A Greek passport photo for an application abroad is a 40 × 60 mm colour print with no frame, on a white, cream or light grey background. You hand it in at a Greek consular authority — a consulate or an embassy’s consular section — when you apply in person, by appointment. It must be printed on high-quality white photographic paper, not on a home inkjet or laser printer.
Applying in Greece? Then this photo isn’t for you. For applications filed in Greece, the photo is submitted only in digital form through gov.gr myPhoto, uploaded by a professional photographer, so a photo you make yourself can’t be used there.
These rules come from the printed-photo specification that the Hellenic Police Passport Directorate publishes on passport.gov.gr — marked as applying only to applications submitted abroad — and from that decision, Joint Ministerial Decision 3021/22/10-o (Government Gazette FEK B 7111, 30 December 2025), which refers to the technical specifications of ICAO Document 9303.
| Rule | Greek passport photo |
|---|
| Size | 40 mm wide × 60 mm high (4 × 6 cm), with no frame |
| Face length | 31–35 mm from chin to crown |
| Face width | 20–25 mm from ear to ear |
| Eye line | 30–39 mm from the bottom edge of the photo |
| Background | White, cream or light grey (5%); plain and uniform, with no shadows, lines or patterns |
| Colour and quality | In colour, with natural skin tones; sharp, with no over- or under-exposure |
| Expression | Neutral, with your mouth closed and no smile (a closed-mouth smile is not recommended) |
| Eyes and pose | Eyes open and clearly visible, looking straight at the camera; head turned less than 5° in any direction; shoulders straight |
| Head covering | None; a religious head covering is allowed if your face stays fully visible from chin to forehead and from ear to ear |
| Glasses | Only if you normally wear them: clean, clear lenses, no reflections, frames not covering your eyes; no sunglasses or tinted lenses except for medical reasons |
| Clothing | Civilian clothing |
| Other people and objects | Nobody and nothing else in the photo |
| Age of the photo | Taken within the last month (see below) |
| Print | High-quality white photographic paper; a high-resolution print with no visible dots, not from an inkjet or laser printer |
The face measurements are limits: none of them may fall below the minimum or go above the maximum, and the face must not be distorted. For children under 12 and babies, smaller face dimensions are accepted.
How recent? The 2025 decision and passport.gov.gr ask for a photo taken within the last six months, while the consular application pages and the printed-photo specification ask for one taken within the last month. A photo taken within the last month meets both, so that is the safe choice.
At the consulate, you hand the photo over as a physical print, and the consular employee digitises it. The specification asks for a print on high-quality white photographic paper — high resolution, with no visible dots — and rules out photos printed on inkjet or laser printers. That is why the last step happens at a photo lab rather than on a home printer: ask for a print at actual size on photographic paper.
Some consulates have their own photo equipment and may take the photo on site instead, so check your consulate’s instructions before your appointment.
Children use the same 40 × 60 mm photo, with the same background and expression rules. For children under 12 and babies, the specification says the face dimensions may reasonably be smaller than an adult’s and must still be accepted. Nobody else may appear in the photo, so keep a parent’s hands and any toys out of the frame.
For a child under 12, bring one extra printed colour photo as well: it is attached to the birth certificate for the identity check. No separate size is stated for that extra print.
IDPhotoBy works with the photo you upload: it sizes it to 40 × 60 mm, frames your head and checks the background against the criteria above. It doesn’t retouch or beautify your face. We prepare the printed photo for Greek passport applications at consulates abroad only — we don’t upload anything to myPhoto or to the consular platform. Whether a photo is accepted is decided by the consulate and the Passport Directorate, not by us.
Looking for the Greek ID card instead? See the Greek ID card photo page.
The Hellenic Police Passport Directorate publishes the photo specification on passport.gov.gr, and consular procedures can change. Check the official application portal before submitting.
