U.S. passport and visa photo tool is temporarily unavailable
An online Photo Tool provided by travel.state.gov used to be one of the most popular ways to edit a U.S. passport photo and to check if it meets the requirements.
But December 31, 2020, Adobe ended support for Flash. The functionality was affected and the photo tool had become temporarily unavailable.
But the need to apply for U.S. documents hasn't gone anywhere. Let's take a look at what alternatives the official tool has!
What was wrong with the old Photo Tool?
Although the official Photo Tool was widely used, it was far from perfect. It was based on Adobe Flash Player, and wasn’t at all related with the actual software used by the US Department of State to validate photos. Important details may have been missed: for example, the service did not take into account the position of eyes in the picture. Thus 'failing' or 'passing' in the Photo Tool did not mean your ID picture was either correct or incorrect. You can read more about the old Photo Tool in our blog post.
What is the best way to crop a U.S. passport or visa photo?
Visafoto.com fully automatizes the process. The service instantly edits the photo so that it meets all requirements, down to the smallest detail. Just upload your photo to the US passport photo maker and get an immediate result.
And get a result like this in a couple of seconds:
Which is valid US passport / visa photo, and accepted by the State.gov website:
Visafoto speciales in processing passport and visa photos since 2014. We produced over 200,000 photos for U.S. passports, U.S. visas and U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery that were successfully accepted. In rare cases (much less than 1% of orders) when a photo does not meet the requirements, we replace the original photo for free or refund the money.
Original photo U.S. passport photo processed via Visafoto
Is it easy to crop a passport photo via photoshop instead of Photo Tool?
Setting the right passport photo size is quite a simple task, but 1:1 dimensions are not the only requirement your passport photo must meet. Among other parameters are the following:
- Eyes must be located between 1 1/8 inches to 1 3/8 inches (28 mm – 35 mm) from the bottom of the photo;
- The head must be between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (25mm - 35 mm) from the top of the hair to the bottom of the chin;
- The background should be plain white or off-white.
Changing such details in Photoshop requires time and skills. Any mistake could result in a rejection of the application, and you will need to re-submit your documents once again. This is especially critical when applying for a U.S. visa, because the visa fee is not refundable in case of refusal.
That's why the most convenient choice is a special software, adapted specifically for the creation of passport photos. Entrust this task to professionals and save time on preparing documentation!
How to quickly validate the U.S. passport photo or USA visa photo now?
The online passport photo checker automatically checks if your photo matches required parameters. The service takes into account not only the size of the photo, but also details such as head size and eye position.
Incorrect photo example
Valid photo example
U.S. Department of State has the same requirements for photos for U.S. passports, U.S. visa and Diversity Visa Lottery. You can use the tool mentioned above to validate photos for all types of documents.
Download and install the Visafoto (7ID) app on your phone!
