Burkina Faso visa photo rules from visaburkina.bf
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabe Abroad sets the visa photo standard through the official visaburkina.bf portal. Short-stay, long-stay, and transit applications all use the same specification: two recent color identity photos at 3.5 by 4.5 cm on a white background. Black-and-white prints are explicitly rejected, and the background must be pure white rather than off-white or light grey.
Burkina Faso does not use a third-party visa application centre. Since 1 February 2023 the e-Visa portal has been mandatory for short-stay tourist and family visas, while long-stay, study, and cooperation visas continue to be filed directly with an embassy or consulate. In both channels the applicant supplies the photo, so it must match the visaburkina.bf rules before submission.
Photos that fall outside the published spec lead to rejection of the application or a request to resubmit, which can delay travel by weeks. Applicants routed through the Embassy of Burkina Faso in Washington D.C. should also confirm whether that mission still accepts the legacy 2 by 2 inch host-country format before printing.
What Burkina Faso wants to see in your visa photo
The visaburkina.bf portal sets a uniform photo standard across tourist, business, family, study, transit, and cooperation visas. The rules below cover what you, the subject, must look like in the frame.
Expression & pose
- Neutral expressionKeep a relaxed, neutral expression with the mouth closed. Smiling that shows teeth is not accepted for Burkina Faso visa photos.
- Eyes open and forwardBoth eyes must be fully open and looking straight at the camera. No squinting and no red-eye.
- Square to cameraFace and shoulders must be aligned straight to the camera, head level, with both sides of the face roughly equally visible. No tilted or turned poses.
Eyewear & lenses
- SunglassesSunglasses and any tinted lenses are not accepted. The eyes must be clearly visible.
- Prescription glassesGlasses are discouraged. If they are worn for a documented medical reason, the lenses must be clear, free of glare, and the frames must not cover any part of the eyes.
Hair & face
- Hair off the eyesHair must not fall across the eyes or obscure the outline of the face. Voluminous hair is acceptable as long as the full face from chin to forehead remains visible.
- Full face visibleThe face must be unobstructed from the tip of the chin to the top of the forehead, with no hair, hand, or accessory crossing the facial area.
Headwear
- No hats or capsHats, caps, and other secular headwear are not permitted in Burkina Faso visa photos.
- Religious head coveringsHead coverings worn for religious reasons are accepted on the condition that the full face from chin to forehead is visible and the covering casts no shadow across the face.
Jewelry & accessories
- Minimal jewelryKeep jewelry small and unobtrusive. Nothing worn on the face or in the hair may obscure facial features or cast shadows.
Cosmetics
- Natural appearanceMakeup is acceptable only if it does not alter the natural appearance of the face. Heavy cosmetics that change skin tone or facial contours are not accepted.
Clothing
- Everyday clothingWear ordinary day-to-day clothing. Uniforms are not accepted except for religious garments.
- Avoid white topsWhite and very pale tops should be avoided because they merge with the mandatory white background and blur the outline of the shoulders.
Photo quality
- No shadows on the faceThe face must be free of cast shadows, including shadows from a hat brim, hair, or jewelry. Burkinabe authorities reject photos with uneven shading across the face.
- Sharp and stillHold still during capture. Motion blur or a soft, out-of-focus face will cause the photo to be rejected.
- Color onlyThe photo must be in color. Black-and-white photos are explicitly rejected by visaburkina.bf.
Dimensions, resolution & background.
Head position & camera distance.
- Head height, measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, must be between 33 mm and 36 mm (roughly 73–81% of the photo height).
- Eyes must sit between 21 mm and 25 mm from the bottom of the photo.
- The head must be centered horizontally in the frame with a small symmetrical margin on each side.
- Both shoulders must be square to the camera and visible. Three-quarter angles or rotated torsos are not accepted.
- The full face from chin to crown must be inside the frame with proper top margin.
How recent the photo must be.
Your visa photo must have been taken within the last six months. A new photo is required sooner whenever your appearance has changed in a way that makes the old photo no longer recognizable.
You need a new photo if you’ve had…
- Facial surgery or a major change to facial structure
- A significant gain or loss of weight that visibly changes your face
- Large facial tattoos or piercings added or removed
- A gender transition that has changed your appearance
You do not need a new photo just because of…
- A new hair color
- Growing or removing a beard or moustache
- Ordinary, minor aging
- A new hairstyle that still leaves the face fully visible
Other things to know.
A few Burkina Faso specifics worth knowing before you submit.
Two identical prints
Embassy and consular submissions require two identical printed photos, not one. The English-language pages of visaburkina.bf state this consistently across short-stay, long-stay, and transit categories.
No third-party VAC
Burkina Faso does not use VFS Global, BLS, TLS Contact, or any other visa application centre. Applications go directly through the visaburkina.bf e-Visa portal or through a Burkinabe embassy or consulate.
Washington D.C. embassy variant
The Embassy of Burkina Faso in Washington D.C. has historically asked walk-in and mail-in applicants for US-style 2x2 inch (51x51 mm) photos as a host-country legacy format. If you are filing through that specific mission, follow the embassy’s instructions; everyone else uses 35x45 mm.
Recent photo required
visaburkina.bf requires a recent photo. The working convention is that the image should have been taken within the last six months and must still reflect your current appearance.
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Print-quality requirements for in-person submissions.
When you submit a printed photo at a visa application centre, the paper, finish, and ink all matter. The points below cover the standards most consular missions accept.
- Print on photographic-quality paper at 300 DPI minimum.
- Use a matte or semi-gloss finish; high-gloss can produce reflections that confuse biometric scanners.
- Do not retouch, crop, or alter the photo after printing.
- Bring at least two identical prints when the submission channel calls for paper photos.