US Visa Photo Checker
Check a US visa photo against the published 2 × 2 inch rules — in your browser. Nothing is uploaded; the image never leaves your device. Pick US Visa in the list, or DV Lottery for the green-card lottery photo.
2. Click or drag a photo here
JPG or PNG · the file stays on your device
What the US visa photo must be
A US visa photo is 2 × 2 inches — that is 51 × 51 mm, or 600 × 600 pixels as a square digital file on a plain white background. The checker measures your file against those published figures, which come from the same A-level sources the rest of the site uses (the US visa and US passport pages); it does not apply a private set of numbers.
| Item | US visa photo |
|---|---|
| Print size | 2 × 2 in — 51 × 51 mm |
| Digital size | 600 × 600 px (square) |
| Background | Plain white |
| Shape | Square (1:1) |
Need the full rule set — head position, expression, glasses, the 6-month rule? See the US visa photo requirements guide. Starting from scratch? Make the photo with the US visa photo maker or the US passport photo maker, then come back here to check it.
Visa or DV lottery — the same 2×2, different checklist
The US visa and the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery both use a 2 × 2 inch square photo on a white background, so a file that passes one shape check passes the other. What differs is the journey: a non-immigrant visa (B1/B2 visitor, F-1 student, H worker and similar) is submitted with your application through the consular route, while the DV lottery is an annual online entry with its own digital upload. Because the format is the same, this checker measures both against the same square frame — pick US Visa or DV Lottery in the list and the reading is identical; the difference is which page you link back to if you need to fix it.
- Non-immigrant visa — 2 × 2 in, square, white background; see the US visa photo maker.
- DV lottery — 2 × 2 in (600 × 600 px), square, white background; see the DV lottery photo maker.
Both are the same measurement, not two different sizes: the digital expectation is 600 × 600 px either way, so do not crop one to a non-square shape for the other.
How the check works
The checker reads the published specification for the document you pick, then measures your image with Canvas: the pixel dimensions and aspect ratio are compared to the official format, a lightweight face detector locates the head for an indicative head-occupancy and eye-line estimate, and the border is sampled for background brightness, evenness and colour cast. Overall exposure and contrast are measured too.
If no face is detected — an unusual crop or an angled shot — the checker says so and falls back to the size-and-ratio checks only, rather than guessing. Items that cannot be judged from a file (print finish, the true printed size, whether the photo is a scan or a photocopy) are listed for you to confirm yourself.
Privacy: everything runs locally in your browser. No image is uploaded, stored or transmitted.
A pre-flight, not the final word. For US applications the State Department runs its own official photo tool; use that for the final submission check and treat the result here as a specification pre-check. A pass here means the measurable requirements are met, not that a human officer will accept the photo.
Related: photo size chart · passport photo checker · US visa documents checklist · rejection reasons · all tools