Off-white, cream, or light-grey background mistaken for white — only pure #FFFFFF is accepted
• Head too small in the frame, leaving excessive space above the crown or at the sides
• Sunglasses, tinted lenses, or glasses that produce glare across the eyes

Upload your own photo — taken in normal daylight against any plain background — and it is automatically prepared to the exact 51×51 mm standard: cropped, resized, and background corrected. You receive a free watermarked preview before any payment, so you can check framing and quality first. Pay only for the final print-ready file. If the photo is ever rejected by the issuing authority, we will redo it at no charge or refund you in full — that is our acceptance guarantee. Given the size ambiguity for São Tomé documents, we recommend confirming the required format with your embassy or application centre before ordering prints.