Passport Picture for Form G325-A of I-129F

[vespa rossa 0]

Hi there,

I'm getting ready to mail in my I-129F packet, but I don't have a "passport-style" photo for my fiance''s G-325A. As he lives in Sicily, it would take a very long time for him to have it done there and then mailed to me. We're trying to submit ASAP (obviously), so I don't want to add any more time to the process (as we were originally mailing it in one year ago).

Would it be acceptable to crop down a regular photo that clearly shows his face? The only thing is that it's not a white background. I've read that the adjudicators aren't too picky about this, but I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with submitting photos without a white background and having no problems.

Many thanks.

[Anh map 2,098]

Fed Ex, UPS can get the photos to you in 1 day.

[Kevin&Leilei 1]

If you're decent with photo editing, have him take a picture of himself in front of a white background, and email it to you. Edit it down to the correct size, and print it on photo paper if you have a photo printer, or take it to a Walmart or other place that can print it for you.

[payxibka 10,045]

Hi there,

I'm getting ready to mail in my I-129F packet, but I don't have a "passport-style" photo for my fiance''s G-325A. As he lives in Sicily, it would take a very long time for him to have it done there and then mailed to me. We're trying to submit ASAP (obviously), so I don't want to add any more time to the process (as we were originally mailing it in one year ago).

Would it be acceptable to crop down a regular photo that clearly shows his face? The only thing is that it's not a white background. I've read that the adjudicators aren't too picky about this, but I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with submitting photos without a white background and having no problems.

Many thanks.

It is acceptable to crop down a photo but is must meet the passport photo specifications... if not, it will be rejected... causing a bigger delay than having a proper image emailed to you for printing or having a passport photo express mailed... don't shortcut the evidence to save a day or two... it will likely cost you

[vespa rossa 0]

Many thanks, everyone. We spoke this morning and decided to not risk a potential delay down the road. He will email me a digital photo of himself in front of a white background and I'll edit/crop it and take it to Walgreens or CVS to have passport photos printed.

[UN-KNOWN 0]

Hi there,

I'm getting ready to mail in my I-129F packet, but I don't have a "passport-style" photo for my fiance''s G-325A. As he lives in Sicily, it would take a very long time for him to have it done there and then mailed to me. We're trying to submit ASAP (obviously), so I don't want to add any more time to the process (as we were originally mailing it in one year ago).

Would it be acceptable to crop down a regular photo that clearly shows his face? The only thing is that it's not a white background. I've read that the adjudicators aren't too picky about this, but I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with submitting photos without a white background and having no problems.

Many thanks.

Hey ,

SCAN THOSE PHOTOS AND TAKE THEM TO PHOTO STUDIO AND GET WHAT SIZE U WANT OR JUST TAKE PHOTO TO PHOTO STUDIO THEY WILL PRINT WHAT SIZE YOU WANT ..... LOL

THANK YOU .

[pushbrk 12,881]

Many thanks, everyone. We spoke this morning and decided to not risk a potential delay down the road. He will email me a digital photo of himself in front of a white background and I'll edit/crop it and take it to Walgreens or CVS to have passport photos printed.

You have your solution but be aware the photo is requested in support of the petition, not in support of the G325a. It just happens to be mentioned next after the G325a is mentioned. In your cover letter, the passport style pictures should have their own line item.

[tglea 0]

Hi there,

I'm getting ready to mail in my I-129F packet, but I don't have a "passport-style" photo for my fiance''s G-325A. As he lives in Sicily, it would take a very long time for him to have it done there and then mailed to me. We're trying to submit ASAP (obviously), so I don't want to add any more time to the process (as we were originally mailing it in one year ago).

Would it be acceptable to crop down a regular photo that clearly shows his face? The only thing is that it's not a white background. I've read that the adjudicators aren't too picky about this, but I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with submitting photos without a white background and having no problems.

Many thanks.

It is acceptable to crop down a photo but is must meet the passport photo specifications... if not, it will be rejected... causing a bigger delay than having a proper image emailed to you for printing or having a passport photo express mailed... don't shortcut the evidence to save a day or two... it will likely cost you

Not true really. I struggled with the same thing. I started the K1 process while I was back in the states and didn't have a picture for my fiance. I had her go to a photo place close to our house in Mexico and she emailed me the digital photo. I took the photo to Kinkos and I also had my picture taken there. This is the one thing that I will point out to you. Most of those places that do passport photos can't make you a passport photo to exact specifications with a digital photo. They must use their own camera and equipment to make them. Long story short and to my point: A really nice guy at Kinkos worked with her digital photo for about an hour. Printing it on close to the same paper and playing with the image to get it close as possible. The final photo of her that I submitted looked ok but it wasn't exactly the same as the passport photo of me that was done with Kinkos equipment. I was worried this may cause a problem but my 129F was approved in 74 days. Maybe I was lucky but I don't think those photos are used for anything more than identifying the person who shows up for the interview as the correct person. If these were the photos used to make the visa, then it wouldn't be necessary to bring more photos to the interview.

[xelance 31]

Many thanks, everyone. We spoke this morning and decided to not risk a potential delay down the road. He will email me a digital photo of himself in front of a white background and I'll edit/crop it and take it to Walgreens or CVS to have passport photos printed.

