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Why passport photos are rejected, and what to do next

The U.S. Department of State opens both of its passport photo pages with the same sentence: “Unacceptable photos are the number one reason why we put passport applications on hold.” Below is every cause of a hold or a rejection that State itself puts in writing, how to tell whether yours has it, and the one thing to change. For nearly all of them the fix is the same, and it is the fix State names: take another photo.

About the order. State publishes no ranked list, no percentages and no figures on how often each cause occurs, and we have not measured any. The order below follows how forcefully State words each one — the causes it says outright “will be rejected” or “we will not accept” come first, then the ones it illustrates repeatedly with unacceptable examples, then the narrower ones. It is a reading of the source, not a frequency table.

1. The photo was edited, filtered, or made with AI

State words this as a refusal rather than a caution. On the online renewal page: “If your photo is unnaturally edited or filtered, we will not accept it. Do not use a photo you created or edited using artificial intelligence or other digital tools.” On the paper page: “Submit the original, unchanged photo. Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence.” And both pages carry the same tip: “We check all photos to ensure you are not using artificial intelligence tools.”

How to tell. Much of this happens without a decision on your part. Ask: did the phone have beauty mode, skin smoothing or a “portrait” effect switched on? Did anything pass through an editor, a background remover, an upscaler or a photo app that “improves” pictures? Did you crop the background out around your hair? Was it exported from a social app, which may have applied a filter on the way out? One of State’s own unacceptable examples is an image that looks perfectly fine: “While the image may appear acceptable, it was created using an artificial intelligence tool based on the previous photo example.”

What to change. Turn every camera effect off in your phone’s settings, then take a new photo. You cannot repair this one by editing less — the instruction State gives when a photo is wrong is “Fix your lighting and background and take a new photo.” Note the related ban on changing shape: “Do not stretch or compress your image to resize it”, and the example “The background is cropped using a photo retouching tool, changing the outline of your head, face, and neck.”

2. You were too close to the camera, or too far away

A video tip on the paper page is blunt: “Photos that are taken too close or too far away will be rejected.” Three of State’s unacceptable examples are this cause: “You are too close to the camera”, “You are far away from the camera or it is too zoomed out”, and “Your head is not centered and fully in the photo”.

How to tell. On the paper route, measure. Your head must be 25 to 35 mm from chin to crown inside the 51 mm square — too close and it overshoots 35 mm, too far and it falls under 25 mm. On the online route there is no number to measure against, so use State’s own landmark: “The bottom frame of the photo should be the edge of your shoulders near where they connect to your arms.” A second symptom of being too close is perspective — the nose looks large and the ears look small.

What to change. Move the camera, not the zoom. State’s figure is “several feet (1.2 m) away from you”, with you standing several feet in front of the wall. Do not crop a distant photo in tight afterwards; on the paper route that throws away the resolution you need for a clean print, and on the online route it removes the room State’s own cropper asks you to leave.

3. It is blurry, grainy, pixelated — or printed on the wrong paper

Another explicit one, from the same set of video tips: “Your passport photo will be rejected if it is too blurry, grainy, pixelated or printed on the wrong paper.” The rule on the page reads: “Submit a high-resolution color photo that is not blurry, grainy, or pixelated. The photo should not have visible printer dots.”

How to tell. Open the file at full size on the largest screen you have and look at the eyelashes and the hairline. On screen at thumbnail size everything looks sharp. If you have already printed, look at the print in daylight: visible dots, a washed-out look or a papery texture all mean the wrong paper or the wrong print setting.

What to change. Set the camera to its highest quality setting before shooting — State says so explicitly. Grain usually means the room was too dark, so add light rather than brightness. For prints, use matte or glossy photo-quality paper; “Do not submit photocopies or digitally scanned photos.” Our printing guide covers the paper and sheet sizes.

4. The photo is more than six months old

“Submit 1 color photo taken in the last 6 months” appears in the opening list of both pages, and a video tip repeats it: “Your passport photo needs to have been taken within the last 6 months.” The DS-11 and DS-82 forms say “Taken less than six months ago”, and the template box on the form itself is labelled “Attach a color photograph of applicant taken within the last six months”.

