Romania Schengen Visa Photo Requirements (Type C)

Photo size and shooting rules

This page covers the photograph for a Romania uniform short-stay visa (Type C) — the Schengen visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Romania has been a full member of the Schengen area since 1 January 2025 and issues visas under the Community Code on Visas. Long-stay national visas (Type D) follow a different document list on the eVisa portal and are not covered here.

Where the requirement comes from: the Romanian MFA eVisa portal supporting-documents page (eviza.mae.ro) states "A photo in accordance with Schengen standards 35×45 mm, not older than 6 months; the head should take up 70%-80% of the photo. The facial image can also be taken in digital format at the Schengen visa interview." The MFA general information page asks applicants to "submit one photo, color, ¾, of recent date" and to allow fingerprinting. No background colour is officially specified, so the plain light-coloured background of the ICAO photograph guidelines — the common Schengen standard — applies. This service prepares a 35 × 45 mm print with the head at 70-80%.

The number of prints and the exact submission steps depend on the mission that accepts your application. Confirm the live supporting-documents page and your mission's checklist 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 (6 months or newer), in colour, a plain light-coloured background, and the child alone in the frame. Romania publishes no child-specific photo rules and no age-banded face-size table (childPhotoBasis: icao-general), so the ICAO general rules apply: the child appears alone, the face fully visible, the eyes open, with the head at 70-80% of the photo.

Fingerprint rules for children (under-12s are exempt from fingerprinting under the common Schengen rule) are part of the application process rather than the photo specification, and the portal allows the facial image to be taken digitally at the interview for the biometric record. The office that accepts your application can confirm the current procedure for children.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

These points combine the eVisa portal wording with the ICAO-style preparation checks that follow from it.

Romania-specific risks: a print that is not 35 × 45 mm (do not reuse an old 3×4 cm print — that is the Type D national-visa format); a photo older than 6 months or that no longer matches your current appearance; the head under 70% or over 80% of the photo; a dark or patterned background; a black-and-white print; tinted or reflective glasses; shadows on the face or behind the head.

Note the digital-format wording: being photographed digitally at the interview is the biometric capture, not a substitute for the photograph you submit with the application file. Prepare the print unless your accepting mission explicitly tells you otherwise.

• 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.