Passport Photo Specifications

[garya505 2]

There are a lot of things about this process that are difficult or unclear but this isn't one of them. The specs for US passport/VISA photos are published and clearly-stated. Why do people insist on making make something complicated out of something that is simple? Seriously, if you are going to make a big deal out of something like this, what are you going to do when you have a REAL challenge? And, if you can't afford to get another set of passport photos, how are you going to afford the rest of this process?

[Cassie 8]

Seeing as the State department are the ones that are actually issuing the visas, and the size of the picture on the visa is 2x2, I'd go with 2x2. It was a pain in the butt for me as well to get them done, since Canadian size and dimension specifications are different, but I sucked it up and did it.

[LTTN 10]

UK passport pictures are about W 35mm x H 45mm and I've used them for my petition so far without any problems. Though I am considering getting some 2 x 2s for my final interview on Tuesday

[john_and_marlene 162]

We used photos that were not 2 X 2 for the petition without any problems. We got 2 X 2 for the rest of the process.

[SamAndJulie 0]

It has to be 2 x 2

[Jasman0717 9]

Why tempt fate, use the 2X2

[deathbydalbhat 0]

This is the one thing that's holding up our petition right now, he sent me a passport photo but it is the smaller size used in India and Nepal - I told him to get a new one made in the 2X2 size but now I 'm wondering if it would be simpler for me to go to a photo place and have the one he sent me enlarged? It would probably be cheaper for me to do that, not to mention quicker, than for him to send a new photo by FedEx...

[sereia 0]

you know i've learned from several people here (i had the same problem with my fiance's photo being too small)

from what i read it was PASSPORT style photos.

that if the americans is 2x2" you're fine.thats what an american passport style photo is.

the fiance can be whatever the specifications are for THEIR country. and my fiance had his done for the size of his countries passports.

i haven't been approved yet, but many people here told me i will be fine. *crosses fingers

[heishe 2]

I got the lady at the photo place to redo mine...horrible glare off my glasses, couldn't see my eyes at all.

PS...Did anyone else feel like all the touches were people pulling out your photo to laugh at it?

No way, our touches were people pulling out our photos to swoon over!

My boy sent a UK size passport photo, a bit too small. It got through fine. You will definitely need the proper size for the embassy, though.

[balmytigeress 0]

Risk it if you feel comfortable. or do the sure thing.

Just make an informed choice.

If you feel you do not have the best answer you can find, you don't have to rush.

Can you put a price on what the extra worrying is costing you? Maybe just getting it in 2x2 and having peace of mind is worth the cost of having them redone?

===========================

I'll say one reason people may "make a simple thing complicated."

In the case of these pics, one thing I've heard done is getting a copy of the slightly bigger or smaller than 2x2 pic on CD or floppy, and resize and print it - either at home or somewhere else.

The idea of doing something like that, which is probably simple to do but I havn't done it before, makes me vacillitate between using the too small ones which he already made or doing the 'do it yourself' way. Frustration at having to jump thru hoops and having to reread everything so many time for some minor little error that might mean nothing, or might cause 3 week delays - and these are such simple questions we are asked but we worry so much and it is not right that we have to have feelings like this. But of course the only way we can get what we want is to do what those (__choose your descriptive noun)s tell us to do. So we do this because we love the person we are doing it for, but that doesn't mean we don't get frustrated and freeze up about minor details. When I freeze up it means I make the minor things difficult. You know, things like "he doesn't have a middle name, OMG what should I do - help me VisaJourney!"

I find resizing the pic is a hassle and it is forcing me to try something I've never done before, and even though it is such a simple thing - well, I havn't done it before. Then what if mine isn't professional? What if the photo studios do something special to a picture and the visa people have a special scanner and they can tell the pic has been changed and they RFE us for that? It sounds like a nightmare and there is probably little truth to it, but these are the rediculous things this process makes some of us imagine.

What will a do when a real challenge comes? Some thing I'm doing now. Freak out a little bit, write about it, come up with a solution, and handle it.

In this case, I am difficult sometimes and there are things I cannot compromise on. He wants me to resize it so we don't risk and RFE, so we do this right. I don't want to try my hand at doing this with photos, but we are both working towards the same goal. I will do this for him. I will make the compromises where I can, to make up for the areas where I cannot.

I'm sure many people have sent in odd shaped photos and gotten through fine, I've heard a few who have said so, I think there are many more who just didn't know about 2x2 and never thought to say anything, and I'm sure many people have gone though this and never bothered to mention paxssport photos. Not everyone doing k1 or k3 posts on VJ, or knows about it. I'd like to just send in the ones he already had done, I want to get this thing started - I can't even file just yet. The longer I have to wait, the more people get in front of me. Once it is sent, I can worry about something besides maybe Vermont slows down to the speed of everywhere else or gets bogged down, or burns to the ground and the petition has to be sent somewhere else....you know, start worrying about normal things like - was this good enough....where is my NOA1.....Where is my NOA2.....etc. Normal things.

Point, people have different tolerance levels, maybe you yourself have been waiting a year and the other person hasn't sent in I-129f yet. Roll your eyes in the privacy of your own home, but is it going to help anyone by getting critical about their worrying? This process drives everyone a little crazy. We don't always know where to draw the line. Some things are spelled out for you on the form itself, somethings you can assume a human literate enough to work for those people should be able to understand - like for someone with no middle name, you can write -None- with the hyphens and they should see it does not mean the middle name is None. Then there are things like these passport photos where you heard that some people used the odd size photo and it was accepted, so the "obvious" answer seems murky. You want it to be one way, worry it might be the other way, but like I said, you want it to be the way you want it to be and maybe you freeze.

New people are frustrated, old hands people are frustrated. We are both allowed to be frustrated. I guess we need to let each other be frustrated and know what they said means nothing personal, it is just them expressing their frustration. Even if the way frustration is espressed seems critical of the original frustrated person. I guess I wrote so much here because I've seen posts with old hands criticizing the new ones for being frustrated, and other people criticizing the old hands of being overly harsh in criticizing the new ones. So a few comments here reminded me of observing that and this seems as good a place as any to say all that I've just said. I havn't kept track of names, so I could even point out anyone, so I am not talking to a specific person. I'm not even going to look at this post a second time to start a list because it's not worth it. I've seen people blow up because of nothing I noticed, so I've actually said more than I really wanted to just trying to cover myself and not get any harsh comment in return. I repeat, I am not meaning any specific person so do not assume that I am.

BT

Edited February 16, 2007 by balmytigeress