Schengen Visa Photo Tool: 35 x 45 mm, Cropped in Your Browser
The photo is the first thing the visa centre checks and the easiest thing to get wrong. Load a photo, line the face up with the guides, put it on a white background if you need to, and download it at print size. The photo never leaves your device.
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- Replies the same working day, Monday to Saturday
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Independent consultancy. Not affiliated with any government, embassy, consulate, VFS Global, TLScontact, BLS International or GVCW. Official visa fees are paid directly to the relevant authority.
Flypass Holidays is a private consultancy, not a government body.
Free tool
Crop it to 35 x 45 and line up the face
Load a photo taken against a plain wall, drag it so the top of the head sits in the upper red band and the chin in the lower one, and zoom until both fit. That puts the face at the 32 to 36 mm the consulates ask for. Then download the single photo or a sheet of six for printing. Everything happens on your device.
Drag to move. Pinch or use the slider to zoom.
The background tool fetches a small open source model (MediaPipe Selfie Segmentation) from a content delivery network and runs it on your device. It does well on plain or lightly textured walls and can be rough around loose hair, so look at the edges before you print. Downloads are JPEG at 600 dots per inch: the single photo is 827 by 1063 pixels, the sheet is 10 by 15 cm with six photos and cut marks.
What the consulate checks
The rules, in the order they are checked
- Size. 35 mm wide, 45 mm high, in colour, on photo paper if printed.
- Head height. From the chin to the top of the head, 32 to 36 mm. Too small is the most common failure, because people stand too far back.
- Background. Plain, light and uniform. White is accepted everywhere. No shadows behind the head, no patterns, no doorframes.
- Face. Square to the camera, neutral expression, mouth closed, eyes open and visible, nothing covering the face. Glasses off is safest; if worn, no glare and no tinted lenses.
- Head coverings. Only for religious reasons, and the face must be fully visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead.
- Recency. Taken within the last six months and looking like you do now.
- No editing of the face. Cropping, sizing and a clean background are fine. Filters, smoothing, or changing features are not, and the centre can tell.
Each consulate publishes its own photo sheet, and the visa centre applies it at the desk. If yours says anything stricter than the list above, follow it.
Where it goes wrong
Four photos that get sent back
A refused photo costs you the appointment slot, not just the photo.
The arm’s length selfie.
A phone held close makes the nose bigger and the ears smaller. Have someone else take it from about a metre and a half away, at eye level.
A shadow behind the head.
Standing against the wall throws a shadow onto it. Stand a step away from the wall and face the window, not the lamp.
The crown cut off.
The top of the head must be inside the frame with a little space above it. The upper guide band in the tool shows where it should sit.
Printed on plain paper.
A photo printed on office paper is refused at most centres. Take the file to a photo counter or a pharmacy kiosk and print the 10 by 15 sheet.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about the photo
Official references: EU Home Affairs, Schengen visa policy · Companies House, Flypass Holidays Limited
35 mm wide by 45 mm high, in colour, taken within the last six months. The face, from the chin to the top of the head, should fill 32 to 36 mm of the height, which is roughly 70 to 80 percent of the photo. The tool’s guides mark that band.
It has to be plain, light and uniform, with no shadows, patterns or objects. White is accepted everywhere; some consulates also accept very light grey. If your photo was taken against a wall that is not plain, use the tool’s white background option and check the edges around the hair before you print.
Yes, if it is taken properly: someone else holds the phone at eye level about a metre and a half away, in even daylight, with you facing the camera squarely, a neutral expression, mouth closed and eyes open. Selfies taken at arm’s length distort the face and are a common reason a photo is refused.
No. The cropping, the background change and the downloads all happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to us or to anyone else. The optional background tool fetches a small open source model from a content delivery network, and then runs it on your device.
If it meets the rules on this page, there is no reason it should not; the centre checks the photo, not how it was made. We cannot guarantee acceptance, because the decision on the day is the centre’s, and a poor original photo is still a poor photo after cropping. Print on proper photo paper, not plain paper.
Flypass Holidays is a private consultancy, not a government body.
Photo sorted? Now the rest of the file.
Tell us where you are going and when, and you will get a straight answer the same working day about the right consulate, what your file needs, and whether your case needs us at all.
Flypass Holidays Limited · 50 Princes Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 1RJ · info@flypassholidays.co.uk