Questions about various photos

[RPGwriter 2]

Hi, everyone. First time poster, but certainly will be posting for quite a while forward. I just have a few quick questions.

I'm an American and my fiancee is Norwegian. We're getting the initial package together for me to apply for a K1 visa. I'm REALLY scared of messing up some minor thing and getting everything denied.

1) My fiancee had her father (skilled photographer) take a photograph with a high-quality camera. She wears glasses but tilted her head to reduce glare. She also has a lip ring that she always wears. The background and everything else were fine, and she cropped the photo using the tool on the U.S. government site. Then she sent the final version to me electronically.

I took the file to the local CVS to get two copies printed; one to send to the government, and a backup to send to my fiancee. The cashier apologetically claimed that lip rings weren't allowed in passport photos. She also suggested that my fiancee not wear her glasses in the photo because it might be rejected due to glare, even though there's no glare. Finally, she claimed that she couldn't print a 2x2 photo file, and that printing it on bigger paper and cutting it out would disqualify it due to "tampering."

Is this true _at all_? The U.S. gov site doesn't say anything about piercings other than you might need to change your passport photo if you get a bunch of new ones, which implies that not only can you wear them in your photo, but that you _have_ to.

I can't get 2x2 photos printed anywhere I know of. Could I get them printed on 4x6 paper and cut them out? Or print them on 4x6 paper and leave the whitespace around the 2x2 inch picture? What should I do?

2) I went to get passport-style photos made of myself, and they gave me two 2x2 photos of me printed out on one big piece of photo paper. They couldn't give me the file for my picture, they said.

So, I now have two print copies of my photo on a big white piece of photo paper. Do I cut them down to 2x2 and remove the white paper around them, and send one in and the other to my fiancee? Or can I cut the paper in half so that there's a picture and whitespace on each one?

Or do I need to find a way to print 2x2 photos out? The cashier mentioned earlier claimed they couldn't be cut out, but there's a post on this site about printing out a bunch on one sheet and cutting them up.

3) I have some nice photos of my fiancee and I when we were in Norway a year ago. They're photos of us in different places, such as eating with her family, visiting a medieval church, visiting a museum, etc. We're holding each other and sorta cuddling in most of them.

I went there because I missed her, not because I wanted to fill some K1 requirements. (DOMA was still in effect then, so we weren't really thinking we could even get married and were sorta losing hope. But then various things turned around.)

So...I didn't write down the exact date of each photo, and the files don't have the right date either. I still know the locations and people and can pretty accurately specify the month. Is something like "August 2012" good enough as a date?

4) How many photos can I send? This site says 2-5. Would 6 be a problem? I just want to make absolutely sure they see us in different places and understand we have a legitimate relationship.

5) Visajourney says I need to send a copy of the entire application package to my fiancee. I'm totally going to do that, but I was just wondering why that's needed. It sounds weird that I'd need to send another passport-style photo, another copy of the proof of relationship and meeting photos, etc. Is that just a backup in case they lose documents or something?

6) Anything else I need to know?

7) What happens if I mess up on the photos? Hopefully they just ask for me to send corrected versions and I don't have to pay the fee again and start all over? That sounds logical, but I'm just kinda scared and all.

8) How tough is this process? I've quadruple-checked everything and we have a legit relationship and I have a co-sponsor who makes plenty of money, but I'm still worried they're going to decide that my girlfriend is too punk for having blue hair and piercing, or have a problem with us being LGBT, or whatever.

Basically, when can I stop hyperventilating?

Anyway, thanks for your time, and sorry my post was so long.

(EDIT: Made a typo. She tilted her head slightly to reduce _glare_, not "tint."

Edited October 30, 2013 by RPGwriter

[Umka36 781]

The following link is the visa photograph requirement:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visaphotoreq/visaphotoreq_5334.html

[RPGwriter 2]

The following link is the visa photograph requirement:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visaphotoreq/visaphotoreq_5334.html

Thanks. I've looked at that a _LOT_. I'm just confirming that the piercings are okay.

Searching deeply on this site, it _seems_ like cutting the pictures out by hand is fine as long as it's not damaged, so that solves one issue.

Also, that requirement that the biometric file and statement of intent be physically mailed to me, then mailed to the government, rather than scanned and sent is soooooo frustrating.

[SparklePony 238]

Trying to help as much as possible:

1) I went to my local photo place, asked for passport-style photos and gave them the 2x2 specifications. They have a fancy touch-screen machine where they put the memory card from the camera and tell the machine what they want printed. Turns out the machine had the US specifications available on the menu (actually, they had a bunch of countries available), so they just went with that. The machine printed a big sheet and they used a paper cutter to separate the various pictures. Maybe see if something like that is an option for her?

