Passport pics

[DLepard]

I find that amazing that you can print your own photos for a passport in the U.S.A.

Do you have to have someone vouch for who you are or do they just take your word for it?:confused::confused:

 

Here in Canada we have to have the special photos plus a guarentor and 2 people who have known you for more than 2 years.

They are very strict. http://www.pptc.gc.ca/passports/how_obtain_e.asp

 

Seems strange that "Homeland security" tightens up so many other things but leave the passport process open to abuse.

 

 

I can vouch for this... I brought in 2 printed photos of myself for my passport. They have strict guidlines on resolution, background and size, and you have to apply for a passport in person, so the counselor verifies that the photo is you.

 

I see no problem with this method. You also need an ORIGINAL birth certificat e and a current photo id... of driver's liscence or military ID genre. They keep the birth cert, and mail it back to you with your passport.

[KruznKel]

I just received my passport today.. applied for it May 20th... here they do call both guarantors to verify addressess... anyways I am happy to have this process over with for 5 yrs anyways LOL... good luck to all of you applying.. hope you get it as fast as I did... :)

[txcdn1]

Irishnewfie you're lucky. I sent for our passports over a month an a half ago. My pictures were rejected because they said there was a glare on my glasses. My husbands was rejected because his birth certificate was missing a piece of the corner. We are living in Texas so it takes a long time just to mail it. My daughter did get hers back quickly. Just under two weeks. Oh well hopefully we won't need them soon. (FIL has terminal ca)

 

Jill:mad:

[Sunnycruiser]

Thanks for the tip! CVS is right down the street from me! When you said there are four pictures - do you mean that they actually take 4 shots of you and then you get to choose the best one? I actually went to Walgreens (same price) but they took 1 picture of me. It was the worst picture I have probably ever taken in my life - my husband said it didn't even look like me! It was so bad I threw it away (I hope I don't sound vain - cause I'm really not) I will try this again!

[KruznKel]

For my passport pics they take one and issue 2 of you (same pics) in my SO's case he was allowed another one and able to choose because one had his eyes closed.. one is for the passport and the other they keep on file.. and YES those pictures are the worst you will ever take LOL.. so don't worry about it.. my father is a retired cop and told me he has seen better mug shots then my passport pic LOL..:)

[Wennfred]

Passports are taking longer, more people are applying, mine took 29 days, my wife mailed hers out 2 days after I did and she recd hers on day 39. ten days later. Hurry and submit yours or you could be waiting for months.

[PlanningToCruise]

Guess what, we are in the same boat, mine was also 15 years old LOL so I had to redo it all over again, by the way you should check out my PICTURE !!! I used to be skinny LOL :eek:

 

You be surprise how many people dont read the book that the photo printer comes with, most of them have that Passport 2x2 size option, and I love my Tiny HP 375, I take it on the cruise with me and put it on the dinner table and people are shocked when they see the pictures we just took print out in front of them, No waiting for months to send out pictures, they are done in 1 minute.

well I got lucky, I just happened to pull my passport and when I looked at it realized it was about to expire, I got it in just under the wire, saved $20. I'll be taking my Kodak docking station plus on the cruise, bought it about 2 wks ago since it's so compact. MY big HP photo printer does great pics, but I was shocked beacuse the Kodak one prints out Better quality prints ( at almost double the price to though) BOth my printers have the 2X2, I used the Kodak to do dh's pic for his passport ( his IS expired over the 15 yrs)

[PlanningToCruise]

Thanks for the tip! CVS is right down the street from me! When you said there are four pictures - do you mean that they actually take 4 shots of you and then you get to choose the best one? I actually went to Walgreens (same price) but they took 1 picture of me. It was the worst picture I have probably ever taken in my life - my husband said it didn't even look like me! It was so bad I threw it away (I hope I don't sound vain - cause I'm really not) I will try this again!

your welcome. Here at the one CVS they will actually take pictures of like a family of 4 ppl, and you just pay for the one sheet. The CVS I used won't do that, weird. BUt it was just me anyway, so it didn't matter. THe CVS I used took 2 pictures that I didn't like at all, the 3rd one was ok, so I just said ok that' ones fine.

