Swedish Passport Photo

Swedish Passport Photo Guide

Do you know that nobody will ask you about the professionally taken photo as long as your picture complies with Swedish passport photo standards? If you want to know more about this topic, read our guidelines and create your perfect document photo by yourself.

We have prepared for you complete Swedish photo guidelines, so now you do not to be worried that your picture will be rejected! Prepare a correct photo in a moment wherever and whenever you wish!

Before capturing a picture to your Swedish passport, learn from our article about:

• what is the required size and crop of the photo
• how must be the background
• how to pose in the picture
• what is allowed and forbidden in the biometric photo
• how to avoid the most commonly made mistakes
• how to quickly verify is your picture meets all the passport photo requirements
• how to save your money and time taking a photo to your passport application

We will give you some advice and tips on clothing, facial expression and some other details.

With our smart Swedish passport photo editor, you will be able to correctly resize and crop your image and adjust its background. It takes only a couple of seconds and you will receive the photo ready to print.

Do you need a picture of the passport of Sweden? Take it with your smartphone and adjust to the requirements within 3 seconds with an intelligent Passport Photo Maker!

Swedish passport photo specification

Basically, the photo specification for Passport Photo in Sweden is the specification for the biometric picture. So, in a nutshell, the photo you want to attach to your application must:

• be original (not cut down from a larger picture)
• measure 45 mm of height by 35 mm of width
• be in color
• taken on the white, cream or light-grey background
• be of good quality
• not be retouched by computer software

Black and white, overexposed or underexposed, damaged, unclear, or unfocus photos will not be accepted. The second very important thing is posing in the biometric photo. You have to know how to keep your head and which facial expression is mandatory. Read the next paragraphs to learn more about it.

Moreover, the biometric photo dedicated to the official document such as a Swedish passport must reflect your current appearance. That is why it cannot be taken more than 6 months before submitting it.

Swedish Passport Online - Take it by phone!

If you ask yourself “where to get a passport photo near me”? we have good news for you. It is not required to take a passport picture in Sweden in a professional photo studio. You can do it on your own, just with your digital camera or smartphone.

Just ask somebody to help you, choose a convenient moment and place, and prepare your ideal photo with this online Swedish Passport photo maker.

But keep in mind: even if you are taking your photograph with your phone, tablet or camera, you must satisfy requirements about the size, crop, head position, background color, etc. Do you feel overwhelmed? Take it easy! Just take a photograph and upload it to the Passport photo app. It is cropping, resizing, and background erasing photo tool which will do all the job for you!

Sweden Passport photo size (mm) and crop

Your Swedish Passport Photo must measure 45 millimetres (mm) high by 35 mm wide which is the standard size of passport-style photos used in photo booths in the European Union.

Your head’s image can not be a cut down version of a larger picture, you have to take it paying attention to the requirements. In the image all your head photographed, en-face must be visibly seen (it must be close-up), also the neck and the upper part of your shoulders. The image of the head from the crown to the chin must be between 31 mm and 36 mm high (circa 70-80% of the picture). If you are worried about how to obtain this size and crop, upload your picture to the Passport photo maker and let this tool do the job for you! This app resizes, crops and adjusts the background in order to make your photo perfect!

Colours and the background in the Swedish passport photo

Black and white pictures look very elegant but if you submit a biometric photo - it must be in colour. The photo in the passport's biometric chip must represent your natural skin tones and eye color. Also for this reason the effect of “red eyes” will cause a rejection of the picture. Remember, that you must not retouch it as any interference in the picture is also forbidden. The “red eyes” effect appears when a photo is taken with a flash, so in order to avoid it, take the picture with natural light (daily light is highly recommended). Remember that your face must be evenly illuminated - both sides must be visible, no shadows are accepted. You may not either wear colored contact lenses for the same reason.

When it comes to the background’s colors - it must be white, cream or light grey. Any other colors, patterns, or shadows are not accepted. As obtaining the pure white color in a picture may not be easy, use a dedicated passport photo background editor that removes an incorrect background and changes it into the one required for a Swedish passport picture.

Posing and facial expression in the Swedish passport photo

As in every biometric picture, you must not smile in the Swedish passport photo. A neutral, natural facial expression is required. Relax your facial muscles and do not smile for a moment. Moreover, in the photo you must:

• have your head straight, not tilted
• not twist your shoulders
• look straightly at the camera
• keep your both eyes open and mouths closed

The camera lens must be positioned at the level of your eyes, do not look up or down. Bear in mind that selfies do not meet the requirements for Swedish passport photos. So, ask somebody to help you or use a tripod. The optimal distance between you and the camera is 1,5-2 m. Do not use a zoom function and flesh lamp.

Dress-code for a Swedish passport photo

There are not any recommendations about clothing in passport pictures in Sweden with one exception: you must not wear uniforms nor any clothes in army patterns like moro which can resemble uniforms.

So you may dress like you feel comfortable. A simple blouse with a collar or V-neck is our recommendation. If you like jewellery, you can put on a necklace and a small pair of earrings. Wearing massive earrings or hair decorations is not recommended as they can obscure the face oval and in such a case your picture will be not accepted. What about facial piercing? If it does not obscure any part of your face (it does not cover the area around your eyes, mouth and nose and does not give any reflection from rings or studs) you do need to remove it.

If you cover your head for religious reasons every day, there is no requirement of taking off headgear for the Swedish passport photo. But if you keep it, your face must be clearly visible, and a head covering must not cover the face line. For a proper contrast, wear headgear in color contrasting to the background.

Eyeglasses and sunglasses in the Swedish passport photo

You must not wear sunglasses or tinted glasses in a Sweden passport picture. It is recommended to take off your everyday eyeglasses but if you want to keep them, you can, but make sure that they do not give a glare or do not cover your eyes. Your eyes and pupils must be clearly visible.

Avoid massive glasses frames as they can obscure your eyes.

Swedish passport photo originality

As mentioned above, your passport photo must be original. It means that it cannot be:

• cut off from a bigger image
• distorted or flipped
• pixelated
• altered using computer software or computer app
• unnaturally colored

Of course, you can take your passport photo with your smartphone, just do not use any filters or beautifying apps. The use of Photoshop and other graphic processing programs is not allowed. Instead, you can use a smart background erasing App that helps you to remove a wrong background from your picture.

Swedish Passport Photo Maker Online

Many people ask how they can produce their passport or visa photos on their own. Many of them don’t have time or willingness to go to a photo studio or look for a photo booth but they want to attach a suitable photo and be sure that it will be accepted. If you share this mindset - take a look at our Swedish Passport Photo tool. With it you are able to prepare a correct photo in a moment. The photograph is checked for correctness according to the requirements for a Sweden passport photo. You also have the possibility to edit the background, crop, and resize the image.

You can download the Passport Photo Editor from AppStore or Passport Photo App from Google Play Store. It works under Android and iOS.

This is a quick, easy, and money-saving method of preparing the picture, and be sure that it will be accepted!

The most common mistakes in the Swedish passport photos

Do you know which photos are the most often rejected by passport offices in Sweden?

We checked which are the most commonly made mistakes and for which reasons do officials the most often reject the application.

Below we present the list of them:

• incorrect size (only 35 x 45 mm size is accepted)
• wrong background (only white, cream or light-grey background is correct)
• smile (the neutral facial expression is a must)
• head or face covered (only headgears worn for religious purposes are accepted and they must not obscure the face)
• wrong photo view or angle (selfies, semi-profiles, etc. are not allowed)
• wrong quality of the photo (the picture must focused and sharp, not overexposed or underexposed, not damaged or scratched)

Last update: 1/26/23