I'm in the process of finishing-up and putting together our K-1 package.
I keep reading about the front facial photo...is that meaning a passport photo or could it be a photo I could have taken, and is it for both of us?

Does my fiance need to go ahead and get her police reports started?

I should mail the package off one day next week unless she has to get a photo taken and mailed to me .
I have her regular passport photo.

bruc

Regular passport photo!!

Police report is good for one year... you be the judge about when to get

Are you reading from here?

One passport-type photo (see specification) of the US Citizen. Write the full name of the US citizen on the back. Place in a plastic bag and label the bag "Photo of <Insert US Citizen's Name>". Attach the bag to a sheet of paper and place behind the corresponding G-325a.

Police certificate? Depends on how long it takes in your fiancé's home country - but as stated above, they're good for a year.

They recently (well, right before I did the K-1) changed the photo requirements. It used to be something like a side-view 2"x2" black-and-white photo, but now I believe it's a 2"x2" frontal-view color photo. Passport photos are perfect for this. I got the impression they don't have to be passport photos specifically, but they should be somewhat "official" looking. So, if you have a photo that you can cut into 2"x2" square that show's her from the shoulders/neck up, then that should work. I would use a passport style photo just to be sure. Don't have one? No big deal. Have her head to the local photo shop, internet cafe, etc., and have a teenager snap a cell phone pic of her and then have them e-mail it to you. Print it out, voila! As for your (ugly) mug.... head to Walgreens, CVS, your local drugstore, or Wal-Mart, and they can usually make passport photos for you in under an hour.

The police check... I would have her wait until you guys clear NVC or once you get the actual interview date, that way you know it won't be too old when you go to the interview. They say it can be a year old, but I've heard they like it a little more "fresh." Some places take up to a month (with no "fee") but they can be had in only a day or two. (With Russian "penalty.")

There is nothing special about passport photos, just look at the specifications on the state.gov website. The size of the head does matter (look for details too), but it is easy enough to crop it to the proper size.

One hint: I had one rejected for my own passport a few years ago because the background was not white enough. This was the white balance was not correct on the camera. You can even use a white wall in your house to do this - just use the "custom" white balance on your camera to make the wall white. If your camera can't do this, you can correct the WB after the fact in software.

Have the photo printed at CVS for 15 cents, you will get 6 photos on a 4x6. Sizing the image at 900x600@300 DPI works well. Use an X-acto knife to cut it if you are cheap. Just about any photo program can do all of this for you, even most free ones.

Thanks guys, I thought I was in the correct mode in my thinking but not 100% sure.
Hey slim!...yo wife cover the mirrors before you look at them first thing in the mornings ???

bruc

I'm allowed to look into the mirrors... but she definitely looks a lot better than me in the reflections!

When she first arrived, we bought a small mirror for use when applying cosmetics. She was always telling me to be careful, to not break it because we'd have 99 years bad luck.... and then she broke it! So, she had to put salt, then some sugar on it to counteract the bad luck.

Seems like it's working so far!