I've also seen posts of people who printed the photos on their own printers, on high-quality photo paper, and cut them up themselves, and apparently had no issues with that. There are a bunch of examples of do's and don't do's on the official visa website. Maybe take a look at those to get an idea of how you can cut your own photos?

2) Yeah, you should be able to cut them up. What they're looking for a standard size image that allows for frontal face recognition and is correct in terms of size and colors.

3) I don't think exact dates for the photos of your trip to Norway are critically important. I would say month and year is fine. Remember, photos are only secondary evidence anyway. What's most important are passport stamps and boarding passes, to prove that you went there. The photos are supporting evidence of that.

4) 2-5 photos are a guideline. Plenty of people send more, but you don't need to overload them with pictures. 6 is fine, but again, remember that photos are just secondary evidence. They're not going to deny you the petition simply because you sent one "extra" photo.

5) You send a copy of the package to your fiancee because she might need to show some of those documents at the Embassy, when she goes in for her interview. It also serves as back-up, yes, but the main reason is they might ask for the documents.

6) Read, read, read. There is a wealth of information on this website. Look through the guides. There's a great RFE pinned thread that has some great nuggets buried in it. Worth to read the entire thing, in my opinion.

7) You don't have to re-pay fees. If you mess something up, you'll receive an RFE notice, a Request For Further Evidence. It simply means your process gets put on hold until you supply them what they need. I read somewhere that K1 visas have a 95% approval rate, and from all my research, the ones that don't get approved are from people who either don't qualify (for example, they haven't met in person in the previous 2 years of filling the petition), or there's some sort of huge red flag (police issues, for example).

8) From what I know, it's not a tough process. Norway is not considered a high-fraud country (meaning, it's not a country where the rates of fraud immigration cases are high), so in that aspect, you guys are ok. Plenty of success rates for many. There's a same-sex thread that might help. As for the hyperventilation, I think that goes away once you're married.

Good luck, and hope this helped.

[SparklePony 238]

The stuff that gets mailed to you is so that when you mail it all to the lockbox, they have original forms signed and dated by the beneficiary.

[RPGwriter 2]

Thank you so much! That helps a LOT.

I stupidly didn't keep my boarding passes--I _think_--but I do have passport stamps and e-mailed copies of plane tickets to and from Norway (three months apart) and insurance-related documents. Will that be enough? I've been stressing about boarding passes but forgot to mention that here.

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

You could also try a site such as this for getting the passport photo printed out in the correct size > http://www.epassportphoto.com/

[DandC 13]

Thank you so much! That helps a LOT.

I stupidly didn't keep my boarding passes--I _think_--but I do have passport stamps and e-mailed copies of plane tickets to and from Norway (three months apart) and insurance-related documents. Will that be enough? I've been stressing about boarding passes but forgot to mention that here.

Hi, we didn't submit any boarding passes since we didn't know that we were supposed to keep those for future purposes. We did include itineraries of our travels together, not just simply the printed ones from the airlines though but the ones we emailed to each other, with notes of how we excited we were to see each other again etc.

For photos, we included fun ones of us biking, at the ballpark, partying, swimming, travels. Pics with our parents. Maybe just about 10 photos. So you sending 6 and using ones where you did activities together are good.

Goodluck to you both and hope your K1 journey will be a smooth one...

[RPGwriter 2]

Thank you all so much! After a good night's sleep and waking up to more reassuring responses, I'm feeling much better about this whole thing.

[sjs87 27]

We are getting ready for the interview stage of things at the embassy, and required are more photos. I went ahead and just got passport-style photos and did not indicate 2 x 2. Does this mean I need to go back and get them re-done (I feel like I need to).

[DebWa 26]

I second using epassortphoto.com. I have used it for passport photos on more than one occasion and never had any problems. It even gives you tips on how to take the pictures correctly. They will offer to print the pics for you, but if you just click on the button that says "no thanks", you can save the file and either print it online or go to CVS, etc. and have it printed. That will actually give you 4 2x2 photos so you will have extra that you could send your fiance.

[kryzkyle 0]

they are very particular about photos unfortunately. i am in a same sex K1 case also and awaiting my approval. me and my fiancee were not too hopeful either until doma was demolished but dont lose hope since i have seen approvals similar to our case recently. at any rate i would recommend having your fiancee take the photo again to meet the specific requirement.

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Hi, everyone. First time poster, but certainly will be posting for quite a while forward. I just have a few quick questions.

I'm an American and my fiancee is Norwegian. We're getting the initial package together for me to apply for a K1 visa. I'm REALLY scared of messing up some minor thing and getting everything denied.

