Italy Visa Photo — 35×45 mm, White Background, ICAO Format

What Is the Italy Visa Photo Size? (2026)

Italy is a Schengen member, so the legal basis of the visa photo is the EU Visa Code: **Article 13** of Regulation 810/2009 requires the technical characteristics of the photograph collected at application to comply with ICAO Doc 9303 Part 1. The ICAO photo guideline published by Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI) turns that standard into numbers: **35×45 mm**, a **white** and evenly lit background, the face filling **70-80%** of the frame **from the base of the chin to the forehead**, a colour frame no more than **6 months** old, sharp focus and a centred face looking straight at the camera.

The same guideline offers its own fix for glasses: lenses clear, frames thin and off the eyes; if the lenses catch a flash reflection, **tilting the head slightly** breaks the glare. With a head covering worn for religious reasons, facial features from the base of the chin to the top of the forehead and both edges of the face must stay clearly visible. The common Schengen frame lives on the Schengen visa photo page, the pixel and DPI equivalents in the 35×45 mm guide. What sets an Italian file apart is not the size but the **process** solved in the next two sections.

How Many Times Is the Photo Required: Print or Digital?

The most common confusion sits in the last two rows: if you gave fingerprints for a Schengen application within the past 59 months you do not have to give them again, **but an ICAO-format photo must be present in every file**. So the assumption "I gave biometrics last year, my photo is in the system too" is wrong: the frame for the form is prepared afresh for each application and is subject to the 6-month freshness rule. And the paper frame does not merely decorate the form: under Art. 13(4) it is digitised into the Visa Information System (VIS).

The second confusion concerns what the portal actually does: Il visto per l'Italia is not a submission portal but an **information wizard** that derives, from your nationality, country of residence, purpose and length of stay, whether a visa is needed and which documents apply. MAECI states on the site that this information is indicative and non-exhaustive, and that the competent consulate may always request additional documents. You cannot upload a photo there; the photo enters the physical file and the centre's system on appointment day. Every country guide is listed in the visa photo hub.

Which Centre Is Yours: iDATA or VFS Global?

While Germany runs through a single chain across Türkiye (see Germany visa photo), Italy works with **two different authorised external service providers** in Türkiye. MAECI's official external service provider list gives the Turkey rows as follows: iDATA for the **Ankara** and **Istanbul** consular districts, VFS Global for the **Izmir** district. Which centre you attend is not a preference but a matter of the **consular jurisdiction of your residential address** — turning up at the wrong district's centre wastes the appointment.

This bears directly on the photo: the two providers do not share the same document-list publishing or on-site photo service, so **how many prints are expected is stated in the centre's current notice**. On the cost side two figures are fixed by law: the Schengen Type C fee is **€90** as of 2026 (€45 for ages 6-12, free under 6), and under Visa Code Art. 17(4a) an external provider's service fee may not exceed half the visa fee, i.e. **€45** — optional extras fall outside that cap. The fee rose from €80 to €90 on 11 June 2024, following the Visa Code's three-yearly review based on inflation and civil-service salary criteria.

Which Details Get an Italy Photo Rejected?

The items the MAECI guideline lists one by one double as the rejection list. **Background:** any tone other than white, wall shadows, patterns or colour gradients. **Light:** uneven lighting, flash glare on the face, red eye. **Framing:** a face outside the 70-80% band on the chin-base-to-forehead axis, a profile shot or a sideways-tilted head, a chair back or a second person in the frame. **Glasses:** lens reflection, tinted (sun) lenses, heavy frames covering the eyes. **Print:** low resolution, ink marks, creases or thin paper — the guideline separately requires printing on high-quality paper at high resolution.

All of these are fixable at shooting time and not on appointment day. With the Italy profile selected on vesikalik.com.tr the background is normalised to white, the face ratio is measured on the chin-to-forehead axis, and lens glare is reported as its own warning line; the output arrives as two separate files — a print sheet for the form and a compressed JPEG for the online form. Neighbouring states differ on background tolerance: the Greece visa photo accepts white and light grey alike, Germany insists on light grey.

Is the Photo Different for Schengen C and the National D Visa?

Stays of up to 90 days for tourism, business and family visits fall under **Schengen Type C**; long-term plans such as work, study, traineeships and family reunification require a **national D visa**. The critical point for the photo: **the same ICAO standard applies to both visa types** — 35×45 mm, white background, 70-80% face ratio, 6-month freshness. What changes is the rest of the file and the procedure; because the fee, processing time and supporting documents for a D visa differ from a C visa, the competent consulate's current notice prevails on those items.

The same white-background 35×45 mm frame can also serve applications that ask for that size, such as the UK visa, while the square-format US visa (51×51 mm) has to be produced separately. Foreigners seeking residence in Türkiye have a separate residence permit photo guide; for parallel errands like passport renewal the same shot can be output at passport photo dimensions — but the 6-month freshness rule restarts with every application.