How to tell. Check the file’s creation date rather than your memory. If you cannot find a date you can trust, treat it as too old.

What to change. Take a new one. Separately, State notes that you only need to apply for a new passport if your appearance has significantly changed: growing a beard, colouring your hair and normal ageing are listed as small changes; significant facial surgery or trauma, adding or removing many large facial piercings or tattoos, and significant weight loss or gain are listed as big ones.

5. Lighting and shadows

A video tip: “Photos that are too bright or that show shadows on your face will also cause you problems. Your photo needs to be a clear image of your face.” The published rules are “Have uniform lighting on your face”, no shadows, accurate skin tones, and lighting that is neither too bright nor too dim.

How to tell. Look for a dark side of the face, a shadow under the nose or chin, dark eye sockets, a shadow on the wall beside your head, or a face so bright the features have flattened out. State’s unacceptable examples name all of these: “Photo is underexposed”, “The color is not accurate”, “The photo includes shadows on your face and the background”, “The lighting is not balanced. There is too much light on one side of your face, and the other side has shadows.”

What to change. Face a window with the camera between you and the light, turn the ceiling light off, and move further from the wall so your shadow lands on the floor. If the colours look wrong, State suggests changing the camera’s white balance. Do not correct brightness afterwards — State’s tip is “Change your camera exposure or use extra lighting”, which is a retake, not an edit.

6. The background is not plain white or off-white

The rule: “Background must be white or off-white, free of shadows, and plain without texture, objects, or lines.” Unacceptable examples include “The background is not plain and has texture and lines”, “The background is blue”, and “You have shadows on the side of your head. The wall behind you has a thick, gray stripe.”

How to tell. Look past yourself at the whole rectangle. A skirting board, a doorframe, a light switch, a picture hook, the line where two paint colours meet, or the folds in a sheet are all disqualifying and all easy to miss.

What to change. Find a flatter wall, or use State’s suggestion: “Use a white blanket or sheet to cover a non-white wall”, pulled tight. Then stand several feet in front of it. Whatever you do, do not replace the background in software — State addresses that case directly: “The image is an original but the background is not plain white or off-white. Do not enhance or change the photo using software or artificial intelligence tools. Fix your lighting and background and take a new photo.”

One published exception: if you use a wheelchair and part of the head support is visible, State says that is acceptable, and asks you to include a note with your application explaining why the background is not completely white.

7. You are wearing glasses

“Take off any eyeglasses, sunglasses, or tinted glasses. Do not rest them on your head for the photo.” The online page says: “If you are wearing glasses or a hat, remove them and take the photo without them.” Two of State’s unacceptable captions mention glasses almost as an afterthought while describing a different fault — “You must also remove eyeglasses” — which tells you how often it is the second problem in a photo.

How to tell. This one is not subtle. Check the top of your head too; glasses pushed up count.

What to change. Take them off and shoot again. If you cannot remove them for medical reasons, State asks for a signed note from your doctor with the application — for example during recovery from eye surgery.

8. Something is covering your head or face

Hats and head coverings must come off. Religious head coverings are allowed: on the paper route with a signed statement that it is religious attire worn daily in public, and on both routes the covering must be one colour, the material must have no patterns or small holes, your full face must be visible and no part of it may be shadowed or blocked. Medical head coverings need a doctor’s signed statement. Face coverings and medical masks must be removed.

How to tell. Anything crossing the face line is a problem — an unacceptable example is “You are wearing clothing such as a scarf that blocks a portion of your face.” Hair across the eyes counts too: “Make sure that your eyes are not obstructed or covered by your hair.”

What to change. Remove it, move your hair, or supply the statement State asks for and make sure the full face is still visible.

9. Your expression, or your eyes

Unacceptable examples: “Your mouth is open”, “Your eyes are closed”, “Your facial expression is not neutral”, “The child has an exaggerated facial expression”, “You are not directly facing the camera. Your eyes are not fully open in the image.”