You have your solution but be aware the photo is requested in support of the petition, not in support of the G325a. It just happens to be mentioned next after the G325a is mentioned. In your cover letter, the passport style pictures should have their own line item.

in the example for the cover letter, it shows passport photos included with the line about G325a...so should it have its own line or not? The example shows it differently

[haleywynne 0]

I waited the extra time for him to get an American-standard passport photo just to be safe. I'd rather wait to send it than get an RFE.

Also, make sure in his photo there are no shadows behind him or on his face... at all. It's in the specifications and I know it's pretty hard to do on your own with just a normal digital camera.

Edit: Also, the photos are a part of the I-129F petition itself, not the G-325a forms. I made the same mistake at first but luckily pushbrk caught the mistake for me before I sent it off

Edited March 1, 2009 by haleywynne

[defunct 0]

Many thanks, everyone. We spoke this morning and decided to not risk a potential delay down the road. He will email me a digital photo of himself in front of a white background and I'll edit/crop it and take it to Walgreens or CVS to have passport photos printed.

You have your solution but be aware the photo is requested in support of the petition, not in support of the G325a. It just happens to be mentioned next after the G325a is mentioned. In your cover letter, the passport style pictures should have their own line item.

in the example for the cover letter, it shows passport photos included with the line about G325a...so should it have its own line or not? The example shows it differently

In the USCIS instructions for I-129F the passport-style photos are not mentioned as a supporting item for G325a, so they should be a stand-alone requirement, which I believe is pushbrk's argument.

Edited March 1, 2009 by eyoa

[pushbrk 12,881]

Many thanks, everyone. We spoke this morning and decided to not risk a potential delay down the road. He will email me a digital photo of himself in front of a white background and I'll edit/crop it and take it to Walgreens or CVS to have passport photos printed.

You have your solution but be aware the photo is requested in support of the petition, not in support of the G325a. It just happens to be mentioned next after the G325a is mentioned. In your cover letter, the passport style pictures should have their own line item.

in the example for the cover letter, it shows passport photos included with the line about G325a...so should it have its own line or not? The example shows it differently

As far as I'm concerned the example is wrong but I'm not predicting any negative consequence for following it. The passport photos have nothing to do with the G325a.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi there,

I'm getting ready to mail in my I-129F packet, but I don't have a "passport-style" photo for my fiance''s G-325A. As he lives in Sicily, it would take a very long time for him to have it done there and then mailed to me. We're trying to submit ASAP (obviously), so I don't want to add any more time to the process (as we were originally mailing it in one year ago).

Would it be acceptable to crop down a regular photo that clearly shows his face? The only thing is that it's not a white background. I've read that the adjudicators aren't too picky about this, but I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with submitting photos without a white background and having no problems.

Many thanks.

I understand your desire to do this ASAP, who doesn't? That is why it is best to FedEx a correct passport style photo. If you do what you suggest and get an RFE over something really stupid that you knew about in advance, it will add MUCH more time to your processing than the time it takes to get and attach a proper passport photo.

Proceed as you wish. Be aware that going outside the lines on any item puts you at risk for a weeks and weeks long delay. It is Sunday. My advice? Get your fiance up off the sofa, turn off the soccer game, go get a photo and FedEx it to you. You will have your package in the mail by Thursday and sleep well.

If you have "fudged" with anything else, now is the time to correct that also. Follow the instructions to the letter, make sure everything is there as required and you will have no problems.

While he is at it, get about 12 passport photos at the same time. You will need them before this is over and they do not make an issue about if they are within 30 days or not. We made ONE passport photo and got 12 copies (cheaper and faster that way) and if he is going to FedEx something it may as well be enough to get the job done. In addition to this photo, he will need 3 for the medical, 2 for the interview, 2 for AOS, one each for EAD or AP. They really like photos, plus they (USCIS) will take several more photos of their own before it is over. We used the same one and never had a question.

[KimandRuss 0]

Guidelines for producting high quality photos for the US Govt.

[KimandRuss 0]

It is acceptable to crop down a photo but is must meet the passport photo specifications... if not, it will be rejected... causing a bigger delay than having a proper image emailed to you for printing or having a passport photo express mailed... don't shortcut the evidence to save a day or two... it will likely cost you

Not true really. I struggled with the same thing. I started the K1 process while I was back in the states and didn't have a picture for my fiance. I had her go to a photo place close to our house in Mexico and she emailed me the digital photo. I took the photo to Kinkos and I also had my picture taken there. This is the one thing that I will point out to you. Most of those places that do passport photos can't make you a passport photo to exact specifications with a digital photo. They must use their own camera and equipment to make them. Long story short and to my point: A really nice guy at Kinkos worked with her digital photo for about an hour. Printing it on close to the same paper and playing with the image to get it close as possible. The final photo of her that I submitted looked ok but it wasn't exactly the same as the passport photo of me that was done with Kinkos equipment. I was worried this may cause a problem but my 129F was approved in 74 days. Maybe I was lucky but I don't think those photos are used for anything more than identifying the person who shows up for the interview as the correct person. If these were the photos used to make the visa, then it wouldn't be necessary to bring more photos to the interview.

You can't just simply say 'not true' because you didn't get held up.

There are all kinds of memo's floating around uscis (about pics, about signatures, about forms...etc) that some adjuticator's seem to have read and some have not. Those of us that have been here a while know that people certainly do receive RFE's for such things and that the very best option for the OP is to have it done right the first time so that it does not hold the petition up.

OP... Read the photo guidelines in the link I gave you above and visit the Regional forums and ask if there is a good place in the beneficiary's Country to have the others (for interview) done. There is much discussion about this topic here.