# Photo requirements: Visa, United States

The published rule for this document’s photograph — from U.S. Department of State, as it was read on 2026-09-19 — and a way to make one that meets it without sending your face to anybody.

Last updated 2026-09-19

## The figures

| What is measured | What this rule publishes |
| --- | --- |
| Print size | ⁦51 x 51⁩ mm at 300 dpi |
| Head, chin to crown | 49.0% to 68.6% (⁦25–35⁩ mm) |
| Eye line, from the bottom | 54.9% to 68.6% (⁦28–35⁩ mm) |
| Background | White or off-white |
| Online application photo | at least ⁦600 x 600⁩ px, JPEG, up to 240.0 KB |

[Make this photo](https://abox.tools/id-photo/#us-visa) Opens the photo tool with this rule already chosen. It runs in your browser: the photograph is never uploaded, and there is no account and no watermark.

## What else this rule says

- The print is the passport’s ⁦2 x 2⁩ inches, and two things are not. Glasses are no longer allowed in a visa photograph at all, short of a signed medical statement. And the DS-160 upload is a square of 600 to 1200 pixels and 240 kB at most — where online passport renewal takes up to 10 MB, so a file made for one is refused by the other. The page gives the head as “22 mm” beside one inch; its own composition template says 25, and still publishes the eye line the passport rule has dropped — 28 to 35 mm from the bottom.

## Where these figures come from

Transcribed from U.S. Department of State — travel.state.gov, Photo Requirements / Digital Image Requirements / Composition Template. Checked 2026-09-19. Rules change; the figures above are what to check against the form in front of you.

## What the tool does with them

- Locks the crop to this document’s shape, and draws the head and eye bands inside it, so you can see the rule on your own photograph instead of reading about it.
- Finds the crown, the chin and both pupils by measuring the picture — no face model is downloaded — and says in millimetres whether the head is too large or too small for this rule.
- Reads the background colour and how evenly it is lit, and says which of the two is the problem when there is one.
- Writes the print at the exact millimetres with the resolution in the file, a sheet of them with cut marks, and the upload file at the pixel and file size this rule states.

## Other documents, United States

- [Passport and green card](https://abox.tools/id-photo/us-passport/) — ⁦51 x 51⁩ mm · ⁦600 x 600⁩ px
- [Diversity Visa lottery entry](https://abox.tools/id-photo/us-dv/) — ⁦51 x 51⁩ mm · ⁦600 x 600⁩ px

[Every country and document in the photo tool](https://abox.tools/id-photo/)