Schengen visa photo: the 35×45 spec, done right.

35 x 45 mm, the standard European format. Two identical prints are typically required with a paper application, and the photo must be recent (within the last 6 months). Face height is where states differ: Germany's Federal Foreign Office asks for the face to fill roughly 50 to 80 percent of the frame, while the Netherlands publishes a precise 26 to 30 mm from chin to crown for applicants aged 11 and over. Check the consulate handling your application before printing.

The frame size and the ICAO basics are shared: 35x45 mm, plain light background, neutral expression, even lighting, no edits. The details genuinely differ, and two official examples show how much: the Netherlands accepts light grey, light blue or white backgrounds and permits fully transparent glasses, while Germany works to a light grey standard and is far stricter on glasses. Face-height requirements differ too. Treat this page as the shared baseline and the consulate handling your application as the final word.

Visa applications generally accept any photo that meets the spec, regardless of who took it, and many visa centres also offer on-site photo services if yours does not pass. A phone photo taken by someone else against a plain light wall, cropped to spec with the tool above, meets the published requirements of most consulates.

Plain and light-coloured, but do not assume white is universally safe. The Netherlands explicitly accepts light grey, light blue or white; Germany works to a light grey standard. Light grey is the safest single choice across states. Whatever the colour, it must be uniform, and shadows on the background are among the most common rejection reasons.

Neutral expression, mouth closed, looking straight at the camera: that is the ICAO baseline every Schengen state applies. Glasses are the divergent rule. The Netherlands allows them if they are fully transparent, the eyes are fully visible and there is no reflection or shadow; Germany is considerably stricter and warns against frames covering the eyes, tinted lenses and flash reflection. Since no state rejects a photo for the absence of glasses, taking them off is the risk-free choice.

35x45 mm does not match standard US print formats, which is why pharmacy '2x2 passport photo' prints do not work for Schengen applications. The tool above exports a 35x45 crop and a print sheet you can have printed at any photo counter; ask for a 4x6 print and cut on the guides.

Usually yes: national (type D) visas and most European residence permits use the same 35x45 biometric format. The same caution applies: the authority handling your application has the final say, and some (like Germany's biometric photo template) are stricter about head positioning.

Within 6 months, and it should reflect how you look now. Reusing the photo from a previous application is a known rejection trigger if the consulate spots identical photos across applications years apart, so shoot a fresh one; with the at-home route it costs nothing.