July 30, 2004

New Photo Requirements to Be Issued

Many US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) petitions require photographs to be submitted for identifying purposes. These photographs are used to manufacture cards and travel documents including advance paroles, reentry permits, I-551 cards, ("Greencards"), etc. In the past the government has required a unique style of photo (with a 3/4 view), different from standard "passport" style photographs to be used. However, in trying to provide uniformity for security purposes, the USCIS announced that starting Monday, August 1, 2004, they will begin accepting photographs in the Department of State (DOS) standard "passport" style (frontal view) for all benefits applications. Understanding that an abrupt change would affect current petitions, there will be a short transitional period during which the 3/4 profile style photos will continue to be accepted; in fact the USCIS is currently accepting both photo standards in order to allow sufficient time for this change to become adequately publicized. It appears that USCIS will required full frontal photographs for all documents that it produces.

The USCIS will announce a cut-off date after which only the DOS standard style photos will be accepted. This is expected to be September 1, 2004. Thankfully, the USCIS has also advised us that they will not send any requests for additional evidence for DOS-style photographs on pending cases-so there is no need to worry about slowed processing times for pending cases.

Information regarding photograph guidelines can be found at the Department of State web site at: http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotos/index.html.