100% on-device
Schengen visa photo, made in your browser
The European 35 × 45 mm, cropped to the head height the consulates check — 70–80% of the frame, hair volume discounted. No upload, no sign-up.
The rule this document is failed for
No EU law states these millimetres — the member states do, and they do not fully agree.
People look for “the Schengen standard” and find that the Visa Code does not contain one: it defers to ICAO Doc 9303, and each member state then publishes its own sheet. The numbers used here are Germany’s, which are the de-facto standard the whole area is checked against, and France’s differ slightly. The rule that actually catches people is the head measurement: the German text says the head is measured unter Vernachlässigung der Frisur — neglecting the hairstyle. Your hair, however tall, does not count towards the 32–36 mm. If you cropped to the top of a big head of hair you have made a smaller face than the rule wants, and you may fall under the band. Mark the top of your skull, and let the hair fall outside the measurement — the tool draws the line you are aiming at.
The specification, in numbers
- Photo size
- 35 × 45 mm
- Head height
- 32–36 mm, measured to the top of your skull — hair is ignored
- Head as a share of the frame
- 71–80%
- Background
- Plain light background; neutral grey is preferred.
- Printed at 300 DPI
- 413 × 531 px
- Copies on one 10 × 15 cm (4 × 6 in) print
- 8 (4 × 2)
- Online — the German / Schengen process
- there is no photo upload for this document
- Background colour the tool paints
-
#f2f2f2— only if you tick the background box, which is off by default.
Applying online? That is a different photo.
There is no citizen photo upload. Germany has required live enrolment for passports and ID cards since 1 May 2025 — the photo is taken at the authority, or delivered by a registered photographer through a certified cloud; a selfie may not be used. A Schengen visa facial image is likewise taken live at the appointment. Every “Schengen digital photo: 600 × 750, 50 KB–5 MB” figure circulating online traces to photo-booth vendors, not to any EU or German government page.
From the form's own rules, last read on 2026-07-13.
What Schengen visa / EU asks for
- Head 32–36 mm from chin to the top of the head — 70–80% of the photo’s height.
- The head is measured “unter Vernachlässigung der Frisur” — ignoring the hairstyle. Volume of hair does not count.
- Neutral expression, mouth closed, facing the camera square-on.
- Glasses are not banned outright, but no tint, no reflections, and the frames must not cover the eyes.
- No EU law states the millimetres: the Visa Code defers to ICAO Doc 9303, and member states publish their own figures. These are Germany’s, which are the de-facto Schengen standard — France publishes a slightly different sheet.
- ⚠ CHECK BEFORE YOU PRINT: for a GERMAN passport or ID card, a photo you bring yourself is no longer the normal route — since 1 May 2025 the picture is taken live at the authority, or sent by a registered photographer through a certified cloud. And under the amended Visa Code a Schengen visa facial image is “taken live at the time of the application”. This 35 × 45 mm print is still what many other EU forms and consulates ask for — but it is not, by itself, a German passport photo any more.
Every figure above comes from German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), last read on 2026-07-13. These rules do change; if you are reading this long after that date, spend a minute on the source page.
How it works
- Drop in a photo. It is read straight into this tab. There is no upload.
- Mark three points — the top of your head, your chin, the middle of your face. From those the crop is fully determined: the scale comes from the head height Schengen visa / EU demands, the position from where it wants the crown. You do not pan or zoom anything.
- Download the single 35 × 45 mm photo, or the print sheet with all 8 copies on it.
Questions
Is this the same as a UK photo? It is the same size.
Same paper, different rules. The UK wants the head at 29–34 mm and a cream background; Schengen wants 32–36 mm and plain light grey. The sizes matching is exactly what makes this trap expensive — if you are applying for a British passport, use the UK page.
Which country’s rules does this use?
Germany’s, published by the Federal Foreign Office, because no EU-level figure exists and Germany’s sheet is what the rest of the area converged on. The page links to the source, with the date we last read it.
Does this work for a national ID card or a residence permit?
For most EU member states, yes — the 35 × 45 mm biometric photo is the same one used for ID cards, residence permits and driving licences. Check your own authority’s page for anything unusual about background colour before you print a whole sheet.
Can I wear glasses?
They are not banned outright, unlike in the US — but the frames must not cross your eyes, the lenses must not be tinted, and there must be no reflection. If in any doubt, take them off: nothing is lost.
Can I use this for a German passport or ID card?
Check before you print — this is the one rule on this page that changed recently and catches people. Since 1 May 2025 Germany takes the photo LIVE: at the authority itself, or from a registered photographer who sends it through a certified cloud. A photo you bring or a selfie may not be used. So the 35 × 45 mm print this page makes is no longer, by itself, a German passport photo. It remains the right photo for plenty of other things — many EU national forms, ID and residence applications, and the consulates that still ask for a print. And there is no “Schengen digital upload”: a visa facial image is taken live at your appointment. Any site quoting you a “Schengen digital photo: 600 × 750 px, 50 KB–5 MB” is quoting a photo-booth vendor, not a government.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
It is not uploaded — and that is a fact of how the tool is built, not a promise in a privacy policy. There is no upload endpoint. The photo is read straight into this browser tab and cropped by code running on your own machine; you can pull out your Wi-Fi halfway through and it will still finish. Given that a passport photo is your face attached to a government form, that is the only honest way to build this.
How do I get it printed?
Download the print sheet and hand it to any photo lab as an ordinary 10 × 15 cm (4 × 6 in) print — it costs small change and comes back on real photo paper with the cut guides on it. If you print at home, print at 100% scale and never “fit to page”: that quietly rescales the sheet and makes every millimetre on it wrong.
Other documents
The same tool knows all of them — pick one from the dropdown above, or start from its own page: