What the specification means in practice
This is the specification where the most useful thing to know is not a measurement. Applying at a Federal Police unit in Brazil, applicants over five years old do not bring a photo at all — a facial photograph is captured on the day of the appointment. A printed photo is only required for applicants under five, and for applications made at a Brazilian consulate abroad.
Who actually needs a printed photo
Under five, applying in Brazil: bring a recent 5 × 7 photo. The Federal Police explain the reason plainly — having the photo already avoids accidents and discomfort while photographing a small child, and avoids delaying the appointment. The child must still attend in person.
Over five, applying in Brazil: no photo needed. Applying at a consulate: a printed photo is required, to the consular specification below.
The consular specification
The photograph must be the standard identity/passport size of 5 × 7 cm, in colour, recent — preferably taken less than six months ago — and shot front-on against a white background. Photos already used in a previous passport are not accepted, which rules out reusing the print you have kept from the last renewal.
There must be no reflections, penumbra or shadows anywhere in the photograph, and the photo must not be cropped by the applicant.
A head measurement taken differently
The published measurement is 31 to 36 mm from the chin to the forehead. That is a different landmark from the chin-to-crown head height used by every other specification on this site, and the two are not interchangeable — the crown sits well above the forehead, so a chin-to-forehead figure describes a noticeably larger head in frame than the same number measured to the crown.
Because of that, no chin-to-crown ratio is recorded in our dataset for Brazil. Frame the photo to the published chin-to-forehead range rather than converting it.
Photographing infants
Consulates recognise that photographing a baby to specification is difficult and accept home-made photos for infants provided the basics hold: a white background — a sheet works — and the face unobstructed. A photo of a newborn with closed eyes is accepted; for everyone else, closed eyes are a rejection.
A photo will also be refused if the child’s face is partly covered by accessories, ornaments or decorations, or if enough time has passed since it was taken that it no longer identifies the child.
Before the appointment
Confirm which route applies to you before arranging anything. Booking a studio sitting for an adult application made in Brazil is time and money spent on a photo nobody will ask for. Conversely, arriving at a consulate without a printed photo means a second visit.