US Visa Photo Requirements: 600 × 600 px, 240 KB, JPEG Only

The State Department publishes one set of digital image rules and reuses it across several systems. The best known is the DS-160, the online nonimmigrant visa application that tourists, students, exchange visitors and temporary workers fill in on the Consular Electronic Application Center. The photo step comes near the end of the form, and the file you upload is printed on the confirmation page you bring to the consulate. If the upload is rejected, you cannot sign and submit until you either fix the file or, where the form offers it, continue and bring a printed photo instead.

The Diversity Visa Lottery uses the same composition rules but is the strictest about the file itself: the entry instructions on dvprogram.state.gov ask for exactly 600 × 600 px and 240 KB or less, and a photo that breaks the rules disqualifies the entry rather than triggering a retry later. Immigrant visa applicants who file the DS-260 are usually asked for two identical 2 × 2 in prints at the interview, made to the same head-size and background rules, and some consulates also ask for a digital copy.

Online passport renewal follows the same square shape and composition rules, but its upload page sets its own file-size window, so read that page before you compress anything. Paper passport applications on the DS-11 or DS-82 need a print, not a file; the US passport photo requirements page covers the 2 × 2 in print and the head measured in inches. For other countries' rules, the passport photo requirements by country comparison lists them side by side.

Start with the shape. The image must be square, with width equal to height, and between 600 and 1200 px on each side. A 600 × 601 px file fails, and so does a 1500 × 1500 px original straight from a camera. The 600 px floor is not arbitrary: a 2 × 2 in print at 300 DPI is exactly 600 × 600 px, so the minimum digital photo carries the same detail as a minimum-quality printed one.

The file must be a JPEG, saved with 24 bits per pixel in color and in the sRGB color space. Black-and-white photos, grayscale JPEGs, PNG, HEIC, WebP and TIFF are all refused, even if they look fine on screen. The 240 KB cap is the rule that catches the most people, because a modern phone saves a single photo at 2 to 5 MB. Shrinking the pixel dimensions to 600 × 600 usually brings a JPEG to somewhere between 60 and 200 KB, but heavy re-compression to squeeze under the cap can create blocky artifacts around the hair and jaw, which the guidance also lists as a reason for refusal.

The photo must have been taken within the last six months and show you as you look now. That means a fresh photo after a new beard, a big weight change or facial surgery, even if your last one is recent. Do not retouch, filter or beautify the image: skin smoothing, background blur from portrait mode and color filters can all count as alterations. Basic cropping and resizing are fine.

Inside the square, the head is measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the hair. It must fill between 50% and 69% of the image height, which on a 600 px photo is 300 to 414 px. The eyes have their own window: measured from the bottom edge of the photo, the eye line must sit between 56% and 69% of the height, or roughly 336 to 414 px up on a 600 px file. A selfie taken at arm's length tends to fail the first rule with a head that is too big, while a full-body shot cropped down fails it with a head that is too small and a soft, low-detail face.

The background must be plain white or off-white with no pattern, shadow or objects behind you. Face the camera directly with both eyes open; a neutral expression or a natural smile is accepted. Glasses have not been allowed since November 1, 2016, unless a doctor signs a statement that you cannot remove them for medical reasons. Uniforms are out too, except religious clothing worn daily, and so are camouflage, headphones and wireless earpieces. Hats and head coverings are allowed only for religious or medical reasons, and they must not cast shadows or hide the face from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead.

Lighting decides more rejections than people expect. Stand facing a window or a soft lamp, keep about a meter of space between you and the wall so your shadow falls out of frame, and ask someone else to take the picture from about 1.2 m away at eye level. If you are planning an outfit, what to wear for a passport photo covers colors that stand out from a white background.

The workflow is the same on any device: shoot, crop to a square around the head, resize to between 600 and 1200 px, export as JPEG and check the file size. The order matters. Crop first so the head ratio is right, then resize, then compress, because every compression pass after the final size costs detail. iPhones save photos as HEIC by default, so convert them with HEIC to JPG or switch the camera to Most Compatible in Settings before shooting.

The resize image to 600x600 page does the crop and resize in one step: Width and Height are set to 600 px, Fit is on Crop to fill and Crop position on Smart, so the face stays centered. Tick Limit file size and enter 240 KB, then press Resize. If you want the head measured for you, the passport photo maker has the US spec under Country & document, draws the allowed range with Head-size guide and can whiten the wall behind you with Background.

The DS-160 runs an automated check the moment you upload. It reads the file type, the pixel dimensions and the KB size, then tries to find a face and measure where it sits. When the check fails, the message names the broad reason, such as the size, the file type or the face position, but not the exact number that was off. The State Department's visa photo page on travel.state.gov also links its own photo tool, which crops a picture you load to the required square and saves a compliant size; it does not judge lighting, shadows or expression, so a cropped file can still fail later.

Passing the upload check does not guarantee acceptance. A consular officer reviews the photo again, and a picture that slipped through with a shadow or a tinted background can still be refused at the interview, where you would be asked for a new print. The list below matches the usual messages to the fix that works.

Many consulates ask DS-160 applicants to bring one printed photo to the interview, especially when the upload failed or the photo is more than six months old by the interview date. That print follows the passport print spec: 2 × 2 in (51 × 51 mm), in color, on matte or glossy photo paper, with the head 1 to 1 3/8 in (25 to 35 mm) tall. The passport photo maker can set Print layout to a 4 × 6 in sheet with several Copies and Cut lines, which any pharmacy kiosk prints.

The two specs describe the same picture from different sides. The print rule is in inches and millimeters, the digital rule in pixels and percentages, and they line up: 1 to 1 3/8 in of head on a 2 in square is 50% to 69% of the height. The digital rule adds things paper never needs, such as the JPEG format, 24-bit sRGB color and the 240 KB cap, while the print rule adds paper quality and the ban on holes, creases and ink marks.

If all you have is a professional print, you can scan it instead of starting again. The State Department asks that a scanned photo meet the digital rules and, in addition, measure 2 × 2 in and be scanned at 300 pixels per inch, which produces exactly 600 × 600 px. Clean the scanner glass, place the print straight, and export as JPEG. Do not photograph the print with a phone at an angle; the perspective skew, glare and paper texture usually make the face check fail.

The DV Lottery shares the State Department's photo rules but enforces them at entry time, without a second chance. Each person named in the entry, including your spouse and every eligible child, needs their own photo, and a group or family photo is not accepted. The file must be 600 × 600 px and 240 KB or less. Babies need their own photo too, lying on a plain white sheet with no hands in the frame.

The rule people miss is re-use. The DV instructions state that a photo submitted with a previous year's entry is not acceptable, and that an entry using one is disqualified. Even if you look the same, take a new picture for each yearly entry period, and keep a dated copy of the original so you can show when it was taken.