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I'm trying to apply for a B1/B2 US visa through the official website but unfortunately can't get past the "Confirm photo" stage as I see the following error:

enter image description here

I've tried to re-upload the photo several times in both Chrome, Android Chrome and IE 11 to no avail. Is there something I can do so that I can complete my application?

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10
  • Did you try the photo checker tool?
    – brhans
    Sep 19, 2017 at 19:35
  • @brhans tried generating a photo there now and uploading it, didn't help.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Sep 19, 2017 at 19:39
  • @brhans question clarified. I can get past the first photo screen, but not the "Confirm Photo" stage
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Sep 19, 2017 at 19:41
  • Is your picture 600x600 px and under 240kB in size?
    – ventsyv
    Sep 19, 2017 at 20:39
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    In my case it worked when I tried again after a few days.
    – Some wandering yeti
    Sep 19, 2017 at 22:54

7 Answers 7

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I've tried it again with the same photo on the next day and it worked. Perhaps their online system is overloaded at certain times and one should simply try again in a few hours.

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  • Pro Tip: This is indeed a server busy/down issue. If your photo has passed the "Photo passed quality standards" and you encounter this specific error ("An error occurred while processing your photo. Please try again later") then don't restart the whole process of uploading the picture. Just click the "save" button. This will attempt to pull the already uploaded image from the busy server again. You can click the the save button multiple times until the error doesn't show up. PLEASE WAIT A FEW MINUTES BETWEEN CLICKING the "Save" button so that you don't aggravate the already busy server.
    – moo
    Jan 23, 2020 at 18:37
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I found a work around that will allow you to complete the DS-160 if it is crashing at the photo upload screen.

You just have to upload a photo that WILL NOT pass the photo verification. When your photo is rejected you now have the option to continue without submitting a photo, it then tells you can bring a photo to the interview with you as in the image below. This will allow you to at least submit the application and book an interview.

To have my photo not pass the verification I scaled it down in size to 50% so that it was low res. Other methods may work, keep trying until you get a failure.

The website is very buggy and this is the best solution I can find to get past being stuck at the photo page.

enter image description here

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Just had this issue.

The fix that worked for me was to wait a few minutes after uploading it on the screen where it says "the photo passes the requirements*. Then press the "Next" button.

I guess that there's a bunch of services talking to each other behind the scenes, and if you press Next too quickly, the photo hasn't had time to propagate fully yet.

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I wrote to the embassy and they suggested I should try starting a new application from scratch. This time it worked!!!

The only difference is that now I filled everything from start to end. Before I saved and upload/retrieve a couple of times.

PS: The last time I used Google Chrome in Incognito mode, but I bet that had nothing to do with it...

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I've had similar experience with that tool. I think the solution was to resize the photo to make the face much more prominent. This picture is often given as example but I think the picture that worked for me looked closer to this one.

Also, the picture needs to be 600x600 px and under 240k and it can't be blurred.

The photo check tool is not reliable in my experience.

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  • Tried a different crop and a different photo altogether - didn't work.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Sep 19, 2017 at 21:02
  • Your pics are dead. Try uploading them here instead
    – mplungjan
    Mar 4, 2019 at 16:23
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I did what Mark Clayton suggested - uploaded a bad quality (low resolution) photo. I took it to the embassy with a physical US passport sized photo and it was fine. There were so many people in the queue without photos uploaded on the forms - it clearly happens to a lot of people!

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  • Thanks for sharing your personal experience, confirming one of the methods already mentioned. (I am not sure whether this will stay as an answer or will be converted to a comment, but it is welcome anyhow.)
    – Willeke ♦
    May 16, 2018 at 15:27
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I have also had this issue. Tried many times in many ways but not successful. Finally, I used my friend in a different country to upload my picture from his place, and it worked. I guess the internet security protocol has some security issue when we are uploading from developed countries or countries which are not up to date with the current internet security protocol.

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    My personal experience was to switch to the phone and use mobile data. I had previously completed the form , i just needed the photo. I then uploaded the photo before retrieving the form ; if upload is successful then you should have a tiny thumbnail of the photo on the page before clicking retrieve form ; if the form is completed up to the photo then the photo will be magically accepted into the system.
    – cavver
    Dec 28, 2018 at 20:50

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