Dutch Passport & ID Card Photo: requirements and cropper
A dutch passport & id card photo is 35 × 45 mm. The head must measure 26–30 mm from the crown of the head to the bottom of the chin — a 4 mm window, tight enough that eyeballing the crop will usually miss it. The background must be light grey, light blue or white — plain, a single uniform shade, contrasting with the head. The photo must have been taken within the last 6 months.
Crop a photo to the Netherlands spec
Drag the two markers. Put the blue one on the very top of the head — including hair — and the red one on the bottom of the chin. Every measurement below is calculated from that, because Netherlands measures head height as 26–30 mm crown to chin, not the face.
Your photo
Result
The official requirements
| Printed photo size | 35 × 45 mm |
|---|---|
| Head height | 26–30 mm, crown to chin |
| Background | Light grey, light blue or white — plain, a single uniform shade, contrasting with the head |
| Minimum resolution | 400 DPI |
| How recent | Taken within the last 6 months |
| Glasses | The eyes must be fully visible. Glasses must be fully transparent with no tint, and must not distort or create glare. |
| Head coverings | The head is uncovered by default. Religious head coverings are permitted if plain, a single colour, and contrasting with the background. |
| Expression & pose | Neutral expression, mouth closed, looking straight at the camera, eyes horizontally aligned and fully visible. |
| Children & infants | Age 10 and under: face length 19–30 mm instead of 26–30 mm. Children under 6 are exempt from the position and expression rules. Any support holding a child must not be visible. |
| Not published | digital dimensions, file size, file format, copies required — the official source does not state these, so nothing is shown rather than a number we made up. |
Source: Government of the Netherlands — Requirements for photos on identity documents — read 2026-07-26.
Worth knowing
The Dutch fotomatrix is unusually specific and unusually tight: face length 26–30 mm — a 4 mm window, the narrowest of any spec here — plus a face width of 16–20 mm measured ear to ear excluding the ears. The photo must be an unaltered likeness and must be in colour; black and white is not accepted.
How to make one
- Take or choose a photo shot straight on, from about arm's length or further, in even light with no shadow falling on the face or the wall behind it. Phone selfies taken close up distort the face and are a common rejection reason.
- Stand far enough from the wall that you cast no shadow on it. The background needs to be light grey, light blue or white — plain, a single uniform shade, contrasting with the head — the tool fills only the area outside your photo's edges, it does not replace the wall behind you.
- Drop the photo into the tool above. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read directly by your browser.
- Drag the blue marker to the very top of the head, including hair, and the red marker to the bottom of the chin. This is the measurement every official spec is written against.
- Check the head-height readout. It should sit between 26 mm and 30 mm; the panel turns green when it does.
- Download the photo, or generate a print sheet if you need physical copies.
Why Netherlands photos get rejected
Drawn from the official guidance rather than guesswork. Most rejections are not about dimensions at all:
- Face length outside 26–30 mm for adults, or 19–30 mm for children aged 10 and under
- Background not light grey, light blue or white, or unevenly shaded
- Photo edited or altered in software
- Black and white photo
- Photo more than six months old
- Visible hand or support holding up a young child
Netherlands photo questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The cropping, resizing and compressing all happen inside this page, using your browser's own image APIs. There is no server to upload to — the site is static files. Open your browser's network tab, use the tool, and you can watch nothing leave.
It also keeps working with your Wi-Fi switched off once the page has loaded.
What size is a dutch passport & id card photo?
35 × 45 mm, according to Government of the Netherlands — Requirements for photos on identity documents. Within that, the head must measure 26 mm to 30 mm from crown to chin.
Can this tool change my background?
No, and that is deliberate. Background replacement means guessing where your hair ends, and the guess is visible — a halo or a chewed-up fringe is exactly the kind of artefact that gets a photo rejected as digitally altered. Netherlands requires light grey, light blue or white — plain, a single uniform shade, contrasting with the head, so photograph yourself against a matching wall.
The fill colour setting only paints the area outside your photo's edges when the required crop is larger than the image you supplied.
How recent does the photo have to be?
Taken within the last 6 months. Reusing the photo from your previous passport is a standard rejection reason.
Can I wear glasses?
The eyes must be fully visible. Glasses must be fully transparent with no tint, and must not distort or create glare.
Are head coverings allowed?
The head is uncovered by default. Religious head coverings are permitted if plain, a single colour, and contrasting with the background.
Do the rules differ for babies and children?
Age 10 and under: face length 19–30 mm instead of 26–30 mm. Children under 6 are exempt from the position and expression rules. Any support holding a child must not be visible.
Will a photo from this tool definitely be accepted?
Nobody can promise that, and any site that does is selling you certainty it does not have. A photo is judged on framing, background, lighting, expression, sharpness and how recent it is. This tool handles the geometry and the file size precisely; the rest is down to how the photo was taken. The requirements here were read from Government of the Netherlands — Requirements for photos on identity documents on 2026-07-26 — check the source before you submit, because rules change.
Other specs
- Brazilian Passport Photo 50 × 70 mm · not published for applicant-supplied photos
- Canadian Passport Photo 50 × 70 mm · head 31–36 mm · plain white or light-coloured · max 5 MB
- Chinese Passport Photo 33 × 48 mm · head 28–33 mm · white
- French Passport & CNI Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · plain light-coloured — light blue or light grey. white is explicitly not allowed.
- German Passport & ID Photo 35 × 45 mm · head 32–36 mm · solid
- Indian Passport Photo 35 × 45 mm · plain white
This is not official advice. img-fix is not affiliated with any government or immigration authority. The figures on this page were read from Government of the Netherlands — Requirements for photos on identity documents on 2026-07-26, and requirements change without notice. Check the official source before you submit.