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Grown a beard - passport problem????

Grown a beard - passport problem????

Old Feb 10, 2007, 6:08 am
  #16  
 
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I do not think that you will have a problem. I do not have a beard but I shaved my head in solidarity with a friend who was in chemo. Then went to Germany,still shaved.Nobody said a word anywhere I had to show my passport. The only person who said anything at all,was when I returned home and show my passport to ICE and all he said "lose a bet?, welcome back home."

p.s. the chemo appears to have work,

and my hair is growing back.

Last edited by peteftlaud; Feb 10, 2007 at 6:14 am
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 6:16 am
  #17  
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Beards

Originally Posted by Catman
I have gone through every extreme (goatee, beard and clean shaven - some of my friends don't like me clean shaven saying I look scarey. Thus I keep some hair in my face.)

Your facial hair may change but other things should not: eye color, head size, lips, nose (for the last two unless you have surgery.)

I've never had a problem in any country no matter how I look. Actually I look heavier in my passport foto and one UA agent in EWR said "You lost weight."
You should have told the UA agent that you had a serious wasting disease often associated with "alternative" lifestyles. Also, imaging your reaction is the agent had said "You are heavier"!

I have a moustache in my passport photo and have been through security about 100 times since - I was questioned once (last week) by one of the "checkers" before you get to the TSA chaps.
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 8:59 am
  #18  
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Like some of other posters, I grew a beard early in the life of my previous passport. Did most of my travel after that, enough to nearly fill a second set of 24 pages. Never the slightest problem.
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 9:13 am
  #19  
 
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I'm always most amazed that they never have a problem with folks in their early 20's who had their passport photo taken at age 14 or so-- ten years is an awful lot of aging in some stages of life. Even my picture from when I was 18 looks nothing like me now.
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 11:51 am
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My passport photo shows me with dark red long hair. I'm now a blond and my hair is shorter. No problems for me
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 11:53 am
  #21  
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I've aged 9 years since my passport photo. Should I bring a plastic surgeon along just in case?
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 12:49 pm
  #22  
 
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If you don't like your hubby's hirsute look, tell him the TSA requires the beard be gone.
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Old Feb 10, 2007, 3:29 pm
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by Efrem
Like some of other posters, I grew a beard early in the life of my previous passport. Did most of my travel after that, enough to nearly fill a second set of 24 pages. Never the slightest problem.
FWIW, I'll add my .02 worth...... I traveled for nine years on a passport showing me clean shaven, but with first a mustache, then a beard. Never had a question asked outside the US, or coming back. It was probably 75 international trips..... They either sense I looked OK, or could care less about the passport photo.

Bottom line, don't have him change a thing, unless he wants to!
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Old Feb 11, 2007, 1:19 am
  #24  
 
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Could I get your surgeon to accompany me?
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Old Feb 11, 2007, 10:17 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by Ex Amex Card
No, not unless it makes him look like one of the Mujahideen. Now, if YOU were to grow a beard then that may cause a problem.

Seriously though, I grew a beard and didn't get a blink from passport authorities in many different countries. If you are travelling within the EU on an EU passport then they probabably won't even look at the photo.
The German authorities at passport control are very well trained, so it should not be a problem.

Also, a while pack I had a chance to work on a passport modernization project in one of the up and coming eastern countries. In this country, at least, the numbers in the passport were not assigned randomly. Most of the numbers had some sort of code correspondence. For example, the 3 in the 5th number meant the color of the eyes was brown. Same goes for the hair.

These guys are good and are professionals.

As far as looking like a "mujahadeen" I think that in Europe there is a lot less of this then now in the US. Especially in Germany, where there is a sizable population of Turkish ex-pats, so of them orthodox, it should not be as much of a taboo.
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Old Feb 11, 2007, 12:01 pm
  #26  
 
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The beard should be a non-issue. I generally sprout a beard in the winter and am clean shaven in the summer. My drivers license picture is bearded and my passport alternates due to renewing a minimum of 3 months in advance. Currently both show me bearded, last year my passport had the clean shaven look.

Never an issue in FRA yet - have flown matching my passport and not matching my passport both ways - ID w/o beard, me w/beard; ID w/beard, me w/o beard - and never a question. They do look more closely but never question me.

Cheers,
Jeff
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Old Feb 11, 2007, 12:28 pm
  #27  
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Old passport had me with a beard and I was clean-shaven when I started traveling heavily. Then I got a new passport with a clean-shaven picture but soon after grew the beard again. 14 countries in the past two years and I've had no problems with the inconsistencies.

Last edited by yosithezet; Feb 11, 2007 at 12:36 pm Reason: corrected mistaken word
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Old Feb 13, 2007, 2:37 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by glob99
If you don't like your hubby's hirsute look, tell him the TSA requires the beard be gone.
Thanks for all your input. I haven't told my hubby it's not a problem yet - I'm still debating whether I like it or not
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Old Feb 13, 2007, 7:29 pm
  #29  
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I'm glad I've never had to maintain a beared. I work hard on that shaver daily.
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Old Feb 13, 2007, 9:07 pm
  #30  
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Originally Posted by Rejuvenated
I'm glad I've never had to maintain a beared. I work hard on that shaver daily.
I remember those, with no regrets. "Maintaining" my beard, if you can even call it that, takes a lot less time than shaving ever did and is way easier on my face. That may be why few people who try beards ever go back. Mine is here to stay.
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