The rules in brief
A passport photo has to be a real photograph of you, taken in the last 6 months and left the way the camera recorded it. Generating a portrait or retouching the person or background changes that original photograph.
Sources, checked September 28, 2026: Passport Photos, U.S. Department of State; Digital Image Requirements, U.S. Department of State; 외교부 여권안내, 여권사진 규격 안내.
- On its Passport Photos page, the U.S. Department of State says: “Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence”.
- The U.S. Department of State requires square DS-160 JPEG photos, 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px and 240 KB or less.
- Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets Korean passport photo head height at 32–36 mm, from chin to the top of the skull, excluding hair.
- Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not accept Korean passport photos edited with apps, filters or AI.
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What the State Department says
The U.S. passport photo page was last updated on March 24, 2026. Three sentences on it settle the question.
“Submit the original, unchanged photo.” “Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence.” “We check all photos to ensure you are not using artificial intelligence tools.”
The same page shows examples of photos it won’t accept. They include a background cut out with a retouching tool that changes the outline of the head, face and neck, a photo changed to alter the person’s natural appearance, red eye covered with an editing tool, a filtered photo and a version of a photo made with an artificial intelligence tool. Next to the resizing example it says “Do not stretch or compress your image to resize it.” For a background that isn’t white, the advice is to fix the lighting and the background and take a new photo.
The page for online passport renewal, updated May 4, 2026, is just as direct: “If your photo is unnaturally edited or filtered, we will not accept it. Do not use a photo you created or edited using artificial intelligence or other digital tools.”
Passport staff work from the Foreign Affairs Manual. Section 8 FAM 402.1 says “Digital manipulation and/or retouching of the facial image on photographs is not acceptable” and puts beauty filters from social media and phone apps in the same category.
Other documents use other words for the same rule. The visa photo page says photos “must not be digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance in any way.” The Diversity Visa instructions warn that you may be ineligible if your entry photos “have been manipulated in any way.” USCIS asks for photos that are “unmounted and unretouched” in its Form I-485 instructions.
What AI answers get wrong
Some photo apps and AI answers say you can clean up or replace the background. The State Department lists as unacceptable a photo where “The background is cropped using a photo retouching tool, changing the outline of your head, face, and neck.”
If your background is wrong, retake the photo against a plain white or off-white wall.
Some also suggest brightening a dark photo or evening out skin. The State Department’s rule covers software and filters of every kind, and for a bad background or bad light its advice is to take a new photo (Passport Photos, read September 28, 2026). Can I change the background of my passport photo? covers what each document wants behind you. For these U.S. rules in Spanish, read ¿Se puede usar IA para una foto de pasaporte?.
What Korea says
Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added AI to its passport photo rules. The text is in Korean; the translations under each quote are ours. Our guide in Korean is 여권사진 배경 바꾸기와 AI 보정.
“사진 편집 프로그램, 사진 필터 기능 등을 사용하여 임의로 보정된 사진(AI를 활용한 편집·가공·합성·창조 제작물 포함)은 허용 불가함”Photos corrected at will with photo editing programs or filter functions (including works edited, processed, composited or created with AI) are not accepted.(our translation)
“사진 편집 프로그램(예: 포토샵 등)을 사용하여 배경을 지우거나 흰색 배경에 인물을 임의로 합성한 사진은 제출 불가함”Photos where the background was erased with an editing program such as Photoshop, or where the person was composited onto a white background, cannot be submitted.(our translation)
The Korean Embassy in Washington went further in a notice updated July 8, 2025. It calls an AI photo a created work rather than a photograph, and says it breaks the passport law (여권 사진 안내). The ministry’s online photo file page also lists faces squashed flat, sideways or up and down, by editing among its reasons for rejection.
