Independent service, not a government website.

State Department Photo Tool: known issues

State Department Photo Tool is the portal in the United States used for US Passport Photo, US Visa Photo and US Diversity Visa (DV Lottery) Entry Photo. We list 2 messages it shows when a photo upload fails, why each appears and what to change before uploading again, each traced to the portal's own wording or a verified user report. The free cropping tool linked from travel.state.gov; it crops and runs a basic check but does not approve photos.

Official page: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html

Messages and what to do

  1. Your photo does not need cropping (red icon)

    First step: Check the file is 600 x 600 pixels (or 2 x 2 in at 300 DPI) as our output is.

  2. Your face is not the correct size or properly centered

    First step: Start from the uncropped original, with head, shoulders and some space above the head in frame.

Documents submitted through this portal

We are an independent service, not a government website. Applying for a passport or visa is done with your government; we only prepare the photo.