1) My fiancee had her father (skilled photographer) take a photograph with a high-quality camera. She wears glasses but tilted her head to reduce glare. She also has a lip ring that she always wears. The background and everything else were fine, and she cropped the photo using the tool on the U.S. government site. Then she sent the final version to me electronically.

I took the file to the local CVS to get two copies printed; one to send to the government, and a backup to send to my fiancee. The cashier apologetically claimed that lip rings weren't allowed in passport photos. She also suggested that my fiancee not wear her glasses in the photo because it might be rejected due to glare, even though there's no glare. Finally, she claimed that she couldn't print a 2x2 photo file, and that printing it on bigger paper and cutting it out would disqualify it due to "tampering."

Is this true _at all_? The U.S. gov site doesn't say anything about piercings other than you might need to change your passport photo if you get a bunch of new ones, which implies that not only can you wear them in your photo, but that you _have_ to.

I can't get 2x2 photos printed anywhere I know of. Could I get them printed on 4x6 paper and cut them out? Or print them on 4x6 paper and leave the whitespace around the 2x2 inch picture? What should I do?

2) I went to get passport-style photos made of myself, and they gave me two 2x2 photos of me printed out on one big piece of photo paper. They couldn't give me the file for my picture, they said.

So, I now have two print copies of my photo on a big white piece of photo paper. Do I cut them down to 2x2 and remove the white paper around them, and send one in and the other to my fiancee? Or can I cut the paper in half so that there's a picture and whitespace on each one?

Or do I need to find a way to print 2x2 photos out? The cashier mentioned earlier claimed they couldn't be cut out, but there's a post on this site about printing out a bunch on one sheet and cutting them up.

3) I have some nice photos of my fiancee and I when we were in Norway a year ago. They're photos of us in different places, such as eating with her family, visiting a medieval church, visiting a museum, etc. We're holding each other and sorta cuddling in most of them.

I went there because I missed her, not because I wanted to fill some K1 requirements. (DOMA was still in effect then, so we weren't really thinking we could even get married and were sorta losing hope. But then various things turned around.)

So...I didn't write down the exact date of each photo, and the files don't have the right date either. I still know the locations and people and can pretty accurately specify the month. Is something like "August 2012" good enough as a date?

4) How many photos can I send? This site says 2-5. Would 6 be a problem? I just want to make absolutely sure they see us in different places and understand we have a legitimate relationship.

5) Visajourney says I need to send a copy of the entire application package to my fiancee. I'm totally going to do that, but I was just wondering why that's needed. It sounds weird that I'd need to send another passport-style photo, another copy of the proof of relationship and meeting photos, etc. Is that just a backup in case they lose documents or something?

6) Anything else I need to know?

7) What happens if I mess up on the photos? Hopefully they just ask for me to send corrected versions and I don't have to pay the fee again and start all over? That sounds logical, but I'm just kinda scared and all.

8) How tough is this process? I've quadruple-checked everything and we have a legit relationship and I have a co-sponsor who makes plenty of money, but I'm still worried they're going to decide that my girlfriend is too punk for having blue hair and piercing, or have a problem with us being LGBT, or whatever.

Basically, when can I stop hyperventilating?

Anyway, thanks for your time, and sorry my post was so long.

(EDIT: Made a typo. She tilted her head slightly to reduce _glare_, not "tint."

This is for the pics: What we did, I took a pic of her with miy own camera, before filing, then scale it to proper size (2x2, but then save it in a 3x2 with white space above and below, 1/2" each, you'll see why in a sec) and went to Walgreens with my stick drive. Then select wallet pics, (which are 3x2) and it prints in photo paper, several; your pic wil be 3x2, but as I said, with 1/2" above/below, then I cut it myself to 2x2 and sent them. No problems. I was just making sure her face took a big piece of the 2x2, white background behind her, good light. All this with a regular pocket camera that I had paid 100 for. And by the way, I do my passport pics myself with same technique. Never a problem. Total cost at Walgreens: 99cents.

On your other questions about p[ics, we sent 4, I wrote down date and location, which matched other documentation such as boarding passes, hotel bills, etc. Pics are only secondary evidence.

You can be as punk or goth as you want, the USCIS is not in the business of telling how you should be/behave or what you should believe in, only in assuring that requirements have been met. Of course criminal convictions are problematic, but tha tis only normal requirements.

The process is fairly simple, you seem to be on top of things. Reason for copies of the application is to keep an exact copy of all you sent to refer to later (for your fiance and also for applications down the line, everything should match and is less possible to make mistakes when you have a reference) and in case our postal service makes a boo boo and loses your package.