How to tell. The two routes are worded differently and it matters. The paper page says “Avoid exaggerated facial expressions. You can smile in your photo. Just make sure your eyes are open and your mouth is closed” — although the summary at the top of that same page asks for a neutral expression, so the page does not entirely agree with itself. The online renewal page says “Use a neutral facial expression or natural smile. Avoid showing teeth.”

What to change. A relaxed, closed-mouth expression satisfies every one of those readings. Also check that the coloured portions of your eyes are clearly visible — State names pupils and irises specifically. For babies, State says it is acceptable if the eyes are not entirely open; all other children must have their eyes open.

10. Your head is tilted, turned, or you are looking down

“Directly face the camera without tilting your head” is in the opening list of both pages. Unacceptable examples: “You are looking down, and your head is tilted forward”, “Your head is rotated, and your shoulders are not square to the camera”, “Your head is tilted to the side”, “You are looking down at the camera.”

How to tell. You cannot feel a tilt, so compare your ears and your shoulders in the photo. Uneven ear heights mean a tilt; one shoulder nearer the camera than the other means a rotation. A camera held below eye level produces the looking-down version.

What to change. Have the camera raised to the height of your eyes, square your shoulders to it, and ask the person taking it to tell you when your head is level — this is the single fault a second person fixes best. Do not straighten it afterwards by rotating the file; rotating is a change to the image, and the published fix is a new photo.

11. Red eye

“Do not submit photos with red eye”, and the unacceptable caption “The image has ‘red eye.’”

How to tell. Zoom into the pupils. Flash in a dim room is the usual cause.

What to change. This is the trap: the obvious fix is forbidden. State’s tip is “Adjust or turn off the camera flash to avoid red eye. Do not use editing tools to cover up red eye, as this changes your natural eye color and shape.” The online page: “If the photo has a red-eye effect on your eyes, do not edit it. Take a new photo with natural lighting.” Turn the flash off, add room light, retake.

12. Paper route only: the print is the wrong size, or the wrong kind of print

These faults cannot happen on the online route, because nothing is printed. On the paper route the print is the artefact State inspects:

  • Wrong dimensions. “The correct printed size of a passport photo is 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm).”
  • Wrong head height. “The size of your head in the printed photo must be between 1 -1 3/8 inches (25 - 35 mm) from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head.”
  • Wrong paper. “Print your photo on matte or glossy photo-quality paper.”
  • A photocopy or a scan. Both are named and both are refused.
  • A damaged print. “Do not submit a damaged photo with holes, creases, or smudges.”

How to tell. Measure the printed square with a millimetre ruler, then measure chin to crown. A print lab that scaled your sheet “to fit” its paper will have shrunk both.

What to change. Print at actual size, on photo paper, and measure before you attach it. The DS-82 instructions add a handling rule: “Use 4 staples vertically in the corners as close to the outer edges as possible. Do not bend the photo.”

13. Paper route only: uniforms, camouflage, headphones, other people

The paper page and both forms ban uniforms: “You cannot wear a uniform, clothing that looks like a uniform, or camouflage clothing”, with the forms adding “Photos are to be taken in clothing normally worn on a daily basis.” The paper page also bans headphones: “You cannot wear headphones or wireless hands-free devices in or on your ears.” For a child’s photo: “No other person can be in the photo.”

The online renewal page does not mention uniforms, camouflage or headphones at all. We do not assume the paper rules carry across, and we do not assume they do not — our check flags them for a person to judge rather than passing or failing you against a rule that route has not published.

14. Online route only: the file itself

The online renewal route is the only one with a published file specification, so it is the only one where a photo can be refused before anybody looks at your face:

  • Format. “The photo is a JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or HEIF file.” Anything else — a PDF, a WebP, a screenshot in an unusual format — is outside the list.
  • Size. “The file size should be between 54 KB and 10 MB.” A heavily compressed export can land under 54 KB; a modern camera’s full-quality file can exceed 10 MB.
  • Sent by text message. “To avoid making your image quality worse, do not send the image via text message.” Messaging apps re-compress photos, which can take a good file below the floor.
  • A photo of a photo, or a scan. “Do not take a photo of a printed photo or scan a physical photo to make a digital file.” The matching unacceptable example: “Your image is low quality scanned copy and not an original, digital image.”

