New Photos Required – Likely Date of Sept 1, 2004
Posted Jul 30, 2004
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The Nebraska and the California Service Centers have both recently released notices that the USCIS will soon be changing its photo requirements to match the passport-style photos. The target date for the overall change is August 1, 2004 with an apparent likely implementation date of September 1, 2004. The reason for this change is to bring USCIS documents into compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization Standards on or before the October 26, 2004 deadline for this compliance.
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A notice will be issued in the Federal Register within the next few days to implement this rule. Until the notice is published, the Nebraska Service Center will accept either the current style of ADIT photos or the passport style of photos. The California Service Center, in its July 26, 2004 information notice, however, requested that the new passport-style photos should be used immediately with all pertinent applications and petitions. According to a statement issued by the USCIS on July 28, 2004, the USCIS confirmed that it will begin accepting the passport-style photographs on August 1, 2004 and will phase in their use with a likely final implementation date of September 1, 2004. The U.S. Department of State has an excellent multi-page demonstration regarding the way passport-style photos should look on its WebSite.
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Those who have already submitted photos with prior applications should not send in new photos for pending applications unless specifically instructed to do so by the USCIS. This change does not appear to require photographs for any applications or petitions that have not previously required the submission of photographs. Our experience has been that, if the photographs submitted with a filing are omitted or incorrect, the filing will be accepted but a Request for Evidence (RFE) will be issued requesting the new style of photographs. This will likely delay the processing of the case. Therefore, it would be advisable to submit photographs with the required specifications at the time of filing to avoid an RFE or delay in the case.