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Spanish passport - Requirements

Take a photo with your smartphone and create a picture for your Spanish Passport in 3 seconds! Don’t risk a rejection of your visa photo, save money and time!

Spanish passport is a biometric document with a photo and this photo must meet some special requirements. Read our article to know all about them and avoid a mistake. We gathered every necessary information about:

• way of posing
• coloring and lightning
• required color and style of the background
• correct size and crop
• image composition
• allowed and forbidden items

in the Spanish passport photo. Our short guidelines enable you to prepare a perfect picture ready to attach to your passport application. Remember that your photo must be sharp, focused and properly exposed not to be rejected. The rest of the points of the specification you will find in the following paragraphs.

Spanish Passport Photo - Take it At Home and prepare Online

Do you think that it is complicated to prepare a passport-style photo by yourself? Do you think that you need to go to the photography studio or track down a photo booth in order to take a 100% correct picture to your passport? No! Thanks to the Smart Online Passport Photo Maker you can organize your atelier wherever you have some space, even in your kitchen or living room. Don’t worry about the required background, correct crop or image resolution. Meet our passport photo editor that can process your image cropping and resizing it and exchanging the wrong background into the correct one.

Just read our guidelines and create your perfect document photo at home or wherever you are!

Technical requirements for biometric Passport Photos in Spain

The general requirements for biometric photos are pretty much the same in every country.
The requirements about the photo quality, colours, composition and style of the background are the same because currently every country issues only biometric passports, called also e-passports, electronic passports or digital passports. This type of machine-readable document requires a biometric photo.

But you do not need to know the exact size and required crop of an image you intend to attach as your passport photo. Thanks to resizing the passport photo tool you are able to get the correct image in 3 seconds.

The photo dedicated to the Spanish biometric passport must be:

• taken within the last 6 months
• original (not cut out from the larger image, not altered by computer software)
• in the size 40 x 53 mm
• taken against the clear, white background
• in natural colours
• sharp and well-focused
• properly exposed
• composed in the right way (the head centred, correct crop)
• captured with the neutral facial expression (open eyes looking at the camera, and closed mouths are required)
• printed on a photo-quality paper with dye-sublimation print

Spain passport photo - how to take it with my phone?

The good news is that there is no requirement to take a Spanish passport photo professionally. It means that you do not have to pay for the photo session, go to a photography studio and waste your time driving anywhere and waiting in a line. It is allowed to take a photo at home. But it does not mean that your photograph will not have a professional quality! You can create an absolutely perfect picture satisfying all the requirements in a moment in any place.

You can use your smartphone to capture a photo and upload it to the intelligent photo generator. This tool is able to adjust the picture (its size, crop, and background). Just prepare:

• smartphone, digital camera, or tablet (webcams are excluded)
• list of the requirements for a Spanish passport photo
• Passport Photo Maker in your phone (available online)

Do not take a selfie as selfies are not allowed. Ask somebody for help or - if you prefer to do it on your own - use a tripod.

Passport Photo in Spain - Validity & Originality

Like every biometric photo, the Spanish passport image must represent the current look of its holder. 

This means that your picture attached to the application form must be “fresh”. So, your photo for the passport in the Kingdom of Spain must not be older than 6 months.

But the new photo is also required if your appearance has changed significantly during this period. It does not mean the case of a change of hairstyle or growing a beard. Also, children and teenagers under 16 years old will not be asked to provide a new image even if they have changed during the natural growth process. But do it if:

• you made a gender transition.
• you had facial plastic surgery or experienced a permanent facial deformation.
• you added or removed tattoos or piercing on your face area.

In order to be valid, the photo must be original too. Smart intelligence checks the originality of pictures very strictly and non-original images are automatically rejected. What “originality” exactly means? It means that you must not cut the image of your head from the bigger photo. An “original” photo also means that the picture is not altered by any computer software. Do not process your picture with Photoshop or filters.

Spanish Passport photo size (dimensions in mm) and crop

30 mm x 40 mm - this is the most popular size of photos dedicated to Spanish passports, but it can also be 40 mm x 53 mm.

Keep in mind that your face should fill the photograph in 70 - 80% of the image. The photo crop must show the candidate's face with hair from the tip of the chin to the top of the head, neck and upper part of the shoulders.

To obtain this effect, do not use zoom in your camera and don’t take a selfie, just keep the distance between you and a photographer (or tripod if you are taking the photo on your own). The recommended distance is between 1,20 and 2 metres. 

Hairstyle in the Spanish Passport Photo

Remember that your face should be clearly visible and your hair must not obscure any part of it under the eyebrows line. Moreover, make sure that there is a space left between your head and the photo’s edges. If you have voluminous hair, consider wearing them up. However, you can have your hair down and you do not need to show your ears as it was required formerly.

Background and colors in a Spanish passport photo

You must provide 2 color (not monochromatic) printed photos taken against the white, unique, solid background. The photo must show your natural skin tones and the real color of your eyes. This last part is important because a “red eyes” effect caused by the flash lamp disqualifies the picture.

