Schengen Visa Photo Requirements in Montreal

A Schengen visa photo is 45 mm high by 35 mm wide, about the size of a large postage stamp. It follows the international standard for photos in travel documents, the same one most European passports use.

Your head has to fill most of the frame. Measured from the chin to the crown, the natural top of your head, it must be between 32 and 36 mm. Too small and the face cannot be checked properly; too big and the top of the head gets cut off.

The photo is printed in colour on photo paper, sharp, with no cracks, marks or creases. Many checklists ask for one photo, glued or attached to the application form, so it cannot fall out.

A Schengen visa photo is for anyone in Canada who travels to Europe on a passport that needs a visa. Canadian passport holders do not need a visa for a short trip. Many permanent residents and people on a work or study permit do, because what counts is the passport you travel on, not where you live.

One visa covers all 29 Schengen countries, but you apply to only one of them: the country where you will spend the longest time, or the first one you enter if your stays are equal. That country's checklist decides the details of your photo.

You can apply up to six months before your trip, and no later than 15 days before. Not every country takes applications in Montreal: depending on the country, you go to a visa centre, to the consulate itself, or to another city. Your fingerprints are taken when you apply, except for children under 12, and if you gave them for a Schengen visa less than 59 months earlier, they are copied to the new application.

This is the rule that trips people up. Every Schengen country uses the same photo size, but each one sets its own limit on how old the photo can be. For an application from Canada, Germany asks for a photo no older than three months, Austria allows six months, and Norway's checklist asks for one month.

The simple way around it: have the photo taken shortly before your appointment, and read the checklist of the country you are applying to. A photo you used for another visa last year will not pass.

The rules are also moving toward the visa centre taking your photo itself on the day. Until your checklist says so, bring the printed photo it asks for.

Face the camera straight on, head level, not tilted or turned. Keep a neutral expression with your lips closed. That means no smile, even a small one with your teeth showing.

Your eyes must be open and easy to see, with no hair across them. Glasses can stay on as long as your eyes are clearly visible, but not dark or tinted lenses, and not frames that catch the light. If you can take them off easily, do.

A head covering is accepted only when you wear it for religious or ethnic reasons, and the whole oval of your face must still show, from the chin to the forehead. Wear a darker solid top: against a white background, a white shirt makes your shoulders disappear.

Every child needs their own Schengen visa and their own photo, babies included. The size is the same 35 x 45 mm on a plain light background, and the child must be alone in the picture.

Good news for parents: the official rules allow some leeway for little ones. For children up to the age of 10, the face height and the eye position can be a little outside the usual range. For babies and toddlers, a slightly turned head, an expression that is not quite neutral or eyes that are not wide open can be accepted.

Children under 12 do not give fingerprints, so the photo is often the only biometric part of their file. It is worth getting right.

• A Canadian-format 50 x 70 mm photo instead of 35 x 45 mm

• A photo older than the limit set by the country you apply to

• A head that is too small or too big in the frame

• A smile, or a mouth that is open

• A shadow behind the head or on one side of the face

• Glasses with glare, or tinted lenses

• A background that is not plain: a wall with texture, a door, a pattern

• A photo printed at home on plain paper

The official checklists are blunt about the consequence: if the photo does not meet the requirements, the application is considered incomplete.

Schengen visa photos are part of our international passport and visa photo service at our Jean-Talon studio. We shoot on a plain white background, print at 35 x 45 mm on photo paper, and measure the head height before you leave. No appointment is needed, and photos are usually ready in about 15 minutes. If your photo is turned down, we reshoot it free. Current prices are on our international passport and visa photo service page.