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Passport Photos for US Passports, Citizenship Application photos, VISA Photos

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I place my order for Passport/Visa photos?
How does Online Passport Service work?
How will I get my Passport photos after I place my order?

I need passport photos urgently. How can I get them quickly?
How does 'free pick up at Walgreens' service work?

If OnlinePassportPhoto finds that my uploaded photo can not be converted into good passport photos, what happens to my payment?
Can I get my digital photos pre-approved by OnlinePassportPhoto.com before I use my credit card to make payment?

What are the official guideline for Passport Photos for US Passport applications?

How can I take better pictures at home for Passports?
How can I take PROFESSIONAL QUALITY pictures at home for Passports?
What kind of Digital Camera do I need?

Do I have to open Google Checkout or PayPal account to use your service?
How do I pay for multiple photos/persons in single checkout?
I don't use credit cards online. Is there a different payment format available?
What is your privacy policy? How long are our photos stored on your servers?

Customer comments: Thanks, I picked them up. Excellent service. Timely, convenient. Pleasantly surprised. Ananth P Thu 7/08/10 6:39 PM "As you know, the average price at most photo outlets for 4 passport pictures could be anywhere between $16 up to $20. The service that you offer provides significant savings for what seems to be a very simple process of producing small portrait-like pictures - yet the photo outlets charge an arm and a leg for this stuff. Your response time to my inquiries was excellent; the process of taking my own digital shots and sending them to you via e-mail was simple; and the end result was exactly what was needed. All this and big dollar savings too (especially in my case where I needed pictures for a family of 6). Thanks again, and good luck with your venture. Ilias (Boulder, Colorado) Nov 7, 2007

How do I place an order for Passport/Visa photos with you?

Ordering your passport photos with us is simple. We call it a 3 part process: (These three steps are located on the top of each page on our website for your convenience)

First, Validate your photo(s): Click on this link to see what kind of photos we need to convert them into valid Passport or Visa photos. Compare your photo to see if your photo can be converted into valid passport or visa photos. (If you are not sure, you can always click here to send us your digital photo(s) for pre-approval before placing your order).

Once you are ready to order, we need two things: Your photo(s) and your order/payment.
To send us your photo(s), you can upload them on our server by clicking here: Upload your photo(s) and to place your order and to make your payment, click here: Make Payment. These two steps/tasks can be done in any order but needs to be completed within 30 minutes window. Our server based matching automatically matches your photos with your name, address, email address that you use on your PayPal or Google Checkout order.
If you have any confusion or doubts about our processes, you can click here to contact us.

How does Online Passport Photo Service work?

We are glad you asked us. We are passport photos innovators. Unlike a stand-alone 'Passport Photo Location' in your city/community, we are present in every corner of the universe! Instead of driving to a passport photo store or location, you can do few clicks and have passport photos delivered to you in mail or in an e-mail (so you can print yourself).
Unlike part-time cashiers and part-time photo experts at passport photo locations like "Walmart Photo Center", "Costco Passport Photo" center, "CVS Passport Photo" or at "Walgreens passport Photos" studios, we accurately know US Passport Agency's requirements for a good passport photo (and also for Citizenship application photos or VISA Photos) and we strive to put your best picture on your passport or on your Visas. We achieve this with our talented people, in the USA as well as in India, who are expert with photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop, Picasa etc. They use high-tech photo techniques to adjust subject, background, light, contract and if needed, sharpen the photo too. Then the photo gets cropped to passport photo requirements- 2 x2, face from 1 to 1 3/8 inches etc. Then 6 copies of cropped passport photo gets printed using professional photo printing equipment. The end result is- one of the best passport photos in the world delivered to your home.

How can I get my Passport photos after I place an order with Onlinepassportphotos.com?

OnlinePassportPhotos.com will fulfill your order in any one of the following ways:

1. Mail the photos to your address on your Google Checkout or PayPal order. This is default method of fulfillment and you do not need to do anything after placing your order.
   Estimated delivery time: We normally mail the photos within 2 business days with USPS First Class mail which might take 2-5 days depending on the destination city.
   
2. We can make your photos available for pick up at Walgreens or other retail store at NO extra charge. (Except Walgreens, some stores require around 20 cents payment at the time of pickup. We strongly recommend you to use Walgreens.) To use this facility, place your order and then click here and let us know the address of your local store.
   Estimated delivery time: You should be able to pick up usually the same day if ordered earlier in the day, or within 2 business days in most cases.
3. We can email you multiple passport photos on an exact 4x6 print format. To use this option, after placing your order, please click here and tell us to email you your formatted passport photos.
   Estimated delivery time: We will email you the photos same day if ordered earlier in the day, or within 2 business days in most cases.

