rnocommuter

My husband's grown a beard and he is clean shaven in his passport photo. We'll be going to FRA in the not too distant future. Do you think he'd have trouble in immigration with the beard? He'd rather not shave it but will if he has too. I think he's going to have to.

cordelli

Probably not at all, they may look twice, but it shouldn't be a problem. It's what they do for a living, they will know it's the same person.

biggestbopper

Wow! What faith in civil servants.

IMHO, it might be a good idea to carry a disposable razor and some shave cream.

To some folks, a beard means low-life scum--probable terrorist.

Yes, I do know that Abe Lincoln had a beard. ^

The problem is liable to be coming back. In Germany, a bearded guy can be an upstanding citizen. In the US of A ....

rnocommuter

He keeps it well trimmed and wears brioni suits. Just kidding about the suits. Actually, we did test it in the US. Just got back from puerto vallarta and they didn't bat an eye. The disposable razor option is a good idea though. If he has to, he can shave for the immigration agent - at his/her counter

clarence5ybr

Not quite the same as a beard, but in a similar vein, I haven't cut my hair since June of 2005 (at which time it was quite short), and I've packed on about 30 pounds () since my driver license photo was taken in December of 2004 (with the very short hair). Have not had any sort of problem.

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.

rnocommuter

Thanks for the reassurance. he's not going to shave^

peachfront

I sometimes travel with a friend who has an on-again, off-again thing with his beard. No one seems astounded to realize that a grown man sometimes may sprout a beard.

mkt

I shaved today (well, yesterday now) in anticipation of going to MEX tomorrow. My passport picture shows me clean shaven, and I had a beard... I'd rather not risk it with vacation starting on Thursday.

FlyingOnceMore

In my last passport, which ran out in November, I had short back and sides and was clean shaven. In the last few years, post divorce , I've grown my hair considerably, have a greying beard and wear glasses.

Most officers looked twice, smiled, and made a comment like 'Yeah, that's you'. Female officers would normally follow that with a comment on which look they preferred. Thankfully it was mostly the newer one.

Aus_Mal

My passport photo looks very different to me.

It is amazing how much you can change in quite a few years.

I'll either get one of two reactions when showing my passport to immigration. Either I get stamped into the country without any dramas or they'll look at the photo, look at me, look at the photo, look at me and/or make a comment "Is that really you?" or "Wow. How long ago was this photo taken?".

SIN agents are the funniest. They just about always have a funny comment about the photo.

Sometimes I'll pre-empt the second comment with a smile and a "yeah it's really me" comment if they're up to their third glance back and forth or staring too long.

Passport officers are trained to detect certain characteristics of people vs photos - things like the size/shape of nose, moles/freckles, the way the ears sit, eyebrow/eye shape etc. They shouldn't be worried about you looking exactly like your photo - if you did then it could arouse more suspicion for a passport that is supposedly old.

That's why it really isn't an issue. The worst thing that will happen is they'll spend a few minutes asking you some details to put their minds at ease.

Sjoerd

Why? (Remember, civilized countries have same-sex marriage these days.)

alex0683de

And don't forget, there's an old adage - "If you actually look like your passport photo, you're probably too sick to travel..."

ajnz

Obviously not either of the countries in question, but I just flew WLG-MEL with a beard (and blue paint), and nobody batted an eyelid. My passport photo shows me sans blue paint and the beard. I think it's not a terribly uncommon thing to have to deal with -- especially around, say, Movember.

My previous passport photo had me about 40lbs heavier and with a different hair color... THAT used to get second looks.

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."