melbournehelp

Melbournehelp, on a recent trip to the UK found out that he needed to apply for an australian passport.
The passport bit was ok ,as was renewing the uk passport...the nightmare began with the passport photos .
As such I wish to make you aware of the following :

All new passports require a photograph of your face to be a certain size, distance from the camera and have a picture size in accordance with the requirements of the government issuing the passport.
We are all being scanned into a facial recognition database and as such the issuing authorities are issuing strict guidelines for passport photographs.
Three sets later I am initially approved pending my application winging it's way to London.First set- head too small ! second set , not sharp enough, third set-sent to a photo outlet in Manchester that the Australian H-igh Commission recommended.
The moral of the story is ..and this will aplly to all new passport applicants- don't waste your time and money at boots, max speilman or any other outlet outlet that doesn't know exactly what the new requirements are .
The local photoshops do not know what is required with the new photos for your new passport. I wouold suggest you ring the relevant authority to find an approved photo shop ( usually near the embassy/passport office ) , who understand what is now required by both UK and Australian governments .
Believe me- if it ain't exactly right, you will have to have it re- done .
Welcome to a safer world.

Steve Bowes, Melbournehelp,

Pollyana

I'll just bounce this back to the top steve, so a few more people see it. The Bloke told me about the footling requirements, as he was worried that the photos for my visa application weren't done in an "approved place". I thought he was joking, and they accepted ordinary photobooth ones for the visa.
However, now I am more accustomed to Aussie redtape, I am quite willing to believe it.
I think its the first time its been mentioned on here though

Cheeky

Hi there,

Just out of interest I recently had to sort passport photos out for my kids (here in UK). Also ended up taking 2 x sets of my daughter and 3 x sets of my son and £15 later finally got the ideal ones. Dont worry though the forms you get for passports contain a leaflet explaining exactly how they should be, correct dimensions and so on. You even have to be careful if you wear glasses, that the top part of the frames doesnt go across the eyes!! Fingers crossed as ours are due back in a few days......

Regards, Cheeky

tiredwithtwins

thanks for this.....getting hubby and kiddies passports done in the next couple of months so will get them done somewhere "approved"!

cheers

sue

melbournehelp

hope this has been of some help,tired, it's one less thing to stress about if you know about it.

regards,

Melbournehelp...Buttonmoon

CHnJ

The Register reported too that another reason for rejection is that if you smile in your picture, the recognition systems can't cope - so it's back to the photo boot for you.

Paul&Ann-Marie

When i had my passport photo's done i kept a really straight face, then afterwards when i looked at myself i thought " pfff, i wouldn't let him on a plane let alone into another country " so went and did them again, this time attempting to look a little less intimidating.Seemed to work,no problems, the machines seem to be more of a video camera now so you can adjust the image size etc and check what your picture will look like before accepting it, just a shame i didn't think about that when having the first one done

Paul

sue_parker

I sent off for three passports after spending a fortune on getting the photo's right then they sent one of the passports back with the wrong birth date in it!

Sue

Ushas

Well this is a surprise to me!
In the past year I've had my Oz passport renewed, my UK passport renewed and hubby's visa application needed photos which haven't been rejected.

All mine were done at a photobooth in Sainsbury's for £3 for four. No problem and no hassel at all.

tbeb

Took all ours with a digital camera and printed out onto photo paper. Digital pictures are accepted for UK passport photos, as long as they are above a certain resolution, and the correct size of course :-)

TBEB

Deadmeat

If I tried smiling then they definitely wouldn't let me in ... nothing to do with recognition systems though

I think hats/caps are also due to outlawed, for the more "junior" amongst us I guess ... and cowboys.

Thanks for the heads-up about the photos.

melbournehelp

The requirements ar new, I am told as we are all being scanned into a facial recognition system.The regulations have now hit the uk and you get a load of info with the application forms ( from the post office ).There are a heap of photos that they won't accept,shadows, too dark, head not the right size- even people with hadjees ( apologise for spelling) - all disallowed.
You can take digital photos as long as the resolution, paper type , size etc are within the requirements.
I guess the mesage is - do it early so you're not under the pump like Melhelp was !
Finally an Australian AND can prove it .!
melbourne now Sat 6th October