What to change. Move the original off the camera by cable, email or your phone’s own transfer, and upload that. Note State’s modal verb on the size rule: it writes “should be”, not “must be”, so we report that band as published guidance rather than as a hard gate.

Who actually looks at your photo, and when

It helps to know there is more than one checkpoint, because the two behave differently.

  • An automated check, online route only. “The photo tool will check if your photo meets the basic requirements. If your photo is not acceptable, the system will let you know what you need to change. You can try again with a different photo.” This is inside State’s own application. We have not seen what it checks — it sits behind a signed-in flow we have no account for — so we do not describe its rules, and neither should anyone else.
  • A person, on both routes. “An employee will review your photo after we receive your application. If there’s an issue, we will send you a letter or email asking you to send us a new photo.” Passing the automated check is not the end of it.
  • State’s cropping utility, paper route only. State runs a separate tool at tsg.phototool.state.gov whose messages include “Your photo has been rejected for the following reason(s):” and “Automated check indicates photo may be non-compliant. Consider choosing a different photo to prevent possible delays”. Its banner says: “US Citizens: Do not use this tool if you are renewing your passport online.”

If State writes to you: 90 days

State’s online renewal page states: “You must respond within 90 days of the date on the letter or email.” That is the deadline published on travel.state.gov — Renew Online. We did not find an equivalent published deadline on the paper-form photo page, so do not assume the same number applies to a paper application — the letter you receive is the authority on your own case.

What the letter or email means in practice:

  1. Your application is on hold, not refused. State’s wording throughout is about putting applications “on hold” and asking for a new photo.
  2. Read the stated reason and fix only that. The letter names what was wrong. It is the most specific information anyone will ever give you about your photo, and it beats every checklist including this one.
  3. The count runs from the date on the letter, not from the day it reached you. If post has been slow, you have already spent some of the ninety days.
  4. Send a new photograph. Not a corrected version of the old one — every remedy State publishes is a retake.
  5. Follow the instructions in the letter for how to return it. We cannot tell you the channel, because it depends on your case and on how you applied.

One thing to be clear about: we cannot act for you. State says “You must complete your own online application. You cannot use a third-party service or have someone submit the application on your behalf”, and the only authorised place to renew online is opr.travel.state.gov. We check photographs. That is the whole of what we do.

What a re-check with us costs

Nothing, under the same order. If your photo was held and you need another one checked, you upload the new photo to the order you already have and we check it again at no extra charge. There is no per-attempt fee and no time limit trick.

  • Checking before you pay is free, every time. The photo checker needs no account and no payment, and you can run as many photos through it as you like.
  • A paid order is 9.90 USD — one payment, for one person and one document. It covers the checks we can measure and a review by a person, and it covers the retakes under that order too.
  • If we find a problem that means the file cannot be used at all, we say so and we do not charge you for it.
  • Our refund policy sets out when money comes back. It is scoped to our own work: we do not offer, and cannot offer, a refund tied to a government decision.

Payments are in test mode. No order on this site can be paid for real yet, so nothing here can take your money today. The free check works.

What we cannot tell you

We cannot tell you why a particular reviewer held a particular application. We cannot tell you that a replacement photo will be accepted — several of the rules above are human judgements about expression, obstruction and whether an image looks edited, and that judgement belongs to the State Department. What we can do is measure your photo against what State publishes, name every rule we could not check rather than quietly passing it, and put State’s own wording next to each result so you can read the source yourself.

Next

Sources

Every quotation above was read on 16 September 2026. Page footers then read “Last Updated: March 24, 2026” (paper photos), “Last Updated: May 04, 2026” (online renewal photo) and “Last Updated: September 04, 2026” (online renewal eligibility). Check the source before you rely on a detail.