Malta Passport Photo Requirements & Guidelines

Almost every passport photo guide tells you to use a white background. For Malta, that advice will get you rejected. Identità Malta explicitly requires a light grey or cream background and warns photographers against white — it's the single most Maltese thing about the requirement, and the most common reason a photo comes back.

The size itself is the standard EU 35 × 45 mm. This guide covers the background rule, the unusually short freshness window, and the print-only submission, following the official Identità Malta biometric photo standard.

The specification, at a glance

The background rule that reverses the usual advice

Malta wants a light grey or cream background — a plain, neutral, pale colour that still gives clear definition between your face, hair and the backdrop. White is not accepted, and Identità Malta specifically cautions photographers about it, so a photo shot against a white wall — the default almost everywhere else — fails on sight.

If you're preparing your own photo, this is the detail to get right first: a soft grey backdrop, evenly lit, with no shadow behind your head. If your only wall at home is white, replacing the background with a compliant light grey is more reliable than hoping it reads as off-white. You can create your Malta passport photo on the correct grey background without a studio.

Size, head, and expression

The frame and head

A 35 × 45 mm photo — the official wording is "45 mm high × 35 mm wide," so don't trim it to another size. Malta's standard positions the eyes within a template band rather than quoting a chin-to-crown figure, but the EU norm of roughly 32–36 mm head height (about 70–80% of the frame), centred and facing forward, applies.

Expression

Keep it strictly neutral — mouth closed, no smiling or grinning, no raised eyebrows, both eyes open and clearly visible. Malta is particular about a flat, forward-facing expression.

Glasses and head coverings

Glasses

Glasses are permitted but discouraged — "preferable to remove." If you keep them, there must be no glare or reflection, no tinted lenses, and the frames must not cover your eyes. Sunglasses are never allowed. Removing them is the safe choice.

Head coverings

Not allowed except for religious or medical reasons, and even then the full face must be visible with no shadow cast by a scarf.

Print-only: no digital upload, and the one-month rule

Two prints, one countersigned

Malta's passport photos are print-only — there's no e-passport photo upload or pixel spec. You submit two identical prints, and a countersignatory certifies only one of them on the back; the second is left blank. Getting both prints identical matters, because only one carries the endorsement.

Taken within the last month

Where most countries accept a photo up to six months old, Malta requires one taken within the last month. It's a stricter freshness rule than usual and trips up applicants reusing an older photo — so shoot a fresh one close to when you apply.

How Malta compares

Malta uses the same 35 × 45 mm frame as the rest of the EU, but its grey/cream background sets it apart from neighbours that accept white, and its one-month freshness rule is stricter than the usual six months. The size travels across Europe; the background and the timing don't. If you're preparing photos for more than one country, our passport photo tool for 150+ countries applies each country's own rules to the same source image.

The short version

A Malta passport photo is 35 × 45 mm with a neutral face — but on a light grey or cream background, never white, taken within the last month, and submitted as two identical prints (one countersigned). Get the background and the freshness right and you've cleared the two things Malta actually rejects photos for.