Denmark Residence Card Photo: The Exact 35x45 mm Biometric Standard
Get a perfectly standard-compliant 35x45 mm Danish residence card reference photo on the ICAO biometric standard used by SIRI, so you arrive ready for your biometrics appointment.
This photo must be taken by an accredited service
For this document, Denmark does not accept a self-prepared photo. By law it must be captured on site by an authorised service and submitted electronically, so we cannot produce a submittable file for it. The official specification is shown below so you know exactly what to expect at your appointment.
This photo is captured on site — but we can make your Denmark photos online:
A document photo is a headache of its own
A Denmark Residence card photo has strict requirements, and a mistake costs time and money. We’ll show you how to pass on the first try.
It gets rejected
Wrong size, background or cropping — and the system returns the application.
Expensive and slow
A trip to a photo studio means a queue, time and €7–12 for a reshoot.
Confusing requirements
Exact size, head height, light background, facial expression — easy to get wrong.
Redo it all over
Rejected — take another photo, pay and submit again. Round and round.
«Below are the exact requirements from the official source, so you arrive at your appointment prepared.»
Ordinary photo → ready for submission
We remove the background and clutter, set the framing and lighting — keeping your face without «beautifying».
Your face stays yours — we do not change features, only the background, lighting and framing.
Your Residence card photo: what matters
A Denmark residence card (opholdskort) photo must meet the same 35x45 mm ICAO biometric standard used across the Schengen area. The card is issued by the Danish Immigration Service and SIRI (the State Administration for International Recruitment and Integration), and the facial image is held to strict, machine-readable specifications so it can be reliably matched against your stored biometric data.
There is one crucial peculiarity that sets the residence card apart from an ordinary passport photo. For the opholdskort, your facial image and fingerprints are normally captured live at a mandatory biometrics appointment at SIRI, a Borgerservice citizen-service centre, or a Danish mission abroad. Because the photo is taken on-site with secure equipment, a downloaded or self-made photo is generally not used for the residence card itself. This is why preparing a compliant reference image in advance is about readiness, not submission.
The technical requirements you should match are:
- Size: 35x45 mm (827x1063 px at print resolution).
- Background: plain, uniform light grey (#E6E6E6), no shadows or objects.
- Face size: the head must fill roughly 70-80% of the frame height.
- Expression: neutral, mouth closed, eyes open and looking at the camera.
- Glasses: allowed only if the eyes are fully visible, with no glare, tint or thick frames.
- Headwear: not permitted, except for genuine religious reasons, and the full face must stay visible.
- Recency: the image must reflect your current appearance, taken within the last 6 months.
Common reasons photos are rejected in Denmark:
- Background that is too dark, too white or uneven instead of the required neutral light grey.
- Reflections or tint on glasses hiding the eyes, a frequent failure under indoor lighting.
- A faint smile or parted lips, when SIRI requires a fully neutral expression.
- The head sitting too small or too large in the frame, breaking the 70-80% rule.
Our service automatically crops and formats your own picture to this exact Danish standard, so you get a clean reference image in seconds. Be aware of the honest reality: for the opholdskort, SIRI now requires your photo to be captured digitally on-site or by a certified photographer with secure upload, so a self-made photo is generally not accepted for submission. Use the compliant image to see precisely how your photo must look, prepare for your biometrics appointment, or for other purposes where a standard portrait helps.
What an accepted Residence card photo looks like
Denmark · 35 × 45 mm. Tap any requirement to see what it means on a real photo.
- Size
- 35 × 45 mm · 827 × 1063 px
- Background
- Light plain
- Head in frame
- 70–80%
- Glasses
- Allowed
- Facial expression
- Neutral, mouth closed
- Headwear
- Only for religious reasons
- File
- JPG · ≤ 2 MB
Print size is 35 × 45 mm and the digital file is 827 × 1063 px.
Official requirements source: politi.dk, nyidanmark.dk
Requirements verified: 08.2026
How to take a good photo
The most common reasons a Denmark Residence card photo gets rejected — and how to avoid them. Compare good and bad shots.
1Format and freshness
A color photo taken no more than 6 months ago.
2Lighting and background
Even light with no shadows on the face; a plain light background, without glare.
3Head position
Face head-on, head centered, no tilt or turn.
4Facial expression
Neutral, mouth closed, eyes open and looking at the camera.
5Glasses and accessories
No glasses (especially sunglasses); eyes fully visible, without glare.
6Headwear
Only for religious reasons and not covering the face — the face fully visible.
7Clothing
Ordinary everyday clothes; no uniforms or face-covering clothing.
Common questions about Denmark Residence card photos
What size is the Denmark residence card photo?
Can I submit a self-made photo for a Danish residence card?
What background colour is required?
Can I wear glasses in the photo?
Is headwear allowed?
Why prepare a compliant photo if it is taken on-site?
Your photo is protected
A photo is personal data, so we handle it carefully and in line with GDPR. We process it only to prepare the document and delete it within clear deadlines.
- Only with consentWe process the photo only after your explicit consent before upload.
- Auto-deletionWe delete the source photo within a day, the ready file after 7 days.
- No sharing with third partiesYour photos are not sold or used to train any third-party systems.
- Deletion on requestYou can ask to delete your data at any time — with a single request.