[johnql]

For anyone considering using a digital camera and a photo printer to produce their own passport photos, check out the State Department's web site for pointers on producing acceptable photos:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/guide_2081.html

 

If you do it right, it's a great way to save time and money.

[Happy ks]

You do have to follow the guidelines carefully. When we were in line for our kids passports, most of the people who had home printed pictures were rejected. Not to say it's a bad idea, just be careful.

 

When I had my photo taken, I was wearing a sleeveless top. AAA said the photo would be rejected because of this. Fortunately, the clerk had a jacket from lost and found that I wore for the photo. Funny thing was, my shoulders would not have been shown in the print, even without the jacket.

 

Make sure you have the proper birth certificate, also. Even though my daughters B/C was issued by the state, the passport office would not accept it. The B/C had been issued during a time where the state was sending out "abstract copies of birth" rather than the usual "certified copies of birth". The abstract copies can be computer generated, so they are unnaceptable, so a big thank you to the State of California for making me purchase her birth certificate twice! They will not accept hospital birth certificates, only the ones issued by the state. You will save yourself time and money by following the guidelines very carefully.

[sea_u_onboard]

I'm sorry if someone already mentioned this......

 

I work for an employer that prints their own secruity badges. The camera they use is the same type for passport photos. They allowed our entire family to get pictures done for free - so it never hurts to check with your employer to see if they offer this service.

 

They came out wonderful and had no problems with them.

 

I just want to add to Happy ks --- My kids were born in California and we now live in Texas. I didn't realize that the oldest child had an abstract. The post office didn't say a thing. I called a few weeks after we had submitted them to check on the status and was told that his was being held up for the BC not being a certified one. Funny thing is I never noticed it was an abstarct and I had been using it for over 17 years. Well being the wonderful planner that I am I thought I wold get a jump on the letter that I was sure would arriving telling me they needed a certified copy - so I went online and paid what I thought was an outragous amount for a new birth certificate - funny thing was I didn't need it. My sons passport arrived 4 days behind the others. Go figure. Well now at least he has a copy since he is now 18. I will hang on to the certified one though - you know how kids are :eek: .

[Happy ks]

I never realized my kids BCs were different until I applied for passports! I got them both from the state, just 3 years apart (when they were born). The passport agency we used (post office) would not even accept her application with the certified "abstract" of birth. Go figure....I guess it's all in who works the desk that day!

[bsdmhutch]

Just to add to this. I went to CVS (the pharmacy) and had mine done at lunch. It took about 10 minutes total. Only 7.99. I was going to have DH do it, but by the time that I slowed him down and then you have to make sure that the dimensions are correct, I thought it easier to do it there. The machine they used (it was a Kodak machine) had a box on it that gave the correct dimensions both for the photo size and the dimension from the bottom of chin to top of head.

[kenandlaura06]

I belong to AAA and didn't know they offer passport pics as a free service. My husband took mine, we hung white posterboard as a backdrop. I printed the pics from my hp deskjet and cut it to the size requested on the passport application. You have to have 2 different photos to show the person accepting the form. The pics my hubby took and I snapped of him were accepted and only cost me the price of the photo paper. I received my new passport within 2 weeks of requesting one recently. Good thing too because we'll be sailing on our first cruise soon.:D

 

Apparently the pictures are only free for AAA Gold members.

[jbmanuel]

I had my first pasport last year...the whole prrocess was very interesting and STRICT...I went in person in Toronto to apply...I remember feeling so "SAD" looking at the blank pages...but oh the feeling when you look at that first stamp....Its addictive!! My husband and I are both newfies now living in Ontario and we both thought we would never need one!!!! Now I can't imagine not having one, especialy with the new rules coming in January 2006.