sahra

Hello all,

I need to renew my British passport (which is 4 years expired, whoops). The last time I did this I recall having to go quite out of my way to a professional photographer who advertised doing British passport photos.

I've heard that one can now go to CVS or Walgreens; is that accurate? Do they actually have the dimensions for a British passport photo, or will I need to cut it down to size by hand? What is it that I should be asking them for?

Also, does anyone know if all CVS and Walgreens stores do this, or only a limited amount?

Lastly, do I still need to get them countersigned by another British citizen?

Cheers in advance for your help.

kimilseung

I got them at Walgreens, their machines have various country requirements, though some have reported their local Walgreeens did not, I can confirm mine did.

The signature thing varies, I think if its a renewal and your image is recognizable as you, no signature needed. Though if a signature is needed, it does not need to be a Britisher.

Nutmegger

Got mine at CVS. Just call your local drug stores to see if any of them can help. Recall I also got them at Sears once.

ChocolateBabz

+1 for Walgreens, the staff may not know their machines do this (ours didn't), but it's in the settings, they take a digital photo, stick the card in their machine and then you go through the menu, choose country etc.

dj6372

Walgreens/CVS definitely have machines to do them, the tricky part is finding a gum chewing Neanderthal who can click through menus to find the option!!

MidAtlantic

I got mine at Walgreens with their equipment set to British passport requirements. You should not need to have your photos counter-signed unless your appearance has changed radically from your last passport.

Steerpike

+1 for Walgreens. The CVS I tried did not have the specifics.

sahra

Does anyone know which menu choices it is at Walgreens so I can tell them if they don't know?

newadventure

I tried to persuade the Walgreens staff that their machine could do the UK dimensions. They assured me it couldn't. In the end, i got US size and cut them down by hand. No problem getting a new UK passport with these (despite what the online help says)

Pulaski

Same for me!
Despite the assertions given by various people above, NOT all Walgreens machines have the capability of printing UK-spec passports photos. I tried two different Walgreens and we searched through each tab of the menu and the functionality didn't exist. ... IIRC Lansbury reported that his local Walgreens used to be able to print UK-spec pp photos, but the machine was replaced and the new one cannot.

I got mine printed at a CVS in the end, and after ensuring my head size was correct in the pictures I trimmed off the excess white area on the sides to get the correct size picture. My passport was processed and returned in eight days with no issue or comment about the picture size.

lansbury

That is correct.

dj6372

Good to know, must pass the info onto Mrs DJ, she is less than patient!

durham_lad

A year ago I got mine done at Walgreens but when I couldn't see a Uk setting on the machine asked an assistant who produced a camera and took it against a white background.

Both my son and daughter renewed their passports in the last few years and because it had been a few years since it had expired required a photo signature. Daughter got her boss in California to do it, son got a good friend of the family to do it while he was visiting us in England last year.

MarylandNed

My wife renewed her British passport from the US last year. Got the photos done at Walgreens. They had a EU size setting on their machine. I know some people who have successfully submitted US size photos (untrimmed).

The countersigning requirements are here:

https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

WEBlue

As previous posters have said, it all depends on the capability of the photo machine. It's worth it to call around & see if the photo dept. has experience of UK passport photos. Or you can stop in & ask.

We got ours done at a new-ish CVS, after finding our local Walgreens & Rite-Aid machines didn't have the proper templates. The CVS manager we approached knew exactly what we wanted & that her machine could do it....