Any potential U.S passport holders or visa applicants may come across an issue of getting a correct compliant photo for their documents. An official Travel US photo editing tool happens to be the first option to getting the right image for many applying individuals. 

Judging by the stats, there are quite a few cases where the U.S. Photo Tool produces a not so perfect passport photo. Follow this article to find out why the US Photo Tool can become the reason for your visa denial and how you can avoid it.

How to Use the U.S. Photo Tool? 

The tool has a pretty easy interface that’s effortless to figure out.

The free software was created for tourists and residents to be able to get a photo that meets all U.S. photo requirements. 

Following conditions must be met to produce a perfectly compliant U.S document photo:

  • It should be 600×600 pixels or 2×2 in (5×5 cm)
  • Eyes should be within 28-35mm from the bottom of the image
  • The face needs to take up to 50-69% of the whole photo

Now that you are aware of what the American passport photo should look like, you can start converting it:

  • Open the U.S Photo tool and find the appropriate photo
  • Upload your picture to the software
  • Watch your photo be automatically cropped to a 1:1 ratio
  • Double check that you have the head right in the middle of the photo. The software automatic system sometimes doesn’t work as planned and that requires some additional manual adjusting 

You can use a manual adjustment tool which helps you crop the image according to your eyes position:

To find the perfect spot, locate your right eye using a special tool and proceed to do the same thing with your left one. Once you get both of them in place, you will receive a cropped photo. 

The final result can be used for a permanent residency card, a U.S passport and even a DV Lottery. Keep in mind, the cropped photo is valid  for online use only.

Additional Editing Functions of the U.S Photo Tool

  1. Background Editing

The software doesn’t allow you to change the backdrop. Use a white wall or a sheet with no spots and shadows to produce a valid photo.

  1. Getting the head position right

While for most cases, the photo tool does get the face positioned in the right place, it’s not always correct. It doesn’t recognize the exact size, therefore resulting in a few alterations. You should use a decent verification tool for U.S passport and visas to make sure you don’t miss any important conditions and achieve the best result out of editing. 

  1. Quality of the photo

The U.S photo tool does make high-quality photos for your documents, so you don’t usually have to worry about blurs or glitches on your image

Alternatives to the U.S Photo Tool

If you don’t want to do any of the manual work, then there’s another option you can go for to edit your passport and visa photos. 

The Visafoto passport photo service is a certified online passport and visa photo editing tool. It’s fully automated and allows you to get a high-quality fully compliant photo for your documents in a minute or less. Visafoto instantly works out the best position for both head and eyes, and can even replace the background without changing the silhouette and the outline.

You can also check the specific requirements for your particular destination using their verification tool.