How we check
The check is automatic. It does not submit an entry, and it does not decide whether the State Department will accept the file.
Source: U.S. Department of State — last checked Oct 24, 2026.
What the tool changes
- Crops and resizes the file to 600×600 pixels.
- Turns a plain white or off-white background fully white. A patterned background is not replaced.
- Leaves the face as uploaded. No smoothing, no reshaping, no filter.
A failure blocks the download
- Glasses, sunglasses, or glare on glasses.
- Hat, headphones, or a mask.
- No face, or more than one face.
- Head turned or tilted past the pose limits.
- Expression that is not neutral.
- Head cut off at the bottom or either side.
- Eye height outside 56–69% of the image height, measured from the bottom.
- Output that is not 600×600, or a file larger than 240,000 bytes.
- An issue code this site does not recognize.
An issue code this site does not recognize is a failure, and the download stays blocked.
A white-background pass means the border of the finished JPEG is plain white or off-white. A patterned background is not painted over.
A warning still allows download
- Light that is too dim, too harsh, or uneven.
- A soft photo. The DV-2026 instructions say the image must be “In focus.” This checker only warns on sharpness. A reviewer can still reject a soft photo.
- The gap above the hair. The composition template says to leave a small gap. That gap is a warning. It does not block the download by itself.
Not read from the file
- The date the photo was taken. The six-month rule has to be confirmed by the person in the photo.
- Whether the same photo was used on an earlier DV entry.
- Whether a filter or edit was applied before upload.
- A medical exception for glasses.
- Whether a head covering is clothing worn every day for religion.
What this site does not do
- It is not a U.S. government site and is not affiliated with the Department of State.
- Downloading a photo does not enter the lottery and does not change the odds.
- The site does not file the entry and does not store a confirmation number.
- It does not alter facial features.