We check your photo against the State Department’s published rules for online renewal and hand back your original file with a report. We do not crop, change the background or retouch this photo. The State Department crops the photo inside its own application and decides whether to accept it. We do not submit anything for you.
What the authority does not publish
- State publishes no pixel dimensions, aspect ratio, head size, colour space or DPI for the online renewal upload. We do not check against numbers it has not published.
- State does not say the photo must be square. It lets you crop the photo inside its application and tells you to leave a little extra room around your face.
- The page does not say whether a plain crop before upload is permitted or forbidden. It does say "Submit the original, unedited photo without filters or digital changes."
- State’s separate Photo Tool enforces 600×600 JPEG, and its banner tells online renewers not to use it. Its numbers are not requirements for this path.
- The online renewal page does not repeat the paper page’s bans on uniforms, headphones or face coverings. We do not assume they apply, so they are reported as not checked.
What you get
- Your original photo, unchanged. The file you uploaded, byte for byte.
- Your checked report. Every rule we checked and what we found, with the State Department’s wording next to each one.
- Crop-and-upload walkthrough. How to position your photo in the State Department’s own crop step.
Sources
Sources checked on 2026-09-20. Issued by U.S. Department of State, Passport Services.
- U.S. Department of State: Uploading a Digital Photo (online renewal)(opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Department of State: Renew Online(opens in a new tab)
What we do not claim
We cannot promise that an authority will accept a photo, and we do not submit applications for you. The issuing authority always decides.