An Australian passport costs roughly $255 USD. A Philippine passport costs about $16. That's a 16× difference for a document that does the same thing: gets you through border control.
We pulled the official government passport fee for every country in our database — 31 countries, all verified from government sources — and converted them to approximate USD equivalents. The results show massive, sometimes surprising variation — and the pattern isn't always what you'd expect.
Then there's the photo itself. A passport photo at CVS costs $16.99. At Walmart, $7.44. Online through passportsize-photo.online, $4.99. The photo is a small fraction of the total fee — but if it gets rejected, the time and money you lose are disproportionate.
Every Country's Passport Fee, Ranked
All fees below are the standard adult passport application fee from each country's official government source. USD equivalents are approximate, based on February 2026 exchange rates. Local currency amounts come directly from our requirements database, which tracks official fee schedules for 31 countries.
| Rank | Country | Local Fee | ~USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇦🇺 Australia | AUD $398 | ~$255 |
| 2 | 🇺🇸 United States | $165 | $165 |
| 3 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | CHF 140 | ~$157 |
| 4 | 🇮🇹 Italy | €116.86 | ~$126 |
| 5 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | NZD $210 | ~$122 |
| 6 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | £94.50 | ~$120 |
| 7 | 🇨🇦 Canada | CAD $160 | ~$115 |
| 8 | 🇹🇷 Turkey | TRY 4,115 | ~$113 |
| 9 | 🇯🇵 Japan | ¥16,000 | ~$107 |
| 10 | 🇫🇷 France | €86 | ~$93 |
| 11 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | €83.85 | ~$91 |
| 12 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | €80 | ~$86 |
| 13 | 🇦🇪 UAE | AED 300 | ~$82 |
| 14 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | MXN 1,640 | ~$80 |
| 14 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | SAR 300 | ~$80 |
| 16 | 🇩🇪 Germany | €70 | ~$76 |
| 17 | 🇮🇱 Israel | ILS 200 | ~$55 |
| 18 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | SGD $70 | ~$52 |
| 18 | 🇷🇺 Russia | RUB 5,000 | ~$52 |
| 20 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | RM 200 | ~$44 |
| 21 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | R$257.25 | ~$43 |
| 22 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | ₩53,000 | ~$37 |
| 23 | 🇵🇱 Poland | PLN 140 | ~$35 |
| 24 | 🇪🇸 Spain | €30 | ~$32 |
| 25 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | THB 1,000 | ~$28 |
| 26 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | ZAR 400 | ~$22 |
| 26 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | NGN 35,000 | ~$22 |
| 28 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | IDR 350,000 | ~$21 |
| 29 | 🇨🇳 China | ¥120 | ~$17 |
| 29 | 🇮🇳 India | ₹1,500 | ~$17 |
| 31 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | PHP 950 | ~$16 |
Data source: Official fee (officialFee) field from the passportsize-photo.online requirements database. Local currency values are exact as published by each government. USD conversions are approximate.
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Regional Passport Fee Patterns: Who Pays Most?
Most expensive region: Oceania and Western Europe. Australia ($255), New Zealand ($122), Switzerland ($157), and Italy ($126) dominate the top five. These countries issue passports valid for 10 years, and their fees reflect that — you're paying $12–25 per year of validity.
Cheapest region: South and Southeast Asia. The Philippines ($16), India ($17), China ($17), Indonesia ($21), and Thailand ($28) cluster at the bottom. These fees look low in USD, but they represent real money locally. India's ₹1,500 passport fee is roughly a full day's wages for millions of workers.
Europe's wide spread. European passport fees range from €30 (Spain) to €117 (Italy) — nearly a 4× difference within the same continent. Germany sits at €70, France at €86, the Netherlands at €84. Spain is an outlier on the low end.
The Americas. The United States is the second most expensive at $165, driven by the split application fee ($130) plus acceptance fee ($35). Canada is $115, Brazil $43, Mexico $80. The US fee is nearly 4× Brazil's.
Middle East. The UAE ($82) and Saudi Arabia ($80) are moderate — higher than their Asian neighbors, lower than Western Europe. Both countries use 40×60mm passport photos, a non-standard format that adds complexity (and cost) if you're getting photos taken locally.
One passport fee hides another. Several countries charge significantly different rates depending on validity period. Mexico's 3-year passport costs MXN 1,640 ($80), but the 10-year version is MXN 3,620 ($177) — more than double. The UK charges £94.50 online but £107 for a paper application. Turkey's fee (TRY 4,115 in 2024) is subject to annual adjustments driven by inflation. And the US has a labyrinth of options: $165 for a passport book, $65 for a card, $195 for both.
What the Photo Costs (Separate from the Passport)
The government fee above covers the passport application. The photo is an additional cost. Here's what the photo alone costs at major retailers and online services:
| Service | Price | Format | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVS | $16.99 | 2 printed photos | ~10 minutes in-store |
| Walgreens | $16.99 | 2 printed photos | ~10 minutes in-store |
| USPS | $15.00 | 2 printed photos | At post office |
| Walmart | $7.44 | 2 printed photos | ~5 minutes in-store |
| Boots (UK) | £8.99 | 4 printed photos | ~5 minutes in-store |
| Shoppers Drug Mart (CA) | CAD $16.99 | 2 printed photos | ~10 minutes in-store |
| Passport Size Photo | $4.99 | Digital + print-ready file | 30 seconds online |
For Americans, the photo adds 4–10% on top of the $165 government fee. At CVS, the total commitment is $181.99. At Walmart, $172.44. Through passportsize-photo.online, $169.99.
