Schengen visa photo · 35 × 45 mm

Checked and laid out to the ICAO photograph standards that the European Commission’s Visa Handbook requires, with the millimetre figures taken from a member state’s official specimen photo. Checked by us on 2026-08-16.

Read this before you rely on the numbers. The EU itself publishes only part of this specification: the Visa Handbook points at ICAO Doc 9303 Annex 11, and the copy of Annex 11 the Commission hosts gives a width (35–40 mm) and a face proportion (70–80%) — but no height. The 45 mm height and the 32–36 mm face height below come from the German Federal Foreign Office’s official specimen sheet, which states that 32–36 mm is exactly what the ICAO 70–80% works out to. Other Schengen consulates may word it differently, and each application is reviewed individually — check the country you are actually travelling to. There is also no EU-wide digital submission: you attend the consulate in person, so what we give you is a correctly sized file to print, not an upload.

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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)	32 – 36 mm
Eye height	not published by this authority
Background	one plain bright colour — ideally a neutral grey — contrasting with your face and hair, with no shadows
File formats	not published by this authority
File size	not published by this authority
Taken within	the last 6 months

Full rules

EU law does not spell the photo out itself: the Visa Code requires a photograph, and the Commission's Visa Handbook states it must meet the ICAO Doc 9303 photograph specifications. Photos that do not comply shall not be accepted.
The photograph must be no more than 6 months old.
35–40 mm in width.
A close up of your head and the top of your shoulders, so that your face takes up 70–80% of the photograph.
Germany's official specimen photo puts that 70–80% at a face height of 32–36 mm on a 35 x 45 mm photo, and says a photo should only be rejected if the face measures less than 27 mm or more than 40 mm.
Taken against a plain light-coloured background — Germany's specimen calls for one bright colour, ideally neutral grey, medium grey for light hair and light grey for dark hair, never patterned, with no shadows behind the head and nobody and nothing else in the frame.
Uniform lighting, with no shadows or flash reflections on your face and no red eye.
Alone in the photograph, facing square on to the camera with a neutral expression and your mouth closed, not tilted and not in portrait style.
Eyes open and clearly visible, with no hair across them.
If you wear glasses your eyes must be clearly visible: no tinted lenses, no flash reflection off the lenses, and frames must not cover any part of your eyes. Light frames are preferred.
Head coverings are not permitted except for religious reasons, and then your features from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must be clearly shown.
In sharp focus, of high quality, with natural skin tones, appropriate brightness and contrast, no ink marks and no creases, printed on photo-quality paper.
Germany's specimen additionally asks for a print resolution of at least 600 dpi on high-quality paper. Photos may be colour or black and white.
There is no EU-wide digital upload: you lodge the application at the consulate of your main destination, where your photograph may instead be taken live when your fingerprints are collected.
Each consulate reviews applications individually and may ask for more — check the requirements of the country you are actually travelling to.

Sources

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen/visa-policy/applying-schengen-visa_en
European Commission — Migration and Home Affairs (Applying for a Schengen visa) and the Handbook for the processing of visa applications, Commission Implementing Decision C(2024) 4319 · page updated 2025-12-02 · we checked it 2026-08-16

A photo in compliance with ICAO standards. ... The photograph to be submitted by applicants must fulfil the standards set out in the photograph specifications as set out in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document 9303 Part 1, 6th edition (Annex 11). Photos that do not comply with these standards shall not be accepted. If the applicant appears in person for the purpose of collecting fingerprints, the photo requirement can be met by taking a live photo on that occasion.