The background should be clearly white and plain, with no patterns or spots. Be aware that no objects or people can be visible behind you. But it does not mean that you need to hang up a grey sheet or paint the wall! In fact, you don’t have to even think about the background in the Spain passport photo! All you have to do is to upload your picture to the background remover photo app and have it done! This tool is able to change the wrong background into the required one in one second! 

Smile in the Spanish Biometric Passport Photo

Currently, every picture taken to the official document such as a passport must be biometric. “Biometrics” is about some specified way of capturing a picture which is similar a bit to a mugshot. You must be facing the camera and you are not allowed to smile in the Spanish Passport Photo - a neutral facial expression is required. You have to relax your facial muscles and look straight at the camera lens with open eyes and closed mouths. Not only smiling but also frowning and making grimaces in photos dedicated to documents such as passports, visas, ID cards and driving licences is not allowed and causes a rejection of the application.

Head coverings in the Passport Photo in Spain

As in every country, fashion headgears such as caps, hats or headbands are forbidden in Spanish passport photos. Take them off before capturing an image. However, head covering used as a part of a religious attire may be worn. So, you can decide to keep your head covering (like hijab, turban or yarmulke etc.) but make sure that your head covering does not obscure your face oval because in such a case your picture will not be accepted. Niqabs are forbidden for this reason. Your facial features must be clearly visible in the photo. For a proper contrast, wear headgear in colour contrasting to the background. This is not a requirement but it just looks better in the picture.

Glasses, Jewellery, Accessories in the Spanish Passport Photo

If you wear prescription eyeglasses every day, you can keep them in the photo for your Spanish passport. Just make sure that light does not give a glare on them (it happens often when the photo is taken with a flash lamp, so avoid it). Glasses must not be tinted or dark (like sunglasses) and your eyes and pupils must be clearly visible. Avoid massive glasses frames as they can block your pupils.

Accessories such as jewellery or hair decorations are generally allowed but massive earrings might obscure your face oval and in such a case your picture will be not accepted. Huge hair decorations and scarves are also “risky”. If you have facial piercing, you do not need to remove them for a photo, but these items must not give a shadow or glare on your skin. You must not pose with hand-free devices, headphones, etc.

Light in Spain Passport Photo (red-eyes effect)

Do not use a flash lamp in the moment of capturing your photo dedicated to the passport of the Kingdom of Spain. Flash can provoke a red-eyes effect that disqualifies the picture. The best light is always natural (daylight). The picture must be properly exposed, remember that overlit and underlit photos are generally rejected. A photo must reproduce your skin tones accurately, so it must be taken in color, not black and white, not with filters. Too dark or too light photos will be rejected.

Printed photos of Spanish Passport Specification

Once you apply for your passport in the Kingdom of Spain, you must submit two printed photos. But you must not print them with your home printer, on normal paper. Photos printed with the inkjet printed are of poor quality and cannot be accepted by the passport office.

Remember that the photos you attach to your passport application form must be:

• printed on photo-quality paper
• produced using dye-sublimation print
• sharp, focused, rich in contrast and clear
• properly exposed (not overlit or underlit)
• not stamped, scratched or damaged

But you can still take a picture with your smartphone, as it is very easy to produce a high-quality photo at home using a passport photo maker cropping, resizing, and adjusting your picture. You can print your shots in some photo store or photo booth in your neighbourhood. It takes just a moment and you can do it on your way to the passport office.

Most common mistakes that people make in Spanish Passport Photos

Even if the photo requirements for a Spanish Passport are clear, some candidates attach pictures that do not satisfy all the standards. Such applications must be rejected and new photos must be submitted. That, of course, extends the time of waiting for a new passport which in some situations can cause problems (for example, if you have a planned trip and your passport is not ready on time). Read what are the most common mistakes and avoid them! Be sure that your passport photo will be valid and correct.

The most common errors are:

1. Wrong size - not 53x40 mm
2. Incorrect background (wrong colour, visible objects or shadows)
3. Smiling in the photo!
4. Not an en-face view (semi-profile views are common and they are wrong)
5. Quality problems (photos damaged, scratched or printed on poor quality paper)
6. Computer software alterations (most commonly by Photoshop)
7. Photos blurred, not well-focused, overexposed or underexposed

Spanish Passport Photo App to download

It does not matter which model of smartphone you have - you can use the Smart Passport Photo Maker on every phone with the camera.

If you have an iPhone, you can download the Photo App from AppStore. This app working with iOS is able to prepare and store your photos, so you can use them more than one time. You may upload them to online applications or print them in for example one-hour photo service. You also can prepare wonderful gifts for somebody you like - your portrait photo!

For models of smartphones like Samsung, LG, Huawei, HTC, Lenovo and Sony you can download Photo Editor from Google Play Store. Use this app to create, store and correct your passport-style (but not only) photos. You pay only once and you may use your photo template multiple times, whenever you need or create a new one for new documents.

Last update: 6/7/23