How to upload your photo to the DV entry form
What the file you have is, where it is on your phone, and what the official instructions say about uploading it. Every sentence from the instructions is quoted word for word, with its link and the date we read it.
The file you have
- Type
- JPEG (.jpg)
- Size in pixels
- 600 × 600, square
- File size
- 240 kB or less
- Name
- The photo type and its size, then the date and time of your order (UTC). Every order gets its own name, so each family member's file stays separate.
The official instructions: You must upload your digital image as part of your entry. Your digital image must be: In JPEG (.jpg) file format; Equal to or less than 240 kB (kilobytes) in file size; In a square aspect ratio (height must equal width); 600 x 600 pixels in dimension
— DV-2026 instructions, US Federal Register, read .
Where the file is on your phone
- iPhone: once the file is ready, open the Files app → Downloads. To have it in Photos too: open the file, tap the share button and choose to save the image.
- Android: the file is in Downloads. Open it from the Files app or from the download notification.
- Opened inside WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook? Those apps may not keep the file. Open the page in Safari or Chrome from the ⋯ menu ("Open in browser"), then download the file.
These are general phone steps, not part of the official instructions. Button names can differ between phone versions.
On the DV entry form
-
One photo per person. Yours, your spouse's, and one for each child on your entry, each in its own file.
Recent photographs (taken within the last six months) of yourself, your spouse, and all your derivative children included on your entry.
Submit individual photographs of each of your children using the same technical specifications as your own photograph.
— DV-2026 instructions, . - Upload the file when the form asks for the photo. We do not write the form's steps button by button: we have not read the official instructions page live yet, and we add them once we have. What the form checks at upload: the published instructions do not say.
-
Keep your confirmation number. After you submit the complete form, a page shows your name and a confirmation number; do not submit again. Our advice: write the number down or take a screenshot of that page.
After you submit a complete entry, you will see a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number.
Once you receive a confirmation number, do not resubmit your information.
— DV-2026 instructions, .
The passport scan is a second file
The amended rule (22 CFR 42.33, in effect from 10 April 2026) describes a second file, a scan of the passport. This tool does not prepare it. Its format, as the text states: JPEG (JFIF), not PDF, at most 5 MB.
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) File Interchange Format (JFIF) format.
No Portable Document Format (PDF) will be accepted.
(ii) The file size must not exceed 5 megabytes (MB).
This rule is effective on April 10, 2026.
— Final rule, US Federal Register 91 FR 11891, .