Green Card Lottery Photo Requirements
All DV2026 Green Card Lottery applicants are required to provide a recent photograph of themselves and all co-applicants (spouse and children). You will need a digital photo file of your self and any co-applicant, which you can upload to your account online in the member’s area.
Photographs that do not comply with all specifications, including but not limited to recency of the photos, composition of the photos, and unacceptable backgrounds are grounds for disqualification of the entire Diversity Visa Lottery registration. Any manipulation of photographs that alters the facial characteristics is also grounds for disqualification of the entire application as well.
- The applicant or co-applicants (spouse and children) must face the camera directly and both ears and eyes must be 100% visible, unless head coverings are worn for religious reasons in which case both eyes must be 100% visible. In addition, the person being photographed must not look up, down or to the side.
- The height of the head in the photo must be between 50-69% of the complete photo height, see photo template above. The height of the eyes, measured from the bottom of the photo to the level of the eyes, must be between 56-69% of the total photos height.
- Photos where the applicant is wearing glasses, sunglasses or other decorative items are not acceptable and ground for disqualification.
- Photos where the applicant is wearing head coverings are only acceptable if worn for religious reasons, i.e. if you are wearing a hat for no religious reason your photo is unacceptable and your application will be disqualified of the same reason. In the case of head coverings for religious reasons, the applicants face must be completely visible, i.e. no part of the face must be hidden by the head covering.
- Photos submitted by the applicant must be in 24 bits per pixel color, i.e. black and white photographs are not acceptable and ground for disqualification. The minimum acceptable dimensions are 600 x 600 as shown in the photo template above. It is always better to upload a larger photo and have the Image experts at USA Diversity Lottery adjust your photo to the exact specifications.
- All photos submitted by the applicant must be in JPG or JPEG format. We allow you to upload GIF, PNG, JPG, JPEG and BMP images and we will convert any photo that you upload to your account to the required JPG format to ensure your photos meet this requirement too.
Need help with your Green Card DV2026 Lottery photos?
We realize that it may be difficult for most people to provide correct digital photos for the Diversity Visa Lottery, or have them adjusted to the appropriate specifications detailed above. It may be quite difficult to adjust them correctly so that the photos meet the exact requirements outlined above. Photos that do not meet the exact requirements are ground for disqualification of the entire DV-Lottery application, so make sure that your photo meet the exact specifications as shown in the photo above. In order to address this potential issue and make it easier for every applicant, USA Diversity Lottery accepts photos in all formats (digital or paper) and through all forms of delivery (mail, e-mail and digital upload). Once we receive your photos here at USA Diversity Lottery or you upload them online to your account, we digitize and adjust them to the exact specifications to ensure your application is valid and that your photos do not jeopardize your entire application. After we have adjusted your photos to the exact US Department of State specifications, we upload them to your account in the member’s area so that you can see your complete and error free application. If there is a problem with your photo that we can not correct, we contact you via the e-mail address you provided us during registration, and ask that you send/upload a replacement photo for your USA Diversity Visa Green Card Lottery registration.
Important: Before you try to submit your photos, you should register. After you have signed up with USA Diversity Lottery and paid the administrative fee, you may submit your photos to your account by uploading them directly or mailing them to us via regular mail.
If you already have registered with USA Diversity Lottery and paid the administrative fee, please go to www.usadiversitylottery.com and login to 1) access your account, 2) enter your application data and 3) submit/upload your photos.
Green Card Lottery Photo Examples
If you would like to see some valid and invalid examples of images, please click on DV-Lottery Photo Examples.
Return to USA Diversity lottery home page to start application.