This is not your status update, its the official picture the rest of the world will see you.

There are some official rules you’re going to have to stick with:

Your Photographs Must Be:

* Identical (This means, the same.)

* In color (Not black and white)

* 2 x 2 inches in size (About the same size as your Linkedin pic)

* Taken within the past 6 months, showing current appearance (Sure, your eHarmony picture looks great, but you were 23 when it was taken and now you’re 31. The customs officer should not have that same disappointed look your last blind date at Starbucks had. )

* Full face, front view with a plain white or off-white background (This is what kills most applications, get it right, it’s a white background.)

* Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head (Unfortunately, there are rules to standardize the picture — and when you don’t follow them, you are breaking them — and a bureaucrat loves when you break them. Having this incorrect is like trying to board a plane with a 4 oz container.)

* Taken in normal street attire: (Don’t button your top button, your head will look like a Honey Dew and lose that scarf, sure you think it looks nice, but six years from now, you’ll just look like a douche.)

o Uniforms should not be worn in photographs except religious attire that is worn daily (Don’t fret this one too much, no one will see your name tag, it’s a head shot.)

o Do not wear a hat or headgear that obscures the hair or hairline (thank goodness this is a rule, image all of the Pork Pies and Fedoras in potential passports)

o If you normally wear prescription glasses, a hearing device, wig or similar articles, they should be worn for your picture (Fake glasses to make you look smarter do not count and aviator shades will kill your application.)

o Dark glasses or nonprescription glasses with tinted lenses are not acceptable unless you need them for medical reasons (a medical certificate may be required)