US passport photo size: how to make a 2 × 2 inch photo

Open the 2 × 2 inch photo maker, which starts on the US passport size, choose your photo, line up the oval from your chin to the top of your head, and download the 600 × 600 pixel photo or a 4 × 6 sheet with two copies. Read the current rules on travel.state.gov before you print: the State Department sets them, and we could not open its photo page when we checked, so the tool frames head and shoulders rather than stating a head range for the passport.

Steps

1. Take the photo against a plain white or off-white wall, with someone else holding the camera at eye height and your shoulders in the picture.
2. Open the 2 × 2 inch photo maker and choose the photo.
3. Under Size, keep United States passport, or switch to visa, Diversity Visa (green card lottery) or green card (USCIS).
4. Check the oval on the preview. Change Head size or drag the photo until it runs from your chin to the top of your head and the face check is ticked.
5. Press Download photo for the 600 × 600 JPG, or Download sheet with 4 × 6 in chosen for prints.

One size, four documents

All four US documents use a 2 × 2 inch square, 51 × 51 mm. They differ in what else they ask:

Because USCIS asks for un-retouched photos, the green card preset keeps the background you took the photo against. Stand in front of a white or off-white wall for that one.

Printing

At 300 dpi a 2 × 2 photo is exactly 600 × 600 pixels. A 4 × 6 inch print holds two side by side, a 5 × 7 print holds six, and a US Letter page holds twenty, with a 2 mm gap and thin cut lines between them. Print at actual size; "fit to page" shrinks each photo below 2 inches.

Questions

Is the 2 × 2 photo the same for a passport and a visa?

The printed size is. The online visa form and the Diversity Visa entry form set their own pixel and file limits, so make the file with the preset for the form you are filling in.

Can the tool promise the photo is accepted?

No. It frames the photo to the published size and makes the background plain. The office still checks the photo itself.

Is my photo uploaded?

No. It stays on your device.