600 by 600 pixels, 240 kB, taken within six months, one per person including children. The specifications are mechanical and so are the rejections.
Reviewed by Ekaterina Fitenko, Esq. — Florida Bar #1064536. With 20+ years of experience in the legal field, she advises Diversity Visa entrants and selectees on eligibility and filings, in English and Russian.
A Diversity Visa photograph is accepted or rejected by a machine before any person looks at it, and the machine checks a short list. The image must be in JPEG format, square — height equal to width — 600 by 600 pixels, and 240 kilobytes or smaller. It must have been taken within the last six months.
If you are scanning a printed photograph rather than taking a digital one, the print must be 2 by 2 inches (51 by 51 mm) and scanned at 300 pixels per inch, which is 12 pixels per millimetre. A scan of a smaller print upscaled to 600 pixels will look soft and is the most common avoidable failure.
Every one of those numbers is a hard limit rather than a recommendation. A file of 300 kilobytes is not slightly too large; it is not accepted.
The regulation at 22 CFR 42.33(b)(2) sets how the person must appear, and the rules are stricter than a passport-style photograph taken casually.
The image must be in colour. The person faces the camera directly, with the head neither tilted up, down nor to the side, and the head must occupy about 50 percent of the frame. The background must be neutral and light-coloured — dark or patterned backgrounds are refused. The face must be in focus.
Eyeglasses are not permitted, nor are sunglasses or anything else obstructing the view of the face. A head covering is acceptable only when worn for religious reasons, and even then it may not obscure any part of the face; tribal, military and airline headgear are refused outright.
You need one for yourself, for your spouse, and for every unmarried child under 21 listed on the entry — including children who will not immigrate with you and children from a previous relationship. A photograph is not required for a spouse or child who is already a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
Each photograph must meet the same specifications. A perfect photograph of the entrant beside an old snapshot of a child is an entry with a defective photograph.
The published guidance is specific: no other person may appear in the photograph, and the child must be looking at the camera with eyes open. A parent's hand supporting the child's head counts as another person in the frame.
The workable method is to lay the child on a plain white sheet and photograph from directly above, which gives a neutral background and a level head position without anyone else in the shot.
The entry has no review stage. There is no request for evidence, no correction window and no way to replace a file after submission — the form is submitted once and judged as submitted. A photograph that fails the specifications is the single most common way a person who qualifies in every other respect ends up out of the drawing.
And the failure may surface late. Some defects stop the upload immediately; others are discovered at the consular stage, when the photograph is compared with the applicant, and by then the cycle is over.
600 by 600 pixels, square, in JPEG format, 240 kilobytes or smaller. A scanned print must be 2 by 2 inches (51 by 51 mm) scanned at 300 pixels per inch.
Only if it was taken within the last six months and meets every technical specification. A passport photograph is usually older than that, and an older image is refused regardless of how good it looks.
No. Eyeglasses, sunglasses and anything else that obstructs the view of the face are not permitted. A head covering is allowed only when worn for religious reasons and only if it obscures no part of the face.
Yes, every unmarried child under 21 listed on the entry needs a photograph meeting the same specifications, including children who will not immigrate with you. A child who is already a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident does not need one.
No. The entry is submitted once, there is no correction stage, and submitting a second entry to fix the first voids both under INA 204(a)(1)(I)(i). The remedy is to enter correctly in the next cycle.
$200 for 30 minutes, in English or Russian. Call (305) 315-3425 or email fitenkolaw@gmail.com to schedule, or start with the intake form.
This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change; confirm current requirements with the agency or with counsel before relying on anything here.
Fitenko Law PLLC, 11555 Heron Bay Blvd, Suite 277, Coral Springs, FL 33076 (main office); 600 Three Islands Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 (by appointment only). Phone: (305) 315-3425. Email: fitenkolaw@gmail.com