Passport Woes

[PanBiker]

Grrr... Our passports are due for renewal so I have set about the task.

We both have recent photos, I got mine in the photo booth at the Post Office or Coop, (can't remember which one) for my digital driving licence renewal when I turned 70 so only just over a year old. Sally got hers for the same reason last August or so when she got her photo licence. She had hers done at Timpsons, ( Max Spielmann) in Skipton. Her images were checked for compliance at the time which is part of the service and why you pay a few quid more.

Sally got a photo code with her images but it only lasts 30 days it was fine for her driving licence but it has now expired although she still has the actual photographs of course. I don't have a code with mine so I scanned and produced jpeg versions as required of both of our images.

I went online to renew this morning but both photos were rejected. It said that we were both too close to the camera and should stand 1.5ft way! First of all, how can you stand 1.5ft away in a photo booth?

They say you should not crop photos as they do that as part of the process. End result is the same you still end up with just your face which is what the cameras at the airport map to check your identity. I have checked our two previous passports and they are just head shots.

Both our photos are acceptable for our driving licences and bus passes, why cant there be consistency across the agencies?

As the photos are checked online for compliance I will have a go at doing them myself on my Canon DSLR. I have downloaded the DIY guide, so worth a go I reckon.

[Big Kev]

I used a phone camera for my granddaughters passport, it was accepted.

[PanBiker]

Just managed to do mine online. I did my own photo, Auto on the DSLR, 18" or so in front of a blank background and the camera about 5ft away. Don't see why you have to submit upper body, head and shoulders when they auto crop to your face for the final image. That is exactly the same as the photo booth and professionally taken ones that it rejected when I tried first time. I have given suitable feedback. Interesting that making photos easier to comply is a selectable response in the feedback. Will do Sally's photo again as I noticed I had got a shadow on the first ones I took.

[Stanley]

I am coming to the conclusion that, as is the case with Kev's car, everything nowadays is more complicated than it used to be. Could it be that this makes it easier to extract money from the customer? (Or am I just an old cynic?)