lawrenson1

Hi All,

recently I've had a complete personal transformation.

Lost a lot of weight, dont wear specs any more, and now I am thinking of changing my hair colour.

So I wont really look much like my passport photo anymore.

Will this be a big problem, does anyone know please?

Or can/should I get my passport photo updated?

Or does no-one look like their passport photo?

Cheers,
Karen

Tobias-UK

I suppose it depends how drastic the change is!

If there is a drastic change then I would certainly consider getting a new passport to avoid difficulties/delays checking in and at immigration on arrival.

vibrex

It's difficult to say and you may get a selection of responses here. Yes passport photos can be a lot different

I would seek advice from the passport office in the first instance.

corporate-wage-slave

Congrats on the weight loss!

It's not really an issue from the UK Border arrival point of view, particularly if you use e-passport gates: staff are well trained to see how people change over time. If you changed gender or something then maybe. Think about all those 28 year males that go from being weedy teenagers to bearded spectacle wearing hipsters from their photo as 18 year olds. The e-passport picture quality to the UKBF agent is lousy anyway. That's why there is other information like height and age which are more difficult to change. UKBF have seen everything in their time.

The reason for changing would be more the countries you visit, just in case they are more sensitive to this. US and Australia are the two that come to mind, but again they have the same issues locally, and are well trained.

Get a work colleague that you don't know very well to have a look at the passport photo and make a judgement call.

LondonElite

How much longer is your passport valid?

Swanhunter

I've lost a bit of weight and don't wear glasses any more. The only places I have had a little extra scrutiny - generally of the agent looking at me twice, slightly more closely - have been Russia, the US and our dear own Border Farce.

Unless your physical appearance has really, radically changed I wouldn't bother getting it changed.

missdimeaner

I lost almost 6 stone...cut my hair and dyed it back to my youthful blonde...my passport showed me as a large 'plate faced' person who looked as miserable as a wet Wednesday ....up until last year this was still my passport, I got a 'gee honey, you lost a lot of weight' from a CBP person at ORD but no extra scrutiny, the only time I've had a 'looks at passport, looks at me...repeat 3 times' was at AMS.

It really wasn't an issue. I am a bit image conscious nowadays and happily changed it last year when it was nearly expired...I even found a way for my new photo not to look like a wanted poster

windowontheAside

One of my passports has a photo that doesn't really look much like my current image.

I haven't had any issues with it, but on entering Israel one time, a particularly gruff immigration lady did the 'looks at passport, looks at me...repeat 3 times' (thanks missd!) routine and then barked out 'Much better now. Keep it' before stamping me through.

techie

At the moment, passport renewals are in the news for going through slower than a snail. As such, depending on when you will be travelling next, you may consider taking a risk and explaining the situation if asked than taking a punt on getting a new passport through in time. If you also have a driving license with your new appearance -- if you don't, its renewal should be cheaper and faster than a passport -- I would suggest that you carry it with you as well for some extra proof that you are you.

henners

Correct.

People who do facial recognition for a living (police, immigration, etc) are trained to look for the features which do not change (distance between eyes, for example). This is what the e-gates do: they pull out a set of invariate distance measures from the image of you standing there and compare with the same metrics stored on the embedded chip in your passport (determined from the photo you submitted printed on page 1).

Gold77

The only way of getting a professional, UKBA-endorsed, and legally valid opinion of whether you should be worried is to post the before and after photos on this forum

techie

No, we don't need a profile photo of a bloke holding out the waist line of his enormous ex-trousers with an expression on his face effectively saying "look what a fat <insert appropriate term> I was!"

lawrenson1

LOL!

Thanks all!

flatlander

Given the ongoing Charlie Foxtrot at HM Passport Office at the moment, I recommend staying well away from trying to have a new passport issued in the near future if you can do so.

camperdown9

Hi

My passport was issued in 2007 and when the photo was taken I was 22 stone 6 (314 pounds/142 kgs). I also wore glasses and if I'm honest had more hair (and it was brown).

My weight's now 11 stone 10 (164 pounds/74kgs). I have had laser surgery so I don't wear glasses. However I now have less hair and its sort of grey.

I travel between France and the UK every month and have never had an issue. A few months ago I visited Australia and New Zealand, again no problems. I went to Italy at the start of the year, no issue. At Heathrow one customs officer asked me to confirm my name. At Munich airport the British Airways check-in person asked me to confirm my name and asked was I sure I had the correct passport. She said something like, when they get groups travelling together who haven't been given e-tickets its not uncommon for them to pick up the wrong passport at the hotel. In Duabi the immigration officer laughed when she saw the photo.

I think they are used to people changing overtime.

Alex