🇪🇺 Schengen Visa visa photo size
35 × 45 mm, head 32–36 mm from chin to crown, on a plain light-coloured background.
- Photo size
- 35 × 45 mm 1.38 × 1.77 in
- Head height
- 32–36 mm 71–80% of the height
- Background
- Plain light-coloured
- At 300 DPI
- 413 × 531 px 827 × 1063 at 600 DPI
Open a photo
It stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account, watermark or limit.
JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC. Drag a file here if you prefer.
Drag the blue line to the top of your hair, the red line to the bottom of your chin, and the green line to the centre of your face. The crop follows.
Every file carries its real print size, so a photo lab lays it out at the right dimensions instead of guessing 72 DPI.
The requirements in full
| Photo size | 35 × 45 mm (1.38 × 1.77 in) |
|---|---|
| Head height | 32–36 mm chin to crown, 71–80% of the photo height |
| Background | Plain light-coloured |
| Pixels | 413 × 531 at 300 DPI · 827 × 1063 at 600 DPI |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed |
| Glasses | Allowed if there is no glare and the frames do not cover your eyes |
| How recent | No more than 6 months old |
| How many | 1 photo |
| Edited photos | No explicit prohibition found, but the photo must be a true likeness. |
| Home-printed photos | Accepted, if printed at the right physical size on photo paper. |
If you are attending in person to give fingerprints, the consulate can take a live photo instead, and the Handbook tells consulates to collect only one photograph.
Where the published rules run out
There is no such thing as an EU-legislated Schengen photo size. The Visa Handbook defers entirely to ICAO Doc 9303 Part 1 Annex 11, and the EU's own photo guideline gives a width of 35-40 mm and a face filling 70-80% of the photo, with no height at all. The 35 x 45 mm here is what consulates ask for in practice, not a rule written in Brussels.
Printing it
How many 35 × 45 mm photos fit on each paper size, at true size.
| Paper | Photos | Layout | Edge to edge? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × 6 in | 8 | 4 × 2 (turned) | 0.17 in margin |
| 3.5 × 5 in | 4 | 2 × 2 | 0.35 in margin |
| 5 × 7 in | 10 | 5 × 2 (turned) | 0.06 in margin |
| A4 | 32 | 8 × 4 (turned) | 0.12 in margin |
| US Letter | 36 | 6 × 6 | 0.12 in margin |
Replace the background only if you have to
No explicit ban was found for this document, but every authority wants a true likeness. A photo taken against a plain wall is always the safer submission.