Snap it. Verify it. Pass it.
The only passport & visa photo checker that measures your photo without touching it. Live guidance from your phone, checked against the official spec — not an AI that edits you into rejection.
Live coaching before you shoot — not a rejection notice after.
Other tools let you upload a photo, run AI edits on it, and hand it back. That workflow is now a compliance risk — the US rejects AI-altered photos. We skip the AI entirely: real-time measurement in your browser, nothing sent anywhere.
Pick your document
17 passport and visa types across 8 countries. Each loads the exact published spec — pixel dimensions, background colour, head-size band, file-size cap.
Line up live
The viewfinder measures head size, eye position, background colour and lighting in real time — on your device, nothing uploaded.
Capture on green
The shutter unlocks only when every compliance gate passes. You're shooting the right photo, not hoping after the fact.
Download — unaltered
Cropped to the exact pixel dimensions, compressed to the file-size limit. Your face is untouched. No AI edits. Compliant for submission.
Every rejection reason — measured, not guessed.
Most tools check that your photo uploaded. We check why it would be rejected.
Head size & position
Crown-to-chin as a % of frame height, eye line, centering. The geometry behind most rejections — and the thing AI tools get wrong when they crop.
Background colour
Delta-E distance from the spec target. A white wall photographs grey; a “light grey” wall fails a UK visa. We measure the actual pixel value, not your intention.
Pose & expression
Facing forward, head level, eyes open, neutral mouth. Also catches the off-angle selfie most phone AI tools silently accept.
Lighting & shadows
Left/right exposure balance, shadow under the nose and shadow on the background — the three things a good window will fix and overhead lights will ruin.
Sharpness
Motion blur and soft focus fail silently — no checklist warns you. We score it and block capture if it's too low.
File spec
Exact output pixels, aspect ratio, JPEG quality, and the file-size ceiling for digital submissions (critical for DV Lottery: ≤240 KB).
Glasses, head coverings and liveness are human judgement calls — DIYPassPhoto flags them clearly rather than faking a green tick.
Passport and visa — not just passport.
Most checkers handle the passport and stop there. We cover visa photos too — including the edge cases where the visa spec differs from the passport (UK visa needs white, UK passport needs light grey; India e-Visa has a stricter face-coverage rule than the passport).
Your photo never leaves your device — and we never alter it
No server. No upload. No AI editing. Face detection, measurement, cropping and compression all run locally in your browser. We are the only tool that is both privacy-first and compliant with the US 2026 no-alteration rule. Close the tab and nothing remains.
Learn the rules before you shoot.
- US · Policy · 2026
Why AI passport photo tools are now non-compliant
The State Dept rejects AI-edited photos. Most popular apps do exactly that. Here's what changed.
- US · 2026
Take a US passport photo at home
The no-AI rule, the 50–69% head-size band, and the mistakes that cost a second trip.
- DV Lottery
DV Lottery photo requirements 2026
600–1200px, 240KB, square, white — and what the official tool won't warn you about.
- Background
Why your white wall photographs grey
White balance, exposure, and a clean white background with no editing.