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State department says don't worry about it.
Do I need to take a new photo if my appearance has changed?New photos are only required if your appearance has significantly changed from what is in your photo. Growing a beard or coloring your hair would not constitute a significant change. If you can still be identified from the photo in your current passport, you do not need to apply for a new passport. You may have to apply for a new passport if you have:
Edit: I remember from my high school that the max GPA a student could get was a 4.75. I believe it came from acing AP classes or something like that. |
My hair was all brown in my original passport photo. I'm letting it go natural with the gray streaks now. So far, so good! I can't see that hair color would make that much difference as long as the face is the same.
And congrats to your son on the excellent marks at school! I know my school offered weighted courses which offered higher GPA's toward graduation. I hope he keeps up the good work! |
Originally Posted by acquamarinesteph
My hair was all brown in my original passport photo. I'm letting it go natural with the gray streaks now
I feel your pain. Was just comparing my old NEXUS pic, slightly newer passport pic and my latest current visa pic......uuuggghhhh. On a footnote, my brother in-law just flew back home thru the US and while at the CBP kiosk the guy said to him "you're wearing the same shirt as your photo"......and he was. |
Passports and changes in appearance
Over 10 years a person's physical appearance can change significantly. Add in the potential of a significant weight loss, changes in hair colour, removal or addition of facial hair and the natural aging process and the result is you don't look much like the photo in your passport.
The Canadian government recommends you should get a new passport if your appearance has "changed a lot" but doesn't define what a "lot" happens to be. Do other countries have similar recommendations? Have you renewed your passport because of a change in appearance and how significant was the change? Have you ever had a change in appearance cause an issue either entering a different country or returning to your own? |
My wife has received comments that she lost a lot of weight.
No mention of getting a new document however. |
OP, I asked this exact question when I renewed my passport 2 years ago - for a 10 year one. I asked because based on my then current age I fully expected a major decline in appearance in 10 years - nothing to do with weight loss etc.
I was told that the new Canadian 10 year passports use data points on a person's face. Whether this is true or not I do not know but I am hoping it is. However, it was very good news for the people behind me who had multi-coloured hair - as in yellow, pink and blue. My husband asked the same question when he renewed his passport last year and was told the same. |
I lost a significant amount of weight 10 years ago-to the point where it was hard to believe the guy in the passport picture was me. I carried the passport with that photo for about three years. During that time I always got second and third looks from inspectors along with questions about the weight loss. On occasion I was asked to provide a second form of ID. Fortunately my drivers license had an updated picture. I was never refused entry because of the outdated photo in the passport. I cannot say what would’ve happened in those cases where I was asked for the second ID were I not to have had one. I’m sure something would have been worked out though. Keep in mind many people significantly change in appearance due not only to weight loss but to illness as well. I’m sure border inspectors see many of these cases daily. |
My son who is 14 and a “III” was held up briefly by US immigration when coming in with his father - the “Jr” because he looked nothing like his 10-year old self in the photo. He was asked for a second ID like a school card and was then advised to get a new passport. It was all fairly light hearted but odd. Not going to happen until next year, as I’m pretty sure when he was 4 he looked a lot different than the photo of him at 5 months on his original passport. I understand 5 years for kids since they change so much, but five years is five years.
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I had an issue with this recently at a US Airport, flying on my Australian passport. My passport was issued three years ago when I had short blonde hair. Now it’s long and dyed dark brown. A security officer called a supervisor because i didn’t look like my picture. Thing was, I’d been crying after saying goodbye to my fiancé. By the time the supervisor arrived, I’d calmed down and he told me I do look like my photo - though my own mother says she wouldn’t recognise me from it. That was the first time in four trips involving multiple flights each time, that I’ve been pulled up, so I assume they are better at spotting facial features and ignoring grooming changes. Nevertheless I always carry other ID with a range of pictures showing my hair at various stages of colour change and growth. I’ve never yet had to produce them. |
Originally Posted by Murphy123
(Post 29524957)
OP, I asked this exact question when I renewed my passport 2 years ago - for a 10 year one. I asked because based on my then current age I fully expected a major decline in appearance in 10 years - nothing to do with weight loss etc.
I was told that the new Canadian 10 year passports use data points on a person's face. Whether this is true or not I do not know but I am hoping it is. However, it was very good news for the people behind me who had multi-coloured hair - as in yellow, pink and blue. My husband asked the same question when he renewed his passport last year and was told the same. As far as the appearance thing I generally use NEXUS (iris scan, human being never checks the document), and for airline personnel/security checklines I generally use my US passport... I will say that the photo on my Canadian passport is pretty unfocused and grainy, would hide a lot of appearance changes in terms of skin/wrinkles. I thought it might just be a print quality issue on the passport paper itself, and I got an Android app to read the photo off the ePassport chip... it's just a bad scan of the photo (photo digitally stored on the chip is grainy too - the actual scan of the photo makes it pretty clear that there was dust on whatever scanner glass scanned in the passport photo I provided). No idea if they actually do any facial recognition based off the photo at Canadian points of entry though... Theoretically, you could run any ePassport through facial recognition software, and that is generally designed to account for age/appearance changes. |
Weight Loss and Passport
I have lost some weight and feel like my face is quite a bit thinner. Hoping to lose more by October trip. Any chance I will have issues with this?
Hesitant to renew since nervous I won’t have it back in time |
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