You need one photo to renew a U.S. passport. If you’re mailing Form DS-82, that means one printed color photo included with your application. If you’re renewing online, it means one digital photo uploaded during the application. Either way, the photo has to be taken within the last six months and meet the State Department’s specifications, and how many photos for passport renewal is genuinely just that: one.1U.S. Department of State. Passport Photos
A second print is worth keeping if you’re mailing your application. Photos can bend or smudge before the envelope goes out, and retail passport photo services typically hand you two prints anyway. You still only submit one.
The Printed Photo for a Mail Renewal
The single photo you include with a DS-82 has to measure exactly 2 by 2 inches (51 by 51 mm). Your head, measured from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, must be between 1 inch and 1⅜ inches (25 to 35 mm) within the frame. It must be printed in color on matte or glossy photo-quality paper.1U.S. Department of State. Passport Photos
The background has to be plain white or off-white with no shadows, textures, or objects behind you. If you take the photo at home against a wall, stand several feet away from it and light your face evenly from the front. Shadows on the wall or across the face are one of the most common reasons a photo gets rejected.
The Digital Photo for an Online Renewal
Renewing online swaps the print for a single uploaded file. The State Department accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, and HEIF, and the file must be between 54 KB and 10 MB. The image has to be sharp and in focus, not grainy or pixelated, so use the highest quality setting on your phone or camera.2U.S. Department of State. Uploading a Digital Photo
Stand several feet from a plain white wall and center your head and shoulders in the frame, with the bottom edge of the image roughly where your shoulders meet your arms. You can crop and adjust during upload, so a little extra space around the face is fine. The six-month recency rule still applies. Use a freshly taken photo, not one from your camera roll.
One restriction catches people off guard: don’t photograph a printed photo or scan a physical print to create your digital file. Those lose clarity and introduce distortion, and the system rejects them.
Appearance Rules for the Photo You Submit
Face the camera directly with a neutral expression or a natural closed-mouth smile. Both eyes open and clearly visible, head not tilted.1U.S. Department of State. Passport Photos
Glasses
Take off eyeglasses, sunglasses, and tinted glasses. Don’t rest them on top of your head either. The only exception is a medical one, and it requires a signed note from your doctor with your application. Keep hair off your eyes so the colored portions of both are fully visible.
Hats and Head Coverings
Remove hats and head coverings unless you qualify for one of two exceptions. Religious head coverings you wear daily in public are allowed with a signed statement. Medical head coverings are allowed with a signed doctor’s statement. In either case the full face must still be visible with no shadows, the covering has to be a single color without patterns or small holes, and face coverings and medical masks are never allowed.
Clothing
Wear ordinary street clothes. Uniforms, anything that looks like a uniform, and camouflage are prohibited. Take out headphones and wireless earbuds. Jewelry and facial piercings are fine as long as they don’t cover any part of your face or throw off heavy glare.
No Editing, Filters, or AI
This is where an otherwise fine photo gets rejected. You must submit the original, unedited image. The State Department prohibits altering photos with computer software, phone apps, filters, or AI tools, and the agency checks submissions for AI manipulation.1U.S. Department of State. Passport Photos
Common triggers:
- Red-eye removal, which changes the natural color and shape of the eye.
- Background-replacement tools that distort the outline of the head and neck.
- Stretching or compressing the image by dragging a corner, which alters natural proportions.
- Beauty filters that smooth skin or shift color.
If the lighting is off or the background isn’t right, retake the photo. Don’t retouch it. Modern phones apply corrections so automatically that people edit without realizing it, and that’s what causes the rejection.
Attaching the Photo to a Mailed DS-82
The DS-82 form has a photo template on the first page. Its instructions say to use four staples placed vertically in the corners, as close to the outer edges of the photo as possible, and to avoid bending it.3U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals Keep the staples in the white border. Don’t staple through the face.
Don’t use glue or tape. Adhesives damage the form and make the photo impossible to separate cleanly during processing.
Taking the Photo Yourself
You don’t need a professional photographer. A smartphone with a decent camera works if you follow the composition rules. Set the phone on a stable surface or have someone else shoot from several feet back, stand in front of a plain white wall in a well-lit room, and put the light in front of you rather than behind.
The trickiest part of a home photo is head size. Too close and the head is too large in the frame; too far and it drops below the 1-inch minimum. For prints, many drugstores and shipping stores offer passport photo services for under $20 and handle the sizing for you. For online renewal, cropping during upload gives you more room for error on framing, so a home photo is easier to get right.