Luxembourg Schengen Visa Photo Requirements (Type C)

Photo size and shooting rules

This page covers the photograph for a Luxembourg short-stay Schengen visa (Type C) — the visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Long-stay (Type D) visas and residence permits follow a different document list on the Luxembourg immigration pages and are not covered here.

Where the requirement comes from: the Luxembourg central visa pages (mae.gouvernement.lu / guichet.lu) publish no photo dimensions, but the MFA's own mission network (the *.mae.lu pages) does. Mission visa pages state "Passport photo according to ICAO criteria (colour, 35×45 mm)", and a mission checklist in the same network gives the fullest wording: one coloured ID photo (height 45 mm × width 35 mm) with a head height of 32–36 mm, brought separately rather than attached, on a white background where that mission specifies it. The network therefore agrees on a 35 × 45 mm colour print, and the ICAO photograph guidelines the pages link to supply the recency and quality baseline. This service prepares a 35 × 45 mm print.

The number of prints, the background wording, and the attach-or-bring instruction are set by the office that accepts applications where you live. Confirm the live checklist on the Luxembourg mission page for your country of residence before you book or print.

• Recency: no more than 6 months old; must look like you today.
• Quality: colour, sharp focus, high quality, no creases or ink marks. Digital captures printed on photo-quality paper at high resolution.
• Background: plain light-coloured (a plain light grey can work if even). Avoid busy scenes and strong shadows on the face or behind the head.
• Lighting: even light, natural skin tones, appropriate brightness and contrast; no flash reflection on skin, no red-eye.
• Pose and expression: look straight at the camera; face square-on, not tilted; eyes open and not covered by hair; neutral expression, mouth closed; alone in the frame.
• Glasses: eyes fully visible; no tinted lenses; no flash reflection on the lenses; frames must not cover the eyes. Remove glasses if those conditions are hard to meet.
• Head covering: only for religious reasons, and the full face from chin to forehead and both edges of the face must still be clear.
• Editing: keep brightness and crop adjustments that do not change how you look. Avoid contour reshaping, eye or nose changes, and heavy beauty filters. The photo must remain realistic with natural skin tones.

Photos for children

Children need a photograph that meets the same quality rules: recent, in colour, a plain light background (white where the receiving mission specifies it), and the child alone in the frame. Luxembourg publishes no child-specific photo rules and no age-banded face-size table (childPhotoBasis: icao-general); the ICAO guidelines the mission pages link to are the basis — the child appears alone, the face fully visible, the eyes open.

Treat the 32–36 mm head-height band and the 35 × 45 mm format as applying to children too, unless the receiving mission's checklist says otherwise. Re-check the ICAO guidelines page if it is updated.

Fingerprint and live-photo capture rules for children (for example, that under-12s are exempt from fingerprints under the common Schengen rule) are part of the application process rather than the photo specification. The office that accepts your application can confirm the current biometric procedure for children.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

These points combine the mission-network wording with the ICAO guidelines the Luxembourg missions cite.

Luxembourg-specific risks: a print that is not 35 × 45 mm; a head height outside 32–36 mm; attaching the photo to the application form when your receiving mission asked for it separately; a background that does not match your mission's wording (white where specified; plain light as the ICAO baseline); a black-and-white or retouched photo; shadows on the face or behind the head; tinted or reflective glasses; a photo that no longer matches your current appearance.

If you file in Luxembourg itself, note that the count differs: the central portal (guichet.lu) lists two identical identity photos for files lodged there, while mission checklists elsewhere may ask for one. Confirm the count on the live checklist of your receiving office before printing.

• Head cut off or tilted: retake with more distance, face square-on to the camera, both edges of the face visible.
• Uneven colour, shadows, or blow-out on the background: use a plain light background and even light so the face and the back of the head stay free of hard shadows.
• Glasses glare: remove glasses if practical, or use clear lenses and lighting that shows the pupils fully.
• Old photo: replace any portrait older than six months or that no longer matches your appearance.
• Heavy beauty filters: start again from a natural image; do not change face shape or skin texture.
• Pixelated print: export a high-resolution colour file and print on photo-quality paper.