US Citizenship Photo Service

Two identical N-400 photographs must be supplied and taken within 30-day period from the time when the US Citizenship application is filed.

• The photographs must have a white or slightly off-white background
• The photos must show full face (frontal view)
• The facial expression should be neutral with closed mouth and clearly visible facial features not obstructed by hair
• No head covering of any type is accepted unless required by religious denomination which the subject is member; However, the full face must be clearly visible
• The pictures must be printed in full color on a glossy high quality photo paper using a professional photo printer. Inkjet printed photos will be rejected.
• Photo size must be 2″ X 2″ and be exactly cut to 51mm square picture size
• Head height should measure 1 to 1 3/8 in (25 to 35mm) from top of hair to bottom of chin. The eye height is between 1 1/8in to 1 3/8in from bottom of photo
• Clothing should be the same as worn regularly without the presence of emblems, service marks and any other statements otherwise
• Hats and other head coverings cannot be worn unless they are a part of attire for religious purposes
• No devices such as hand-free headsets must appear in photographs
• Prescription glasses are acceptable as long as they do not cause glare in photos and are not tinted.
• Pencil or felt pen should be used to lightly print the name of applicant and Alien Registration Number (A-Number) on the back of each photo

Electronic US Citizenship files can be accepted if printed photos are not available or digital photo files are specifically required for your N-400 application.

The digital photographs provided as files must be professionally formatted per N-400 USCIS application specifications.

The Application for Naturalization photo image must follow the requirements as outlined below:

Photo dimensions
The image must have a 1:1 aspect ratio with minimum size of 600×600 pixels and maximum dimensions of 1200×1200 pixels.

Picture color
The picture must be in full color and encoded in 8-bits per color channel to result in 24 bits per pixel color space. sRGB color space encoding is required.

Photo file format
The digital file format must be JPEG and compressed to produce a file size anywhere from 100kb and 240kb. Pictures compressed to produce file sizes below 100kb may not pass naturalization application verification process.

Digital photo submission
Digital files must be submitted with electronic application online in the original form as provided by a professional legal photo studio. Photos cannot be adjusted, cropped or altered in any way.