Please do not ask us deliver your photos in more than one way. If you are requesting pickup at your local store, we will not email you 4x6 formatted print.

I need urgent passport photos. How can I get them quickly?

No problem. Mailing is the one which causes most of the delays in our photos to reach you. For urgent passport photos, please do one of the following:
** After you upload your pictures and make a payment, click on this form, give us the address of a nearby Walgreens photo, Target, CVS or Rite-Aid store, and we will upload your photo to be picked up at that neighborhood store within 24 hours. (We prefer Walgreens store as they allow us to prepay in full so you do not have to pay anything at the time of pick up; otherwise expect to pay around 20 cents (total) for 6 passport photos for one person.)
** For urgent needs, we can e-mail you back a high quality converted passport picture usually within 24 hours. Download it to you thumb drive and take it to your local "Costco photo", rite-aid photo, Wall-greens photo, CVs Photo or Kinko's, or to a 1-hour photo lab and get it printed on a 4 X 6 paper for around 20 cents! One sheet will get you 6 copies!

How does 'free pick up at Walgreens' service work?

We are glad you asked us. Our 'Pick up at a local store' service is innovative, simple, quick and convenient.
Though you pick up photos at Walgreens (or at CVS or Target), we do most of the work. We use the store only for printing photos. Unlike local store employees, we know specifications for passport or visa photos for many countries. We fix your photos, enhance them for better printing, format them as per guideline of your country and then we put 6 (sometimes even 8 passport sized photos) on a 4x6 print format. Why 4x6 print format? No store carries 2x2 inch, 35x35mm, etc, photo papers but, every store prints 4x6 prints! Then we upload the finished 4x6 format on web-site of your local store (Walgreens.com, CVS.com or Target.com) and ask them to print 4x6 print(s). We will send you an email at this stage to let you know that we have uploaded your photos to your local store.

We put your name, phone# and email address on the order, and if the store lets us pay online, we will pay too so you just need to go to the store and pick up photos which are ready under your name. Walgreens lets us pay online so we pay for the 4x6 print(s) but at CVS or Target, you will have to pay around 20 cents. (Not bad, right? Friendly tip: Try to save time and gas by selecting to pick up at the store that is closest to you).

Once photos are printed, Walgreens and CVS will email you directly informing that your prints are ready for pick up. Then you can go to the store to pick up 4x6 print(s) with 6 (or 8 photos) passport photos. The photos are separated by lines on the 4x6 print so it is easy to cut them along the lines with any household scissors.

Isn't this a simple and innovative process? Isn't this the best use of the Internet and the technological advances? We have no tie-up with Walgreens.com, CVS or Target but we make the best use of their infrastructure to serve you efficiently, help you save money and get those difficult-to-get odd sized photos for India, UK, Japan, Mexico, etc!

Can I get my digital camera photos pre-approved before I place my order?

Sure. We understand that many people may like to make sure that their digital picture(s) can be converted into valid passport photos before they use their credit card and place an order. Please click here to send us your digital photo(s) for pre-approval before placing your order.

Or email your pictures to (Please remember to attach your pictures to the email as a File attachment instead of as a Photo attachment because some email services like Hotmail.com automatically reduces resolution of pictures attached as photos) and include your first name, last name, purpose of the photo (for US passport, Indian Passport photos, etc). Then we will look at your photos and email you back to let you know if we can convert them into great passport pictures so you can go ahead and place your order with us without any worries. (Tip: To save your time, you can also request us in your same email to email you back a PayPal invoice so you do not need to come back to our website to complete your order.)

If OnlinePassportPhoto finds that my uploaded photo can not be converted into good passport photos, what happens to my payment?

No Worries. If we find that the photo uploaded with your order can not be converted into valid passport or visa photos, we will e-mail you and ask you to e-mail us or upload again new digital photo(s). We will repeat this until we have a digital photo from you which can be converted into valid passport photos.

In worst case, if you are not able to provide us good digital photo(s), we will refund your payment.

 

What are the official guideline for Passport Photos for US Passport applications? (Same guidelines apply for US Naturalization/Citizenship photos and VISA photos.)

