DV lottery photo maker and checker
Turn a phone photo into a DV lottery and U.S. visa photo that follows the official rules: cropped to 600 × 600 with your head at the right size, background made white, saved as a JPEG under 240 KB. Already have a photo? Check it rule by rule.
- Files never leave your device
- Free, no signup, no watermark
- Works on any browser
How to make a DV lottery photo
- 1Take a photo facing the camera in front of a light wall, without glasses
- 2Add it here: your face is found, cropped to the rules and the background made white
- 3Check the result, adjust the head size if needed and download the JPEG
About DV Lottery Photo
A photo tool built on the published rules for the Diversity Visa and U.S. visa digital photo. It finds your face and the top of your hair, crops a square so your head fills about 60% of the height with the eyes inside the required band, replaces the background with plain white and saves a 600 × 600 JPEG under 240 KB. Guides show where your head and eyes sit, and you can make the head smaller or larger or move it. The checker measures a photo you already have: file type, pixel size, file size, color, number of faces, head size, eye height, centering, tilt and background, and lists what to fix.
See also: Compress Image, Signature Generator
Useful for
- Make a photo for the DV lottery (green card lottery) entry
- Check a photo before you submit your DV entry
- Make a U.S. visa photo for the DS-160 form
- Fix a photo with a grey or busy background
Frequently asked questions
What are the DV lottery photo requirements?+
A square color JPEG of 600 × 600 pixels, 240 KB or less, taken in the last 6 months. Your head, from the chin to the top of the hair, must fill 50% to 69% of the height, with the eyes 56% to 69% from the bottom. Plain white or off-white background, face the camera with a neutral expression and both eyes open, no glasses.
Why do DV lottery photos get rejected?+
The usual reasons are a head that is too small or too large, a grey or patterned background, shadows on the face or the wall, glasses, a photo that is not square or is over 240 KB, and an old or retouched photo. The Check a photo tab tests every rule that can be measured before you submit.
Can I take the photo with my phone?+
Yes. Stand about 1 to 1.5 m from the camera in front of a plain light wall, facing a window in daylight, and have someone else take the photo at eye level. Keep your shoulders in the frame and leave space above your head. The maker does the cropping and sizing.
Is it allowed to make the background white?+
The rule is that your appearance must not be changed. The maker replaces only the background and never retouches your face. If your wall is already white, switch background whitening off to keep the photo exactly as taken.
Is my photo uploaded?+
No. Face detection, cropping and the JPEG all happen in your browser, so the photo never leaves your device. The first time, the face finder (about 6 MB) is downloaded and your browser keeps it.
Is this the official DV lottery website?+
No. PDFkind is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. You enter the Diversity Visa program only on dvprogram.state.gov, where the only charge is the $1 registration fee. A site that asks for more to enter you is not the official one.