Passport Photo Requirements: Why
One photo could cost you your whole trip. A bad photo is the number one reason passports get held up. Bad photos hold up more passports than missing signatures or wrong fees do. Even a big toothy grin can be enough to get yours sent back. That's what a grin can really cost you. Will your passport come back in time? After this, you won't lose a trip over a photo.
Your passport could sit there for 6 weeks. By then, your trip could be gone.
Here's what the U.S. State Department says. Its guidance on processing passports spells it out. If your photo breaks the rules, it gets flagged. Then your application waits until you send a new one.
Researchers in a 2020 study found that smiles make faces harder to match. Nobody at the photo counter tells you why.
To the government's computers, your passport photo is just a bunch of measurements of your face. When you grin big, you change those measurements. Then your photo stops matching your face.
Let's follow one passport photo from the counter to the letter.
You're standing at the photo counter at a pharmacy. You grin wide, because it feels friendly. Your photo goes in with your application.
Karolina Turowska explained this to HuffPost. Your smile can hide the spots the computer measures.
Your photo can get checked by a computer before a person ever looks at it. Your big grin moved the spots on your face that get measured. So your photo gets flagged as a bad one.
Then you get a letter or an email asking for a new photo. Your wide, toothy grin was the whole problem.
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Just a big toothy grin can get your photo sent back. Then you have to start over with a new photo.
Say you planned on 3 weeks to get your passport. A new photo could stretch that out to 6 weeks. That's twice as long as you planned to wait. But your flight date doesn't move.
When you grin big, four parts of your face shift. Your mouth, your cheeks, your eyes and your jawline all move. One grin throws off every one of those measurements.
Your eyes, nose, mouth and ears all get measured. The gaps between them prove the photo is you.
Nobody's going to call you and tell you your photo is bad. Your application just sits there until you fix it.
Canada says the rule about keeping a still face helps stop fraud. Dozens of countries use the same rule for their passports. That's why your toothy grin gets your photo sent back.
A friend knows it's you whether you're smiling or not. To the computer that matches faces, you're just a set of measurements. When you smile, you can look like a stranger to it. Your happiest face is the weakest proof it's you.
Get your photo taken with a still face and your mouth closed. That's how you keep your passport moving.
Take off your glasses, even if you wear them every day. Get your photo printed on real photo paper, not plain paper. Make sure your head is centered in the photo.
Getting the size and the background right is only half of it. Your face is the other half, and you can't see it.
You send in your passport photo. Your photo gets compared to other pictures of you on file. At the border, your face gets checked again. If you're grinning big in your photo, every step gets harder.
I got every fact here from one write-up. CaraComp's write-up goes deeper if you want more.
The State Department spells out exactly what it allows. It allows a neutral face or a natural smile, as long as your mouth stays closed. You need to have both eyes open.
Use a plain white background. Leave your hat off unless you wear it for religion. Look at your photo before you leave the counter.
All it takes is one good photo on the first try. That way you avoid nearly all of these delays. Is one grin worth your trip?
The no-smile rule was never about being polite. A grin can still cost someone a trip, but not you.
Tonight, check when your trip leaves. Give yourself time in case you need to redo your photo. Then get your photo taken this week.
Fixing a rejected photo can take weeks. Get your passport in your hand before you fly.
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