Which edits count
The rules don’t name every app. Read together, they cover each of these edits.
| Edit | What the rules say |
|---|---|
| A photo generated from your own photos | A generated portrait rather than the original camera photo. Both the State Department and Korea name artificial intelligence. |
| Removing or replacing the background | One-tap “white background” features included. The State Department’s example of a retouched outline and Korea’s rule on compositing a person onto white both describe it. |
| Beauty filters and skin smoothing | Named in 8 FAM 402.1, the manual passport staff work from. |
| Red-eye removal | The State Department shows it among the photos it won’t accept, and its advice is to take a new photo. |
| Stretching or squeezing to fit a size | The State Department says not to, and Korea’s online file page lists faces squashed by editing among its reasons for rejection. |
| Brightening, sharpening or AI upscaling | None is named, but each one changes the pixels of your face. If a photo is blurry or dark, take a new one. |
Portrait mode on a phone blurs the background in software, so we suggest turning it off for ID photos, along with any beauty setting in the camera app.
Can I use ChatGPT for a passport photo?
Do not use ChatGPT to generate or retouch the passport photo you submit. The State Department requires the original, unchanged photograph and lists an AI-created photo among its unacceptable examples. Reading the rules or analyzing a photo is a different task from generating or editing the image.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT documentation describes image generation and editing, work with files, and code execution. Its image input documentation distinguishes inspecting an uploaded image from creating or editing one. Features depend on the plan, platform, region and workspace settings. We read these pages on October 1, 2026. These capabilities do not establish passport compliance; verify the original photo and the output against the document’s own requirements.
- A U.S. passport photo needs a head of 25.4–34.9 mm (1–1 3/8 in) from the chin to the top of the head. A Korean one needs 32–36 mm measured to the top of the skull with the hair left out. Check the measurement on the original photo; a plausible-looking portrait is not evidence that it meets the rule.
- Online forms want exact files. The DS-160 takes a square JPEG from 600 × 600 to 1200 × 1200 px, 240 KB or less. Korea’s online reissue takes 413 × 531 px, 500 KB or less.
- Before uploading a face photo, review the service’s current privacy settings and data policy.
Is there a ChatGPT passport photo prompt?
We don’t publish a passport-photo generation prompt. A prompt cannot waive the issuing authority’s rules: start with an original camera photo, do not generate or retouch the portrait, and check the document’s measurements and file limits separately.
A chatbot can help you read the rules. Confirm its answer against the government’s own page for your particular document; passport and visa requirements are not interchangeable.
What is allowed
Cropping, and resizing in proportion. The State Department’s own online renewal application has a step to reposition and crop your photo, and its Photo Tool for applications made in person or by mail only crops. A crop leaves your face and the wall behind you exactly as the camera recorded them and decides only where the edges of the photo fall.
That is all Studioless does to an ID photo. It levels the photo by the few degrees a hand-held phone tilts, scales it in proportion until your head fits the rule, and cuts it to the document’s size. When the wall isn’t white enough, the check fails and asks you for a new photo.
Where software helps: measuring and checking
Software is good at reading a photo without changing it. Ours finds the chin, the eyes and the top of the head, measures the head against the document’s rule, and checks the tilt, the light and the background, then tells you what to fix before you take the next photo. The photo that comes out is the one you took, leveled, scaled and cropped.
Where AI photos are fine
For a profile portrait, choose a result that still looks like you and check the platform’s rules. Follow your employer’s requirements for a team page, and check whether a photo belongs on your resume. Keep generated portraits away from passport, visa and ID applications. For a profile portrait, read AI portraits for a LinkedIn profile; AI portraits vs. passport photos compares the two uses.
Getting a real photo that passes
Stand about a meter (3 ft) from a plain white or off-white wall, face a window in daylight, and have someone hold the phone at eye level about 4 ft (1.2 m) from you. How to take a passport photo at home goes through it step by step, and the DS-160 photo guide covers the visa file.
If you’d like the measuring done for you, our U.S. passport photo coaches you with the camera, measures your head against the rule and checks the photo before you pay anything. It costs $9.95. For a Korean passport, use the Korean passport photo, which measures without the hair. If a passport, visa or ID office rejects a photo we made, we refund 100% of the order or make a new photo free. Send us the rejection notice within 60 days of receiving it, and within 6 months of your order. See the full refund terms.