You won’t be able to wear glasses when taking photos for U.S. passport and Visa.
The State Department on 13th announced that starting from November 1st, they will not accept U.S. passport and Visa applications if you are wearing glasses in the photos. Therefore, foreigners who apply for U.S. Visa and U.S. Citizens issuing their passports will have to submit photos without glasses.
The State Department also announced that, “Wearing glasses can be misused as a disguise method, it can cause a serious problem to security as many photos are not usable because of the lens reflection. However, if you recently received an eye surgery and need glasses for a medical reason, you can wear glasses only if you submit an explanatory statement with diagnosis and signature from the doctor”.
Furthermore, you can use keep using your passport with a photo with glasses only if the expiration date is still valid. According to the State Department, more than 20,000 applications for U.S. passport have been denied last year because it was hard to distinguish the applicant in the photo because of a few reasons including glasses.
Other than the banning of glasses, there has not been a change to other passport and visa photo regulations. The photo has to be 2 inches (5 cm) both in width and height, and it has to have a bright background. Your head needs to be faced the front straight and it has to be in the middle of the photo. You can find more specific information on the State Department website: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/photos.html
Original article available at http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=4678155
Translated by Audrey Joung
