A crucial component of your visa application is your photo. To make sure your photo satisfies all the standards, we advise using a professional visa photo service. The U.S. embassy or consulate where you apply will decide whether to accept your digital image or photo. The photo has to meet the following qualities:
- be in color
- sized so that the head is between 50% and 69% of the image’s overall height, measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, or between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) in height.
- taken over the last six months to capture how you currently look
- taken against a background that is either pure white or off-white
- taken with the subject facing the camera in full face view.
- with both eyes open and a neutral look
- taken in your usual clothes that you ordinarily wear
- Except for religious attire used on a daily basis, uniforms should not be worn in photographs.
- Except when worn regularly for religious reasons, avoid donning hats or other head coverings that hide your hairline or scalp. You must be able to see your entire face, with no shadows from the head covering.
- You should not include headphones, wireless hands-free devices, or similar objects in your picture.
- Except in very rare cases where eyeglasses cannot be removed for medical reasons, such as when the applicant has recently undergone ocular surgery and the eyeglasses are required to safeguard the applicant’s eyes, eyeglasses are no longer permitted in new visa photos. In these situations, a medical statement that has been authorized by a doctor or other health care provider must be given. The frames of the eyeglasses cannot cover the eye if they are approved for medical reasons (s). There shouldn’t be any glare on eyewear that blocks vision (s). The eye must not be obscured by shadows or refraction caused by the spectacles (s).
- If you typically wear a hearing aid or other similar items, they can be visible in your picture.
