NIV Application Materials

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Photo Requirements for Visa & Passport Processing

In order to safeguard the traveling public and provide better visa and identity security for visa applicants, all applicants for U.S. visas and passports must present photographs that exactly meet the following specifications:

• White or off-white background.
• 2 inches x 2 inches or 50mm x 50mm.
• High-quality, unmounted, color photograph. (Digital photographs must be of sufficiently high resolution that the pixels are not visible.)
• Taken within the past 6 months
• Full face, showing the entire, uncovered head. A "full face" photo is one in which you are facing the camera directly. You should not be looking down or to either side. If you wear a head covering or hat for religious reasons, you may continue to do so, but only if that head covering does not obscure any portion of your face. Your hairline (forehead) and ears MUST be visible.
• Your head must be centered in the frame. Your head (measured from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin) should measure between 1 inch to 1 3/8 inches (25 mm to 35 mm) with your eye level between 1 1/8 inch to 1 3/8 inches (28 mm and 35 mm) from the bottom of the photo.
• The photo must be stapled or glued to the DS-156 Application. If stapled, the staples should be placed as far away as possible from your face.
• Sunglasses, eyeglasses or other paraphernalia, which would detract from your face, are not acceptable.
• Photos of members of the military, airline employees, or other personnel wearing hats are not acceptable.
• Digitally altered photographs are not acceptable. (This includes alterations of color or pattern in the background of the picture. Photographs that are out-of-focus, airbrushed, or otherwise substandard will not be accepted.)
• Group photos are not acceptable.
  

Sample Photo