Austria Visa Photo — 35×45 mm, Eye Distance at Least 8 mm

What Is the Austria Visa Photo Size? (35×45 mm and the 8 mm Eye Distance)

An Austrian visa photo must be **35×45 mm in portrait**, in colour and ICAO-compliant. The size matches the Schengen norm; what sets Austria apart is a second metric measured inside the crop. The Interior Ministry's photo criteria table states it plainly: **at least 8 mm** from the centre of the left eye to the centre of the right eye, with 10 mm as the ideal. It is a threshold you will not find in neighbouring specifications, and it eliminates a frame shot from too far away even when the outer dimensions are correct. For the general sizing logic see the 35×45 mm guide.

The head-height logic is inverted too: Austria gives no lower-to-upper band but an **upper limit** — at most **36 mm** from the tip of the chin to the crown, with the head taking roughly two thirds of the frame. Tall hairstyles may extend beyond the image. The background must be plain, single-toned and light; the BMI's stated ideal is **grey**, and it ties the tone to hair colour: medium grey for light hair, light grey for dark hair. Prescription glasses are not banned — the conditions are that the eyes stay clearly visible and there is no glare. For the print, only one material is accepted: glossy, smooth paper with no surface texture.

Schengen C, the National D Visa and the Residence Title: Three Separate Tiers

Stays of up to 90 days fall under **Schengen C**; the shared framework sits on the Schengen visa photo page. What distinguishes Austria is the middle tier. The Foreign Ministry's official visa page covers **91 days to 6 months** with the national **Visa D**: the fee is €195, €97 under the age of six, **no extension is provided for**, and it can only be issued by an Austrian representation. Any plan running **longer than 6 months** leaves the visa system entirely and becomes a **residence title** matter — Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte, EU Blue Card, a student or a family residence.

For the photo, those three tiers produce three separate rules. With Visa C the photo is affixed to the application form; a national D file officially takes **2 recent ICAO photographs**; and in a residence-title file the regulation names the photo in the **singular** but changes the freshness test completely. On quantity, the final word always belongs to the document list published by the representation or visa centre where you hold your appointment.

Can I Use the Same Photo for the Visa and the Residence Card?

Technically yes, because the size is identical — but freshness is measured differently in the two files, and that is exactly where the chain breaks. On the visa side the requirement is that the photo is under 6 months old **when the application is filed**. On the residence-title side, NAG-DV § 2a picks a different day: the photo must not be older than six months **at the moment of the decision**. Same number, different reference point.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. The Embassy in Ankara publishes a processing time of **3 to 6 months** for a student residence. File with a three-month-old frame and by decision day the photo may have passed six months; the authority can then request a current original and the file waits. On top of that, if the decision is positive, the **Visa D** you apply for in order to collect the card in Austria is a separate file with its own requirement for current photographs. One print therefore does not cover three desks; the right method is to keep the digital file from the same session and produce a fresh print for each desk — on vesikalik.com.tr you can re-export the same frame whenever you need it.

On fingerprints Austria parts ways with countries that defer biometrics: NAG-DV § 2b obliges a residence-title applicant to cooperate in the taking of prints from **all fingers of both hands**, so fingerprints are collected at the moment of application. No separate capture is prescribed for the face; the paper photo you put in the file is what counts. The assumption that "they will retake it over there anyway" therefore does not hold in an Austrian file.

Filing from Turkey: Which Desk Takes Which Application?

Austria runs a chain split in two in Turkey. **All visa applications — Schengen C and national D alike — are filed only through VFS Global**; the Consulate General in Istanbul hands out no visa appointments, the service provider runs all appointment traffic and keeps a waiting list where needed. Centres operate in Istanbul, Bursa, Edirne, Ankara, Antalya, Izmir, Muğla (Bodrum), Gaziantep and Trabzon. For contrast see the Germany visa photo page: in Germany the intermediary is iDATA and glasses are rejected outright, whereas Austria allows prescription glasses as long as there is no glare.

**Residence-title applications, however, are not accepted at VFS Global.** They are filed in person, by appointment, according to where you live: for Istanbul, Bursa, Kocaeli, Edirne, Tekirdağ, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Sakarya, Yalova, Bolu, Düzce, Bilecik, Bartın, Kırklareli and Zonguldak the competent office is the Consulate General in Istanbul, and for every other province it is the Embassy in Ankara. Ankara appointments run through an electronic system and are free of charge; the application form and every annex must be submitted with a **sworn German translation**. If the decision is positive, you book a Visa D appointment at VFS Global to collect the card — and a residence title not collected within **3 months** of notification lapses.

How Recent Must an Austrian Photo Be, and Where Else Does It Work?

The number is six months everywhere, but the measuring point moves: filing day for a visa, decision day for a residence title. The metric does not change with the card type either — the document list for the Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte and the EU Blue Card repeats the photo as "not older than half a year (size: 45x35mm)". The common ground comes from the same place: Article 13 of the EU Visa Code (810/2009) refers to ICAO Doc 9303, and the European Commission's ICAO guidance draws the same line — within 6 months, the face at 70-80% of the frame, a plain light background and no glare on lenses.

The same 35×45 mm frame also works for other Schengen files; the Greece visa photo uses the same size, and the full country breakdown sits in the visa photo sizes by country table. Even where the size matches, the background and print rules can be worded differently; the UK visa is one example. Do not confuse one thing: an Austrian residence title and a **Turkish residence permit** are separate documents; the card for foreigners living in Turkey uses 50×60 mm on white and is covered in the residence permit photo guide. The separate passport standard sits in the passport photo guide.