Photo question
- Thread starter Aleck
- Start date
USAor bust
Registered Users (C)
Probably be rejected as you will be 10 years older by 2023.
Sorry
Does anyone know the answer if the photo is the same for 2012 and the 2013 will they be rejected!!!
You allready applied for DV2023? Damn, that good, how did you manage to travel in time? Did you use a dolorian tiime machine or some?
joke appart, same photo as last year might get you disqualified... They state in the rules that same pictire as last year will disqualify the entrant... Now, are they actualy doing it? Another question... If they do, that means they do keep every single picture we submit
The rules say that the photograph submitted with the application must be "recent." This is defined as nothing beyond 6 months from the date the photograph was taken.
The DV Rules/Instruction state that "Entries are subject to disqualification and visa refusal for cases in which the photographs are not recent or have been manipulated or fail to meet the specifications explained below." (Page 3)
So yes, it could be an issue; you submitted a photograph that was not recent. Your application is thus apparently subject to disqualification or refusal of a visa.
I guess they have to keep the photos,or how do they want to find out otherwise that someone submitted the same photo 2 years in a row?Wow what a photo gallery ;-)
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That's my concern, if they keep every photo on record, with millions of applications do they bother checking each photo? I think there's more important things for them to worry about at each application then if the photo it's the same from previous years or not. But I know it's a clear rule.
Someone told me there was a guy that also submitted a photo from a previous year and got selected. But well, chances I'll get disqualified are 99% anyway.
It would be interesting if someone here at the forum got selected on the same situation.
I've heard people got selected with photos on a dark blue background, which is obviously against the rules, that's why i even bother asking if i have any chances.
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It does not seem logical for KCC employees to manual check every photograph submitted, that would be a waste of time; they almost certainly have computer software to do that for them.
Every photograph submitted probably gets digitally fingerprinted, by this I mean a checksum hash is generated based on the properties of the (e.g. .jpg) file. The DOS computer system then would presumably commence a sha256 pass on every subsequently submitted photograph to see if the checksum matches a previously submitted photograph from all previous electronic entries. If it does, it would be flagged as a duplicate for inspection, and if found to be a correct flag, disqualified immediately or flagged for the attention of the CO at the Interview.
It's frustrating when one hears something like this because there is no way to verify the reliability of facts. All we have to go on are the rules.
As long as the submitted photograph of the selectee during the electronic submission stage is not an exact duplicate, the applicant continues to the interview stage where the case will be determined by the CO. This is because anything other than obvious fraud has to be adjudicated by an Immigration Official and not the KCC. The instructions do say non-recent photographs are subject to disqualification so I imagine that the KCC has the ability to disqualify entries for submitting a duplicate photograph over multiple lotteries (and thereby presuming they have the means to detect the occurrence of such event in the first place).
It should be noted that the person with the blue background was rejected at the interview after paying hundreds of dollars.
Ultimately should you be not selected as I and the vast majority probably will not be either, you will never know if it was because you simply were not lucky this time, or if it was due to disqualification as per the rules.
Good luck.
when i read this i just had to reply. while computerized image recognition and comparison is probably used, thus making giving your application grounds for refusal, this is simply not the technique used.
photos are scanned in and therefore will not have the same hash because scanners are not perfect and even if they were the photo printers are not. face photos have what they call "nodal points" which are the landmark peaks in the facial features. there are over 80 nodal points. the distances between them and the angles are compared to produce matches. the systems will never fail at matching the photo to the same photo, thus making it a clear cut case, if they use this software.
also to those who are skeptical of them storing millions of pictures.. that is no hard feat. most of these images are barely a few kb and storing them requires probably less than a rack of commercial drives. running the software on a few million pics also takes very little time. that coupled with the fact that all it has to compare to is any images they have of you (your past applications) it is definitely well within the realm of plausibility that they will check.
John Locke
Registered Users (C)
Can you post the thread where someone was rejected for using a photo with a blue background? I thought the photo is purely for recognition software and that if you didn't follow the rules but got an interview, they would still have the decency to grant the DV. I myself wore a white t-shirt in the photo with a white background and worried they would reject me on that basis, since my shoulders blended into the background, but it didn't have any effect in the end.
USAor bust
Registered Users (C)
Surely if the person's features haven't changed then what is the actual issue? They still look the same and if i'm not mistaken isn't the whole purpose of the photo to identify you!!!
If you are rejected at the interview after paying, then are the Consulate not commiting fraud in obtaining monies knowing full well that you will be rejected as they have already compared the photo's.
