US passport & visa — 2×2 in photo maker
2×2 in at 300 dpi, head 50–69% of the frame, plain white or off-white behind you. Guides and a print sheet, on your device.
- 0 uploads
- No limits
- No signup
- Works offline
2×2 in · 600×600 px · ≤ 240 KB JPEG
Filestay is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any government or visa authority, including the U.S. Department of State. We make the file match the published technical requirements — acceptance is always the issuing authority's decision.
The official requirement
- Photo size
- 2×2 in
- Pixels
- 600 × 600
- Resolution
- 300 dpi
- Head height
- 50–69% of image height
- Eye line
- 56–69% from the bottom
- Background
- Plain white or off-white
- Digital file
- 600×600 px, JPG, ≤ 240 KB
Also required
- Taken within the last 6 months
- Neutral expression, both eyes open, facing the camera
- No glasses (since November 2016)
- No uniforms; everyday clothing only
Source: U.S. Department of State — Photo requirements. Requirements change — check the source before you submit.
One square serves both the passport application and the US visa photograph. What sets the specification apart is tolerance: the head may fill anywhere from 50 to 69 per cent of the frame height, wider than most countries publish.
How much of the frame the head has to fill
Two inches is 50.8 mm, so chin to crown lands between 25 and 35 mm — one inch to one and three-eighths, or 300 to 414 pixels in the 600-pixel file. At the bottom of that range your head is half the picture, with a lot of shirt below it. At the top, roughly 16 mm of height remains for hair clearance and the gap under your chin.
What gets this one sent back
- Glasses have been out since November 2016, prescription or not; resting them on your head does not count as taking them off.
- Uniforms are barred, and so is camouflage or anything that reads as one. Choose a colour that will not vanish into an off-white wall.
- The six-month clock runs from when the shutter fired, not from when you saved the file.
Half a metre clear of the wall so your shadow falls behind you, camera at about 1.5 metres so the lens does not widen your nose, soft light from the front. Take several.
Print and upload are two different specs
2×2 in is a physical instruction; 600×600 pixels is what it becomes at 300 dpi. The head band follows the same conversion — 50–69% of 2 in is 1.00–1.38 in, or 300–414 pixels in the exported file.
The upload adds a third constraint the print does not have: a byte budget. United States asks for 600×600 px as JPG, no larger than 240 KB. A file that satisfies the millimetres and fails the kilobytes is refused by the form before anyone reads the application, so the size search runs on every export here.
Print at 100%, not "fit to page" — the default shrink is invisible to you and measurable to whoever checks it.
How it works
- 01Add a recent photoFacing the camera, plain wall behind. HEIC from an iPhone works directly.
- 02Frame it to 2×2 inDrag and zoom until your head fills 50–69% of the frame height, matching the dashed guide.
- 03Check the warningsThe border area is measured against "plain white or off-white" and flagged if it is uneven.
- 04Download or printSave the 600×600 JPG, or take a print sheet with several copies laid out at true size.