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/5bb16566-c8c2-4afb-b038-530f488cb72a_en?filename=icao_photograph_guidelines_en.pdf
ICAO photograph guidelines (Doc 9303 Annex 11), as published by the European Commission · we checked it 2026-08-16

The photographs must be: no more than 6-months old; 35–40mm in width; close up of your head and top of your shoulders so that your face takes up 70–80% of the photograph ... be taken with a plain light-coloured background ... be taken with uniform lighting and not show shadows or flash reflections on your face and no red eye.

https://www.germany.info/resource/blob/929404/6e3eee9fd4d86e16aaefe0e92d809332/visa-photo-examples-data.pdf
German Missions in the United States — Federal Foreign Office, official specimen photos (Fotomustertafel) · we checked it 2026-08-16

The photo must clearly show the person's facial features from the bottom of the chin to the crown (the top of the head, not the top of the hair) as well as the left and right sides of the face. The face must take up 70 – 80% of the photo. This corresponds to a height of 32 – 36mm. ... photos should be rejected only if the face measures less than 27mm or more than 40mm. ... The background must be one colour and bright (ideally a neutral grey colour) and in a contrasting colour to the face and hair.

https://www.germany.info/resource/blob/2305060/edce38aaed09f0d1d7b372c9b3e54928/schengen-visa-requirements-data.pdf
German Missions in the United States — Schengen visa general information and checklist · page updated 2024-05 · we checked it 2026-08-16

One (1) recent biometric passport photo (see specimen photos) ... Each visa application is reviewed individually. Therefore, the requested documents might vary.

https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/visa-the-netherlands/checklist-schengen-visa-tourism
Government of the Netherlands — NetherlandsWorldwide, Checklist: Applying for a Schengen visa for tourism · we checked it 2026-09-06

colour photo, no more than 6 months old, 3.5cm by 4.5cm, white or light-coloured background

Questions

What are the Schengen visa photo requirements?

EU law does not set them out itself. The Visa Code requires a photograph and the European Commission's Visa Handbook states it must meet the ICAO Doc 9303 photograph specifications: no more than 6 months old, 35–40 mm wide, a close up of your head and the top of your shoulders so your face takes up 70–80% of the photograph, on a plain light-coloured background with uniform lighting.

Where does the 45 mm height come from, if the EU only publishes a width?

From a member state. The German Federal Foreign Office's official specimen photo sheet specifies 35 x 45 mm and states that the ICAO 70–80% face proportion works out to a face height of 32–36 mm on that photo. We use those figures and label them as what they are — a member state's official document, not EU-wide legislation. Check the consulate you are actually applying to.

Can I upload my Schengen visa photo?

There is no EU-wide digital upload. You lodge the application at the consulate of your main destination country, and if you attend in person for fingerprints your photograph may be taken live there instead. What we produce is a correctly sized file for you to have printed.

What background colour should I use?

Plain and light-coloured. Germany's specimen asks for one bright colour, ideally a neutral grey — medium grey if your hair is light, light grey if your hair is dark — never patterned, with no shadows behind your head and nobody else in the frame.

Can I wear glasses?

Yes, if your eyes are clearly visible: no tinted lenses, no flash reflection off the lenses, and the frames must not cover any part of your eyes. Lighter frames are preferred. Head coverings are only permitted for religious reasons, and your face must be clear from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead.

How old can the photo be?

No more than 6 months old, and it has to look like you do now.

Our own assumptions

⚠️ The EU itself publishes only part of this specification. The Visa Handbook points at ICAO Doc 9303 Annex 11, and the copy of Annex 11 hosted by the Commission gives a width (35–40 mm), a face proportion (70–80%), a 6-month limit and background and lighting rules — but no height.
The 45 mm height and the 32–36 mm face height come from the German Federal Foreign Office's official specimen photo sheet, which states that 32–36 mm is exactly what the ICAO 70–80% works out to; the Netherlands' official Schengen visa checklist independently asks for a 3.5 × 4.5 cm photo. Those are member states' official documents, not EU-wide legislation. Consulates of other Schengen states may state it differently — check the one you are applying to.
We lay out at 35 mm, the low end of the official 35–40 mm width range.
There is no EU-wide digital submission for a Schengen visa: you attend the consulate in person and your fingerprints — and often your photograph — are taken there. What we produce is a correctly sized file for you to have printed, not an upload-ready submission.
No EU or member-state text we found permits a photograph to be altered with software, so we never replace or repair your background. We only crop, position and size.
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.