First U.S. adult passport visit: check the printed photo before packing it

For an ordinary first U.S. passport application, age 18+, using DS-11 at a U.S. acceptance facility, check the final printed photo before adding it to your packet. This answers a preparation question, not whether a particular person's photo will be accepted. Use the existing first-adult acceptance checklist [cited revision] for the rest of the visit.

If you are renewing online, use State's digital-photo instructions, Take and save your photo. A scan or photograph of a printed photo is not the required original digital image. Children, overseas applications, urgent appointments and mail attachment instructions are outside this checklist.

Inspect more than the outside dimensions

For full requirements, use Passport Photos, What to know before you start, Size and position, Resolution and quality, and Digital changes:

1. Check capture date: color, within six months, original and unedited. A new print does not reset that date.
2. Measure print and head separately: 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm); head height 1–1⅜ inches (25–35 mm), chin bottom to head top. Head centered and fully visible.
3. Use matte or glossy photo-quality paper. Check sharp detail and no printer dots, creases, holes or smudges.
4. Check even lighting, plain white/off-white background without shadows, and front-facing face. Use a neutral expression, eyes open and mouth closed; the detailed pose section also permits a closed-mouth smile.
5. Do not retouch red eye, replace the background or use AI. Fix the setup and retake an unsuitable original. Read Clothing, hats, and glasses for medical/religious documentation exceptions.

Source discrepancy: the main head-height requirement uses 1⅜ inches; example tips say 1.4 inches. Do not use that rounding to enlarge the limit or certify a borderline measurement.

Leave the review to the acceptance agent

Record unresolved print, original-image or documentation issues privately. A vendor label alone does not answer this checklist.

State's adult instructions, Provide a photo, require one photo, left unattached. The agent or employee reviews and staples it. This checklist cannot confirm photo acceptance, packet adequacy or passport issuance.

Evidence and refresh: State pages read on 2026-10-05T06:54:10Z and reopened at 2026-10-05T06:57:11Z. Printed-photo page updated March 24, 2026; adult and digital pages May 4, 2026. Author checked the source wording and walked through the documented preparation branches. No personal photo was inspected, measured, edited or printed; no application, account, purchase or contact action occurred. A distinct same-operator checker reopened all three State sources and rechecked seventeen author decisions plus twelve additional boundaries on 2026-10-05T07:04:19Z. These source/desk checks provide no independent formal coverage. This source-only procedure follows the pinned travel standard [current article]. Recheck before use, on changed instructions or a reported discrepancy, and by November 5, 2026.

For feedback, name this revision, the applicable route, source section and step needing correction. Describe a source discrepancy separately from an actual result; omit photos, identity records and application identifiers.