Germany Passport Photo Requirements 2026

Written and fact-checked by the PassportLayout team · Last verified: 7 July 2026

Official requirements from Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), checked against the source on the date above.

Photo Dimensions

German passport and identity card photos follow the ICAO-aligned 35 mm × 45 mm portrait format, without borders — the same frame used across the EU. The geometry is spelled out in the BMI's official Lichtbild-Schablone (photo template), a printable overlay that officials place over a photo to check the eye zone and face height step by step.

Since May 2025, however, most applicants in Germany never handle a printed photo at all: the picture is captured digitally and transmitted straight to the authority (see the digital photo section below). Printed 35×45 mm photos remain relevant for applications where digital capture is not mandatory — for example at some German missions abroad — and in other exceptional situations the template is still used to assess paper photos.

Face and Head Size

The face — from the tip of the chin to the top of the head — should occupy 70 to 80% of the photo's height, which in the 45 mm frame works out to an optimal face height of 32–36 mm. The Lichtbild-Schablone marks this as the "optimale Gesichtshöhe" band and adds a slightly wider tolerated range on either side. Both halves of the face must be clearly recognisable, the head must sit centred in the frame, and the eyes must fall within a defined horizontal band with the middle of the nose on the vertical centre line.

Children get more room: for them the face may take up 50 to 80% of the frame height, with smaller deviations tolerated up to age 10. Up to the age of 5 no biometric suitability check is carried out at all — only the basic rules on size, frontal view, sharpness, lighting, background, and photo quality apply.

Background: Light Grey, Not White

Here Germany breaks with what most people expect. The background must be single-coloured and free of shadows — preferably light grey ("vorzugsweise hellgrau"), and it must form a clear contrast with both the face and the hair. A pure white backdrop is not required and often works against you: blonde, white, or grey hair can blend into white, and "Hintergrund ohne Kontrast" (background without contrast) is one of the rejection examples the BMI illustrates on its Foto-Mustertafel (photo sample board).

Patterned backdrops, backgrounds with visible shadows, and second persons or objects in the frame are all explicitly shown as unacceptable. The face itself must be evenly lit on all sides, without reflections or red eyes.

Expression and Pose

The expression must be neutral, with the mouth closed and the gaze directed straight into the camera. The head must be straight — not tilted sideways, turned, or nodding up or down — and positioned in the middle of the photo. The Mustertafel's reject gallery includes laughing with an open mouth, grimaces, squeezed-shut eyes, and heads tilted to the side.

Retouched or filtered photos are rejected outright, as are soft-focus effects and images with insufficient resolution. Exceptions to the neutral-expression and pose rules are granted only for long-term medical reasons, such as facial paralysis or an inability to keep the mouth closed at rest.

Glasses

Glasses are permitted, but the eyes must be clearly recognisable and not covered in any way. The Mustertafel's examples of failed photos show frames sitting across the eyes, lenses that are too dark, and reflections on the glass. If you wear thick or reflective frames, taking the photo without glasses is the safer choice. Hair falling over the eyes and uncorrected red-eye are treated the same way — anything that obscures the eye region fails the biometric check.

Attire and Head Coverings

Head coverings are only permitted for religious reasons. In that case the face must be visible from the lower edge of the chin up to the forehead, with no shadows falling on it. Caps, hats, and coverings that leave the face insufficiently visible are rejected — the sample board shows both a knitted cap and a full face veil among its unacceptable examples. There is no strict dress code beyond that — just keep the outline of the face uncovered and pick a top that doesn't blend into the light grey backdrop.

Photo Recency

The photo must be current and show your present appearance. In practice the new digital process solves this automatically for domestic applications — the picture is taken at, or shortly before, the appointment itself. If your appearance has changed noticeably since an older photo was taken (hairstyle aside: think surgery, significant weight change, or ageing), a fresh capture is required.

Digital-Only Photos Since May 2025

This is the biggest change to German passport photos in decades. From 1 May 2025, applications for passports, identity cards, electronic residence permits, and foreigners' travel documents filed in Germany accept exclusively digital biometric photos — the interior ministry's announcement on Personalausweisportal.de frames the goal as raising photo quality and preventing forged or morphed images from entering identity documents. There are two capture routes, plus two rules that apply to both:

• At the authority: many offices capture the photo on the spot. Where the Bundesdruckerei PointID® system is used, this costs 6 euros per photo.
• At a registered photo provider: photo studios and drugstore chains take the photo and transmit it through an encrypted cloud certified to the standards of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). You receive a printout with a Data-Matrix code, which the office scans to retrieve your photo.
• Colour only: digital photos must be in colour with true-to-life skin tones; black-and-white is only possible for legacy paper photos where those are still permitted.
• No self-uploads: there is no route to submit a self-taken photo file for domestic applications.

A transitional rule allowed municipalities to accept paper photos in exceptional cases until 31 July 2025; that window has closed. Since the same reform, finished documents can also be delivered to your registered German address by post for 15 euros instead of being collected in person.

Complete Specifications Table

Common Rejection Reasons

• Background without contrast to hair, or with patterns and shadows
• Face height outside the 70–80% band (32–36 mm)
• Head tilted sideways, looking up or down, or off-centre
• Laughing with an open mouth, grimacing, or eyes squeezed shut
• Glasses frames covering the eyes, dark lenses, or reflections on the glass
• Retouched, filtered, or soft-focus images
• Hair over the eyes or uncorrected red-eye
• Shadows across the face, over- or under-exposure
• Non-religious head coverings, or a face not sufficiently visible
• Resolution too low or photo not sharp

Tips for Getting It Right

For a passport or ID application inside Germany, the practical tip is simple: decide in advance whether you want the photo taken at the office (ask your Bürgeramt whether it offers on-site capture and what it charges) or at a photo studio or drugstore — and keep the Data-Matrix printout safe until your appointment. Style your hair so it stays clear of your eyebrows and eyes, skip reflective frames, and wear something that stands out against grey.

Printed 35×45 mm photos to the German biometric template are still useful in plenty of situations — applications at some German missions abroad, visa forms, and other documents that accept paper photos. For those, PassportLayout.online crops your photo to the exact 35×45 mm geometry with the face at 32–36 mm and lays out a full print sheet at 300 DPI, entirely in your browser.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• BMI Personalausweisportal — Vereinfachte Ausweisbeantragung ab Mai 2025 — the digital-photo reform in detail (verified 7 July 2026)
• BMI — Lichtbild-Schablone (photo template, PDF) — 35×45 mm geometry, 32–36 mm face height, light grey background, July 2025 edition (verified 7 July 2026)
• BMI — Foto-Mustertafel (photo sample board, PDF) — quality criteria with acceptable and unacceptable examples, July 2025 edition (verified 7 July 2026)
• ICAO Doc 9303 — Machine Readable Travel Documents — international biometric portrait standard