For those renewing passports or visas to gear up for holiday travel, be sure to take those photos without your glasses! Effective December 1, 2016, Consular Affairs will no longer accept photographs of visa and passport applicants wearing eyeglasses, unless rare circumstances make such eyeglasses medically necessary (e.g., recent ocular surgery). This policy goes into effect on November 1, 2016, but with a soft enforcement period until November 30, 2016 during which applications will continue to be processed even with a glasses-wearing applicant. This prohibition is intended to enhance the performance of facial recognition systems and to decrease the likelihood of misidentification of an applicant.

If an applicant seeks to keep his or her eyeglasses on due to a medical necessity, the application must be accompanied by a signed medical statement from a medical professional or health practitioner.

For more information and for the passport photo specifications see the announcement on the State Department website, click here.

For photo requirements, click here.