Every source we cite

TWO precisions. (1) The State Department publishes NO eye-height rule for US passport photos and no pixel dimension for paper applications, both were searched for on travel.state.gov and in 8 FAM 402.1 and are genuinely absent. Do not publish either figure. (2) On the effective date of the AI/retouching prohibition: it is codified in 8 FAM 402.1-3(g) under change transmittal CT:CITZ-112 dated 2024-09-06, and the public page already carried the AI sentence in an archived capture from 2024-03-01. There is no "January 1, 2026" effective date in any State Department source, that claim is wrong and should not be repeated.

A metric conversion error exists on the government's own page: the visa Photo Requirements page prints the head range as "1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm)", but 1 inch is 25.4 mm, so 22 mm is wrong. We publish the inch range, which is authoritative and internally consistent. There is also a wording difference worth knowing: State measures eye height from the bottom of the photo up to eye level, while USCIS Form I-485 words it as "from the top of your eyes to the bottom of the photo", same numbers, different phrasing.

Unlike the passport guidance, the visa photo pages do NOT name software, apps, filters or artificial intelligence. The visa rule is worded as no digital enhancement or alteration. Also note the government page prints the head range as "(22 mm and 35 mm)", which is an error: 1 inch is 25.4 mm, so publish 25 to 35 mm.

Do not present the two-photo boilerplate as a universal USCIS rule: it is not. I-129F requires one photo of the petitioner and one of the beneficiary (not two identical). I-751 requires two per person including every dependent. N-400, N-565, N-600 and I-751 require photos only in specific circumstances. I-90 requires none and I-589 prohibits them. Also note the 600 x 600 pixel figure is a Department of State visa spec and does not apply to USCIS forms.

Do NOT staple or attach the photo yourself on the DS-11 route. State says: "Do not attach or staple your photo to the form. The acceptance agent or passport employee will review the photo and staple it for you." That is the opposite of the DS-82 mail-in instruction, so the guidance must be route-specific. Separately, no eye-height rule is published for US passport photos, genuinely not specified, rather than a figure we could not locate.

On the DS-82 mail-in route the applicant DOES attach the photo: "You must staple your photo to the application... Use four staples vertically in the corners as close to the outer edges of the photo as possible." Do not carry this instruction onto the DS-11 page, where State says the acceptance agent staples it instead. No eye-height rule is published for US passport photos.

This is a verified negative, the absence of a photo requirement was confirmed by searching the full official form, not inferred.

The State Department publishes NO pixel dimensions for online passport renewal, and no numeric head-height rule, the guidance is positional only. Do not state a pixel figure for this route.

The passport-specific sentence naming "computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence" does NOT appear on the visa photo pages. The visa rule is worded as no digital enhancement or alteration, and does not expressly name AI.

Unlike DS-160, the DS-260 process does not take a digital upload, the requirement is printed photos at interview. Do not publish a pixel figure as a DS-260 submission requirement.

THREE things to carry into any DV page. (1) TIMING: these figures are from the DV-2026 notice (89 FR 79997, 2024-10-01), which was still the most recent DV instructions notice as of 2026-08-04, no DV-2027 notice had been published. Re-verify before each registration period and state which DV year the page describes. (2) A REGULATION CONFLICT exists on the print size: 22 CFR 42.33(b)(2)(i) says a scanned source print "must have been 2'' by 2'' (50mm x 50mm)", while the DV-2026 instructions and travel.state.gov both say 51 x 51 mm. Cite both rather than silently picking one. (3) SCOPE: effective 2026-04-10, an E-DV entry also requires a scan of the entrant's passport biographic and signature page under new 22 CFR 42.33(b)(3). JPEG/JFIF only, no PDF, 5 MB maximum. That is not a photo spec but it belongs on the page.

The I-485 instructions publish no pixel or DPI figure. Do not state 600 x 600 px for this form: that is a State Department visa spec, not a USCIS one.

No pixel or DPI figure is published for this form.

No pixel figure is published. One photo each, not two each, a common error. Note this form states its own 30-day recency rule in the instructions, unlike most USCIS forms.

The residence condition is the whole answer here, most N-400 filers send no photos at all.

Unlike I-130 and I-129F, the I-751 instructions give NO head-height or eye-height figure. Those fields are genuinely absent from the source, not merely unlocated. Do not import them from another form.

No pixel figure is published. The spouse-only condition is essential: do not generalise it to all I-130 petitions.

The I-131 instructions are the only place USCIS states a camera-resolution minimum, but the PDF currently served bears a "Draft Not for Reproduction 05/13/2026" watermark, so that figure is withheld from this site until a final edition confirms it. The conditional trigger list is detailed, link applicants to the official instructions rather than compressing it into one rule.

Verified two ways, full-text scan of the instructions plus the form page checklist.

This is an affirmative prohibition stated on the official form page, not merely an absence of a requirement. Any page covering I-589 must say so plainly.

This is a 2025 policy change and most competing pages still describe the old self-submission process. Two precisions matter. (1) Applicants filing I-485 do still send two photos with that form, the distinction is between the I-485 filing photos and the photo printed on the card. (2) The "no self-submitted photos" line is a Policy Highlights bullet from PA-2025-29 and is not quite absolute in the codified guidance: 1 USCIS-PM C.2 footnote 31 allows that "in limited and rare circumstances, non-BSA photos may be collected and used as part of verified and approved medical disability accommodations." Say "you cannot submit your own photo" rather than "USCIS never accepts one".