On a side note, does the statement ---- "Entries are subject to disqualification and visa refusal for cases in which the photographs are not recent, show manipulation in any way, or fail to meet the specifications explained below." mean that the decision rests with the CO when being interviewed.
Your responses gladly received.
I don’t understand how you could make that claim with absolute certainty.
I’m sorry, but not all photos are scanned in, mine was taken with a digital camera as I’m sure the majority were too. I understand that this couldn’t apply with a scanned in imagine, however the OP said he submitted the same photograph again. I assume he meant he uploaded the same file with his photograph that pre-existed on his computer when he entered into the DV-2012 lottery, again for the DV-2013 lottery; thus it would match. Pretty much the only way the KCC could detect a photograph that isn’t recent is if it matched perfectly with one held previously on file; I have no idea why a checksum hash wouldn’t be used for this purpose when it explicitly states that KCC can and does disqualify for non-recent photographs.
You are describing face-recognition technology mainly for detecting multiple entries. This isn’t the same as detecting a previously submitted identical photograph for the purposes of determining whether or not the photograph is/is not recent. Photo recognition technology can only tell if it’s the same face, not whether the photograph was taken within the stipulated six months or not; and EXIF data is not generally considered an accurate determination. Anyone who has played more than once will have a face match with the previous year using face recognition technology; but that wouldn't prove anything. Suffice to say, that if the previous photograph's electronic fingerprint (it's hash) matches the applicant's current one, then logic dictates it can be determined to be in excess of the six month rule.
I agree. The photographs submitted are probably all recorded and backed up.
Sure
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Please read http://www.govtech.com/security/The-Department-of-State-to-Use.html
"December 19, 2002 (...) The U.S. Department of State will use face recognition technology for the Diversity Visa Program. (...) The State Department's Diversity Visa Lottery program selects approximately 50,000 individuals to be considered for a permanent U.S. visa from millions of applications submitted each year. Each application includes a facial image. The facial recognition system will compare the image of every applicant against the rest of the database to reduce the potential of the same face obtaining multiple entries in the lottery program. Once enrolled in the system, images can also be used during the Diversity Visa application process to help identify known individuals who pose specific security threats to the nation. (...) The State Department awarded Viisage with a $125,000 contract to use their FaceEXPLORER technology after a year of extensive testing."
Hi,
Nothing in that paragraph states that that the U.S. does not create also hash checksums for the photographs they receive; it simply states that facial recognition technology is deployed "against the rest of the database to reduce the potential of the same face obtaining multiple entries in the lottery program." This is not disputed, it is widely known that this occurs to deter and detect individuals trying to cheat the lottery, and in fact was mentioned in my previous post.
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Hashing is not used for image comparison. I did graduate level research work in image processing and search. Take a photo, scan it, and scan it again. The 2 files will never have the same hash. As I said, it is easy to figure out that you are reusing the same image, hashing is not what is used.
Thomby2k12
New Member
Infomation needed on multiple entries in the DV lottery
Hi, everyone. I am a new member of this forum. I have a burning question, and I'll so much appreciate if I can receive a correct answer to it.
In 2004/2005, a friend of my submitted about 75 entries during the visa lottery registration with different names but same photo. One of the entries was selected and he continued to process it until an interview appointment was scheduled for him in 2006, at the embassy in Lagos. For fear that he might be disqualified and his fingerprint taken, he decided to forgo the interview, and since 2006, he has been submitting a single entry for himself during the registration period. As fate would have it, my friend was reselected in DV-2013, and we are confused whether he should process it or not. Please, is there any hope of success if he decides to process it? We'll be very happy if we can be provided with detailed information his fate if he ventures into it.
Thanks a lot. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi, everyone. I am a new member of this forum. I have a burning question, and I'll so much appreciate if I can receive a correct answer to it.
In 2004/2005, a friend of my submitted about 75 entries during the visa lottery registration with different names but same photo. One of the entries was selected and he continued to process it until an interview appointment was scheduled for him in 2006, at the embassy in Lagos. For fear that he might be disqualified and his fingerprint taken, he decided to forgo the interview, and since 2006, he has been submitting a single entry for himself during the registration period. As fate would have it, my friend was reselected in DV-2013, and we are confused whether he should process it or not. Please, is there any hope of success if he decides to process it? We'll be very happy if we can be provided with detailed information his fate if he ventures into it.
Thanks a lot. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Omo Naija. He should proceed.
Yeah even in the first time you were selected, you ought to have gone ahead. If KCC didn't detect it, what the business of the Embassy? The latter do not have an idea.
