Annet

This is my first time posting here and I may ask a really stupid question but I'm just too worried. Has anybody applied for the dv lottery with a photo that has been taken at home and cropped in a special program? I'm applying this year and my photo seems to follow all the requirements but I used a computer program to crop it and I'm worried if they'll accept it. It's my first time applying so I'm really worried. Has anybody tried preparing their pictures on your own? I used Passport photo maker to edit the picture has anybody also tried it successfully? Please help me calm down

neill

As long as it meets all the requirements, and hasn't been digitally altered in any way, don't see any problems.

tht

I made my own back when I was entering. Entered maybe 10 times but was never selected, I think back then based on my country of eligibility I only had a 1:200 probability of being selected. I have done similar for visas for India and not had an issue with them. Plenty of apps to do it, the challenge is less the size, and more the file size. I always had to reduce them down.

Annet

Thanks! That really calms me down.

Annet

Yeah, I guess the chance of being selected doesn't really depend on the picture. What program did you use for Indian visas? I was really skeptical when I first heard about the possibility of preparing your photos at home, but in this case I kind of had no choice, so now I'm worried.

tht

can’t remember which, may have been India has some sort of check when you uploaded it.

if you have an iPhone search for somthing like: Passport Photo - ID Photo , most have an option per county for requirements.

I think I just used paint like this:
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/VSS_IMAGE.pdf

Annet

I didn't manage to do all the cropping in Paint neatly so I used some green card photo maker from here- https://passport-photo-software.com/...dv-lottery.php and was really worried. They say people prepare their pictures via phones, though, so I believe there is nothing to be afraid of anymore.

tht

the one from a phone will be way better than the ones USCIS snap with their web cams if you ever get that far... the one on my citizenship certificate is terrible....

I think the point of the photo is more to avoid fraud, i.e. so the person who shows up is the person who submitted and can’t be sold etc...

Annet

That's true, it's more about checking whether it is the same person, but who knows what they can dislike about the photo.