Consulate Photos

[bertal 0]

Hi All!

My finacee has an interview scheduled at the consulate in Moscow on December 6. They require two photos for the consulate and two photos for medical exam. They state, that photos must fit all the passport photo parameters, except they have to be matte. The problem is, it's hard to find a place in Russia that will stick to the parameters. If she sends me the images, I can stop by Walgreens' and they will size them for passport (I've done that in the past). However, they print on glossy paper. That was acceptable for my passport. Will the consulate have a problem with it, if the photos are not matte? Are the typical passport photos printed in U.S. "matte enough" for them?

Thanks in advance!

[Pitaya 2,577]

Hi All!

My finacee has an interview scheduled at the consulate in Moscow on December 6. They require two photos for the consulate and two photos for medical exam. They state, that photos must fit all the passport photo parameters, except they have to be matte. The problem is, it's hard to find a place in Russia that will stick to the parameters. If she sends me the images, I can stop by Walgreens' and they will size them for passport (I've done that in the past). However, they print on glossy paper. That was acceptable for my passport. Will the consulate have a problem with it, if the photos are not matte? Are the typical passport photos printed in U.S. "matte enough" for them?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the forum.

Here is the link to the Department of State passport photo requirements:

http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html

Good luck on your visa journey.

[MrsOyetunji 9]

I won't say I agree totally that you can't make the photos in Russia, My husband made his own photos in Russia. write than the size and then send it to your fiancee to take it to the studio and give it to them to make exact size and they will make it for her... you can also ask her to send you her photos and then you resize it to the exact one and then send it to her for her to print it out . but i think where you print the passport photos does not matter to the consulate as long as you have the required ones.

[P A U L 14]

bertal, can you let me know if the consul at moscow interviews your fiancee in english or russian? (when you know, of course)

[Rachel & Tom 9]

bertal, can you let me know if the consul at moscow interviews your fiancee in english or russian? (when you know, of course)

in India they asked my fiance if he wanted to do the interview in english or in hindi... so im sure they will give you an option ....

[bertal 0]

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their replies. The reason I asked this question, is that the Moscow consulate sites explicitly states NON-GLOSSY. To get the sizes in Russia is not trivial, since it is hard to distinguish a professional from a hack there. We have had experience with this, when we needed photos for I-129f. They were completely off, although the photographer has almost swore on the life of his mother that he knew exactly what the US consulate wants, and that he has done hundreds of them. This was not the only one. She went to a number of them. None of them got it right. Then she sent me an image file, and Walgreen's printed it as it was required.

The only thing I'm worried about is that the paper is glossy.

----

To answer a question about the language, as far as I can tell, the interviews are in Russian. The only thing to watch for, is if they ask you how you communicate with your fiance(e), and you say in English, they WILL switch to English. In my case it's not an issue, since I'm fluent in Russian, so that will not be an issue.

Good Luck!

[vinnylc 2]

bertal, can you let me know if the consul at moscow interviews your fiancee in english or russian? (when you know, of course)

first question is "how do you and your fiancee communicate?" and if its english then you must speak english, but if you both speak russian then your can choose to speak russian, but speaking english always looks better even if you just try your best

[P A U L 14]

first question is "how do you and your fiancee communicate?" and if its english then you must speak english, but if you both speak russian then your can choose to speak russian, but speaking english always looks better even if you just try your best

we speak korean. she's a korean born in uzbekistan, and she's been living in korea for the past 5 years when i met her. she's gone back to russia to begin the K-1 process. her english is turrible.

[bertal 0]

first question is "how do you and your fiancee communicate?" and if its english then you must speak english, but if you both speak russian then your can choose to speak russian, but speaking english always looks better even if you just try your best

If she speaks Russian, then she will have to conduct the interview in Russian.

[bertal 0]

I would like to thank everyone for the input.

I called the consulate yesterday, and they said that the photo absolutely must be matte. I think that's a consular requirement, because that's not a requirement for department of state.

Thanks All.