• Two Passport Photos (Don't worry. OnlinePassportPhoto.com will take care of this)
• Your photographs must be: 2x2 inches in size (Don't worry. OnlinePassportPhoto.com will take care of this)
• Identical (Don't worry. OnlinePassportPhoto.com will take care of this)
• Taken within the past 6 months, showing current appearance
• Color
• Full face, front view with a plain white or off-white background Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head (Don't worry. OnlinePassportPhoto.com will take care of this)
• Taken in normal street attire Uniforms should not be worn in photographs except religious attire that is worn daily.
• Do not wear a hat or headgear that obscures the hair or hairline. If you normally wear prescription glasses, a hearing device, wig or similar articles, they should be worn for your picture.
• Dark glasses or nonprescription glasses with tinted lenses are not acceptable unless you need them for medical reasons. A medical certificate may be required.

Good Passport Pictures

How can I take better pictures/photos at home for Passports, citizenship applications or for VISAs?

* Find a place that has a white wall to use as background or use white bed sheet as a background. Stand about 3 feet away from the background.
* Try taking the photos at a time when there is good indirect natural light.
* Keep camera around 6 feet away from the subject (person whose photo is being taken) and at subject's eye-level.
* Leave plenty of space about the head and try to include half of the body (from head up to waist)
* Force the camera to apply flash. When you are around 6 feet away, the camera's flash would be more effective.
* Keep around 2 to 3 feet distance between subject and the background wall to avoid shadows.
* Keep your mouth closed and eyes open (Good tip for a successful marriage too LOL)
* Take photo in at least 2 MP mode (4 MP recommended).

How can I take PROFESSIONAL QUALITY pictures at home for Passports?

• Position light sources on both sides of subject to avoid shadows on face. (Desirable but no need to worry about it. Use can use a while wall. Stand 4 feet away from it and fire Flash (Flash Fill in) to take a nice picture)
• Use a light source to illuminate background behind subject to avoid shadows in background.

• Camera/ Subject Position Place camera approximately 4 ft (120 cm) from the subject.
• Have camera at subject's eye level. Position subject facing the camera.

What kind of Digital Camera do I need?

Even 1 mega-pixel does the job when it comes to passport pictures of US Passport:

Digital cameras are principally characterized by their image resolution or mega-pixel capacities; from low-resolution (less than 1 mega-pixel) to high-resolution (greater than 1 mega-pixel) to advanced high-resolution (4 mega-pixels or more). The camera's resolution is the most critical feature in producing high-quality photographs. For U.S. passport and visa photographs, a digital camera with a resolution of 1 mega-pixel will be more than adequate for capturing the image and producing the final photo that conforms to the dimensions specified on this web site. These cameras generally have automatic features for controlling many of the photographic qualities emphasized on the preceding web pages. Care should be taken not to rely totally on these controls since each subject — facial characteristics, clothing, facial movement, etc. — can vary and may not be accommodated for by the automatic settings.

Do I have to open Google Checkout or PayPal account to use your service?

Google Checkout account: Click here to

Not required for PayPal. With PayPal, you can pay directly by clicking on the PayPal payment account page link shown in the image below:
(This is just an image of what you will see after you click on the Pay Now button above. The link below is NOT an actual link. You will need to click on the button above first to see the actual page similar to image shown below.)

How do I pay for multiple photo/people in one checkout?

For Google Checkout, click on the drop-down and select right quantity.

For PayPal, once you click on the PayNow button, it will take you to the checkout page where enter right quantity as shown below and click on the Update Totals button:

 

I don't use credit cards online. Is there a different payment format available?

Don't like to use credit cards online? Here is a simple process for you too. Send us an e-mail to following e-mail address, attaching your full resolution picture(s) and full shipping address. We will reply back with where to mail a Money Order/Banker's check. Here is e-mail address:

What is your privacy policy? How long are our photos stored on your servers?

We do not sell your e-mail address or any personal information to any one else. Period. The photos uploaded by customers are also deleted after 14 days from our server. Regarding credit card information, we don't even have your credit card information. Your payments are very securely processed by Google Checkout and Paypal. They don't even share your credit card numbers with us. So rest assured.

We are church, school group and we need to order passport photos for our members. Is there a way OnlinePassportPhoto.com can help us?

Sure. It works even better to order with OnlinePassportphoto.com when there is need to have passport photos for a group of 10 or more people. E-mail us your needs and we will get back with an offer to not only save money but also to make your life easier so you can spend your time and resources on the things your group is formed for. Here is e-mail address:

 

Where do I find US Passport application forms?

The best place to find Passport forms is travel.state.gov website. For you convenience, you can click here to go directly to download latest forms for applying or renewing a US passport

Where do I find US Passport information?

Click here for information about applying or renewing a passport in the US

Passport- Applying for US Passport for Babies- some important tips and information
Passport Photos at Walmart, Passport Photos at Walgreens or Passport photos at CVs

 

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