Small differences? In absolute terms, yes. But context matters. If a CVS photo gets rejected because the background has a shadow or the head sizing is off by a few percentage points, you're back at the counter paying $16.99 again — plus the time and frustration of a second trip.
The Hidden Cost of a Rejected Passport Photo
A rejected passport photo doesn't just cost you another $7–17 for a retake. It costs time.
The US State Department's standard processing time is 4–6 weeks. An expedited application takes 2–3 weeks. If your photo is rejected mid-process, the clock resets. For someone with a flight booked in six weeks, that reset can mean the difference between making the trip and canceling it.
Different countries handle rejections differently:
- United States: Photo rejected during processing → application returned by mail → resubmit with new photo → back of the queue
- United Kingdom: Digital photo rejected at submission → instant feedback → resubmit immediately (faster loop, but the UK has some of the strictest rules)
- Canada: Photo rejected at Service Canada → in-person rejection → must return with new photo from a commercial photographer
- Australia: Photo rejected → application delayed → resubmission required
The financial cost of a retake is $7–17. The time cost can be weeks.
Passport Photo Cost as a Fraction of the Total Fee
Here's another way to see the data: how much does the photo cost relative to the government's passport fee?
| Country | Gov Fee (~USD) | Photo Cost | Photo as % of Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | ~$16 | $4.99 | 31% |
| 🇮🇳 India | ~$17 | $4.99 | 29% |
| 🇨🇳 China | ~$17 | $4.99 | 29% |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | ~$21 | $4.99 | 24% |
| 🇿🇦 South Africa | ~$22 | $4.99 | 23% |
| 🇳🇬 Nigeria | ~$22 | $4.99 | 23% |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | ~$28 | $4.99 | 18% |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | ~$32 | $4.99 | 16% |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | ~$35 | $4.99 | 14% |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | ~$37 | $4.99 | 13% |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | ~$43 | $4.99 | 12% |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | ~$76 | $4.99 | 7% |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | ~$120 | $4.99 | 4% |
| 🇺🇸 United States | $165 | $4.99 | 3% |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | ~$255 | $4.99 | 2% |
The pattern is stark. For travelers from the Philippines, India, or China, the photo represents a quarter to a third of the total passport cost. For an Australian, it's a rounding error.
A rejected photo in the Philippines means a proportionally larger financial hit — not just the $4.99 retake, but potentially another round of travel to a photo studio, lost work time, and delayed processing. In countries where the passport fee itself represents a significant expense, the stakes for getting the photo right on the first try are higher.
What Does a $4.99 Passport Photo Cost in Local Currency?
$4.99 is $4.99 in every country. But what it buys — and what it represents — varies enormously.
In local currency at approximate February 2026 exchange rates, $4.99 USD is:
- 🇮🇳 India: ~₹425
- 🇧🇷 Brazil: ~R$30
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria: ~₦8,000
- 🇵🇭 Philippines: ~₱290
- 🇮🇩 Indonesia: ~IDR 82,000
- 🇹🇭 Thailand: ~฿178
In India, ₹425 is roughly the cost of a modest restaurant meal for two in a mid-sized city. In Nigeria, ₦8,000 is a meaningful expense for many households. For comparison, getting a passport photo taken at a local photography studio in India typically costs ₹50–200 ($0.60–2.40), and in Nigeria, NGN 500–2,000 ($0.30–1.25).
The economics of passport photos look different depending on where you stand. In the US, the question is convenience — CVS at $16.99 or passportsize-photo.online at $4.99? In India, the question is more fundamental — can you afford to get it wrong and pay twice?
This isn't an argument that $4.99 is cheap everywhere. It isn't. But for a compliance-validated digital photo that meets government specifications on the first try, eliminating the retake risk has real economic value — especially where the total passport cost is already a stretch.
The Real Cost of Passport Photos: Time, Not Money
Money tells part of the story. Time tells the rest.
A passport photo at CVS takes about 10 minutes if there's no line, 25–30 minutes if there is. You drive there, wait, get your photo taken, wait for the print, drive home. Walmart is similar but often slightly faster.
passportsize-photo.online takes 30 seconds. Upload. Process. Download. No driving, no line, no hoping the employee behind the counter knows the difference between 35×45mm and 51×51mm.
For the 11 countries in our database that use non-standard dimensions — India's 35×35mm square format, Spain's tiny 26×32mm, Turkey's 50×60mm — getting the right crop at a local pharmacy is hit-or-miss. The employee may not even know the country requires a different size. Our photo checker validates against the exact specification for each country and document type.
Methodology: How We Collected Passport Fee Data
Government passport fees come from the officialFee field in the passportsize-photo.online requirements database, sourced from official government publications. USD conversions use approximate February 2026 exchange rates and are rounded to the nearest dollar. Retailer prices (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, USPS, Boots, Shoppers Drug Mart) are published retail prices as of February 2026.
The fee listed for each country is the standard adult passport (first-time application where applicable). Some countries offer multiple options: the US charges $165 for a book but $65 for a card; Mexico charges MXN 1,640 for 3-year or MXN 3,620 for 10-year. We use the most common adult option.
All local currency fee values are exact as recorded in our database. Only the USD conversions are approximate — they are intended for comparison, not billing. Exchange rates fluctuate daily; the relative ranking is more stable than the absolute dollar amounts. See individual country requirement pages for source URLs, full fee breakdowns, and links to official government fee schedules.
