Can You Reuse an Old Passport Photo or Scan a Printed One?

When you renew a passport, the easiest-looking shortcut is to reuse a photo you already have: the extra prints from last time, the picture in your current passport, or a scan of an old 2x2 photo you found in a drawer. Each of these runs into a clear State Department rule, and an application with a reused photo is likely to be put on hold until you send a new one.

This guide explains the rules on recent photos and scanned prints, what counts as recent, and which existing photos you can still use.

The 6-month rule

The State Department asks you to submit one color photo taken in the last 6 months. This applies whether you renew online, by mail with Form DS-82, or in person with Form DS-11. The online renewal upload page repeats it: the photo must be in color and taken in the last 6 months.

The State Department's internal guidance in the Foreign Affairs Manual (8 FAM 402.1-2) explains the purpose. The photograph should be taken within six months of submitting the application, be a good likeness of you, and satisfactorily identify you at the time of the application. In other words, the rule is about how you look now, not about the date stamp alone.

What counts as recent

• The six months are counted back from when you submit the application, not when you started it.
• A photo taken for another purpose, such as a visa, can be reused if it was taken within the last 6 months and meets every U.S. passport rule, including size, background and no glasses.
• A photo that is technically recent but no longer looks like you, for example after a major change in appearance, is not a good likeness and should not be used.

More detail on the time limit is in our guide to the passport photo 6-month rule.

Can you reuse the photo from your old passport?

No. A renewal requires a new photo. The photo in your current passport was taken before that passport was issued, which for a renewal is almost always far more than six months ago. Spare prints from the same session are just as old. Even if you look the same, the date alone puts them outside the rule.

Scanning a printed photo for online renewal

Online renewal needs a digital file, so some people try to scan the paper photo they already printed. The State Department's online renewal photo page says plainly not to take a photo of a printed photo or scan a physical photo to make a digital file. Its quality guidance adds that scanning or photographing a printed photo may lower the photo quality, and one of its unacceptable examples is a low-quality scanned copy instead of an original digital image.

The reasons are practical. A scan picks up paper texture and printer dots, changes colors, often adds glare from glossy paper, and loses sharpness. Even a perfect scan of a recent print is a copy, not the original image.

For mail and in-person applications, the State Department also says not to submit photocopies or digitally scanned photos. The printed photo you send must be printed on matte or glossy photo-quality paper.

When a new photo means you also need a new passport

The good likeness rule works in the other direction too. The State Department says you only need to apply for a new passport if your appearance has significantly changed. If you can still be identified from the photo in your current passport, you do not need to apply early.

• Small changes, no new passport needed: growing a beard, coloring your hair, normal aging.
• Big changes, apply for a new passport: significant facial surgery or trauma, adding or removing many large facial piercings or tattoos, significant weight loss or gain.

Either way, the photo you submit with the new application must show how you look now.

If you already sent an old or scanned photo

If you submitted an application with a reused or scanned photo, you do not need to start over right away. The State Department reviews every photo, and if yours is not acceptable it sends a letter or email asking for a new one. Your online status changes to Additional Information Needed and the application is put on hold.

From the date on that letter or email, you have 90 days to respond. Take a new photo, follow the instructions in the notice exactly, and send it before the deadline. Under the State Department's internal rules, an application with no response after 90 days is denied and the fees are not refunded. The full process is explained in what to do when a photo is rejected after online renewal.

How to get a compliant new photo quickly

Taking a new photo usually takes less time than dealing with a rejection. You have three options the State Department lists: an acceptance facility that takes photos when you apply, any company that offers photo services, or a friend or family member.

1. Stand several feet in front of a plain white or off-white wall, facing soft daylight.
2. Have someone take the photo with the rear camera at eye level, several feet away.
3. Remove glasses, hats and anything covering your face.
4. Keep the original digital file. For online renewal, upload that file directly. Check the format and size rules in our digital passport photo size guide.
5. For mail renewal, print the original file at 2 x 2 inches on photo paper. See how to print a passport photo.

If you are about to start the application, our step-by-step guide on how to renew a passport online shows where the photo upload fits in. If a photo you already sent was not accepted, see what happens when a passport photo is rejected.