Austrian passport photo · 35 × 45 mm

Checked and laid out to the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s official Passbild criteria. Checked by us on 2026-08-17.

Austria writes its rules differently. The head should be about two-thirds of the photo with a hard cap of 36 mm — a soft target with a ceiling, not a range — the background should ideally be grey, not white, and it is the only authority we cover that specifies a minimum eye-to-eye distance (8 mm, optimally 10 mm). Tall hairstyles may extend out of frame, and mirrored or proportion-altered photos are banned by name. Published in German; the English here is our rendering, with the original quoted in our source record.

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Head and shoulders in frame, with clear space above the hair — the head should fill about half the photo, not all of it.

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Official specification

Finished size	35 × 45 mm
Head height (chin to crown)	not published by this authority
Eye height	not published by this authority
Background	single-colour and light, ideally grey, with sufficient contrast to the face
File formats	not published by this authority
File size	not published by this authority
Taken within	the last 6 months

Full rules

The photo must be 35 mm wide and 45 mm high, no older than 6 months.
The head — from the tip of the chin to the crown — should take up about two-thirds of the picture, but must not be taller than 36 mm. Hair and tall hairstyles may extend out of the frame.
The distance from the centre of the left eye to the centre of the right eye must be at least 8 mm — 10 mm is optimal — with the head centred on the photo.
The photo must not show the head distorted or altered in any way: no mirrored shots, and no changes to proportions — making the head look narrower is named outright.
Sharp, high-contrast and clear in every part of the face, on high-quality glossy smooth paper without surface texture, free of scratches, stains, stamp marks and creases, with natural colours and no red eye.
The background must be single-colour and light — ideally grey — with sufficient contrast to the face.

Sources

https://www.bmi.gv.at/607/passbild_kriterien.html
Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), Austria — Passbild-Kriterien · we checked it 2026-08-17

Das Foto muss 35 mm breit und 45 mm hoch sein. Der Kopf (von der Kinnspitze bis zum Scheitel) soll ca. 2/3 des Bildes einnehmen, darf aber nicht höher als 36 mm sein. Haare (hohe Frisuren) dürfen aus dem Bild ragen. Der Augenabstand (von der Mitte des linken Auges zur Mitte des rechten Auges) beträgt mindestens 8 mm (optimal sind 10 mm). … Das Foto darf nicht älter als 6 Monate sein. Das Foto darf den Kopf nicht verzerrt oder in einer anderen Art verändert darstellen (keine spiegelverkehrten Aufnahmen, keine Änderungen der Proportionen z.B. um den Kopf schmäler aussehen zu lassen). … Der Hintergrund muss einfärbig hell sein (idealerweise grau) und ausreichend Kontrast zum Gesicht aufweisen.

Questions

What are the Austrian passport photo requirements?

35 mm wide by 45 mm high, no older than 6 months. The head from chin tip to crown should take up about two-thirds of the picture but must not exceed 36 mm, centred, with the eye-to-eye distance at least 8 mm (10 mm is optimal).

What background does Austria want?

Single-colour and light with sufficient contrast to the face — and ideally grey, not white. A pure white background is not the recommended choice here.

What if I have a tall hairstyle?

Austria answers explicitly: hair and tall hairstyles may extend out of the frame. The head measurement itself must still respect the 36 mm cap.

Can the photo be edited?

No. The criteria ban any distortion or alteration of the head — mirrored shots and proportion changes, such as making the head look narrower, are named outright.

Why is the head height shown as not published?

Because Austria gives a soft target — about two-thirds — with a hard cap of 36 mm and no hard minimum. We lay out at two-thirds (30 mm) and stay well under the cap, but we do not present a range the authority never published.

Our own assumptions

Austria publishes these criteria in German. The rules above are our English rendering; the original German is kept verbatim in our source record, and that original is what governs.
The official head rule is a soft two-thirds with a hard 36 mm cap and no hard minimum, so we do not display it as an official millimetre range; we lay out at two-thirds (30 mm), leaving a wide margin below the cap.
The 8 mm minimum interpupillary distance is an official metric our automated geometry does not check — at our layout a normal adult face clears it comfortably, but we list the rule rather than certify it.
There is no digital submission channel published on this page; what we produce is a correctly sized file for printing on glossy smooth paper.
The chin is measured by 68-point facial landmarks; the crown comes from the top of the cut-out outline. Assumed accuracy ±5%, calibrated only on synthetic fixtures.

Where the authority does not specify something, we say so rather than pretending it does. The points above are our engineering choices, not official requirements.