UH-OH, I don't look like my passport pic!
 

My hair color is significantly different; my hair is longer and I now wear glasses. What's your best bet regarding whether I'll be delayed by puzzled security personnel when i go to Paris next month??

Like you said you probably will get puzzled looks, but you aren't the first person this happened to.

Zero.
Do you think everyone else looks the same over a 10-year period?

Immigration people deal with this (and facial hair, and nose jobs, and more) a hundred times a day. Sorry, but you're not special.

Ahhhh, Robespierre, little do you know.....

Thanks for the replies.

Duchie

your Grace,
That is not unusual. It could be me posting this :)
Have a wonderful time and will b looking for you when you return.
:)

If it pleases you to think so... :))

Robes -- Who knows, maybe TheDuchess was TheDuke before. She might be VERY special indeed. ;)

Seriously Duch, don't worry about it. If you're that worried about it, dye your hair back and get contacts. I don't know too many people who change themselves to look like their ID!

Jules

It isn't unusual for people to change hair color and hair styles over 10 years. As for glasses, you can remove them if you want for them to look at you, you know.

<who knows, maybe TheDuchess was TheDuke before>

Oh my, jules, word has gotten out!

Sorry, but I don't think there's anything special about the transgendered, regardless of what <i>they</i> may think...

And I'm certain that immigration officials deal with them as a matter of routine.

I renewed my passport last fall, but before that I used a passport with a picture that was 9 years old that no longer looks much like me. Since it was taken I lost weight and hair and gained a beard. And never once did anyone ever give my passport picture a second glance. So I wouldn't worry about it.

Andrew

Although they <u>will</u> need a new passport with Frieda instead of Frederick and the other gender checked.

Nothing will happen until you try to get back into the country..that's when the real fun will begin.

FWIW, my husband, kids and I all got new passports in January. Frankly, I don't think any of the pictures really look like us! Well, maybe my daughter's. Isn't it sort of the same as drivers license pictures?!

hair color, style, and glasses are not enough to make a difference. unless it was something surgically dramatic that has taken place, i would not be concerned.

I don't look like my passport photo either. In my case that is a VERY good thing.

Please God tell me I don't look like my passport photo!!!

“To enter Europe, you must have a valid passport with a photograph of yourself in which you look like you are being booked on charges of soliciting sheep.”
Dave Barry quote

I was well acquainted with the gag that if you looked like your passport picture, you needed a trip. I was unprepared for the preponderance of thuglike pictures which I found in the course of processing passports.”
Frances G. Knight

&quot;UH-OH, I don't look like my passport pic!&quot;

As the saying goes, if you look like your passport photo then see a doctor

I actually took my own passport photo the last time I had it renewed, so I had some choice over it! It's not a great photo but far better than the average passport picture.

Andrew

I have many things to be thankful for, and the fact that I look nothing like my passport photo is one of them...

And the old joke, if you hate your passport photo just wait until the next one is taken ten years later. Soooo true, LOL.

the duchess, don't worry about it. Most women's hair color changes dramatically over the years, most women change their hair styles and most people end up wearing glasses. You would die laughing if you saw my passport photo. As long as your passport is current and legitimate you will be fine (but I do wonder how often security have a good laugh regarding our photos).

Oh, LoveItaly, you're right! Now that you mention it, I can just hear them standing around ye olde water cooler and comparing stories.

Just had a thought...maybe the photos are so bad to make us look more like we do under the influence of jet-lag.

There you go theduchess, yes,, think you figured it out, LOL. My recent passport photo is soooo bad, but imagine I look that bad after flying from the westcoast of the US to Italy.

If it's that bad, they won't even bother to look... just scan the passport. Believe me, they've see it all.

However, if it's a concern, have a new photo taken and renew your passport early. Not!

duchess ... I entered France at CDG last month. I watched the officer in the booth. He didn't look up until I slid my passport and landing card across to him. At that point he looked off over my right shoulder, looked down at his hands, added the landing card to the stack in front of him, closed my passport, and pushed it back at me.

He didn't look at me or the photo in my passport. I could have been wearing a goalie's mask and he wouldn't have noticed.

Anselm

Passport photos are bad enough -:) (the difference between age 57 and 67 is a real eye opener.) BUT... something almost as bad.... Just bought a new i-Mac and part of getting the machine set up involved a photo!! I lured my husband into the camera range....no way will I have my image floating around the internet-:)

If anyone ever looks at my passport photo and tells me it's a perfect likeness, I shall slap them!! :O I don't know what happened to me that day, but someone must have sprinkled me with ugly dust on my way to get the photo made. I hate it when that happens. :s

My friend does not resemble his current passport photo and on the train through Poland last week, they did scrutinize him quite carefully. One of the guards called over another and they had an intense conversation before stamping and giving back his passport. But in western Europe or on his return to the U.S., he never had a problem.

Darling, you're not supposed to look like your passport photo. Cigalechanta's quote says it all. In real life, I look like a younger, heavier version of Sissy Spacek. In my passport photo, the celebrity I most resemble would be Jabba the Hut.

Don't worry and have a lovely trip!

BC

Bookchick, I got such a laugh out of your response! I distinctly remember telling my kids that my passport photo looks like some horrible forest creature!

Just remember ladies, no matter how terrible your current passport photo looks just think how bad the next one will be when we are all ten years older. Isn't that a depressing thought, LOL.

LoveItaly, I keep telling myself that 10 years from now I will surely have finally lost that 50 pounds I keep struggling with. Therefore, even tho' I'm 10 years older, I'll be skinny and beautiful! Prograstinism (is that a word?) dies hard!

Hair cut/color is a very common thing to change. If you're worried about the glasses, take them off when they look at your picture (though I doubt it'd be a problem). Like others said, this is by no means an uncommon issue, and is very rarely a problem (maybe if you were a victim of horiffic burns or something, but not just hair).

Sorry Duchess but it could be embarrassing. I noticed on my last 2 trips that customs officers were looking at me, looking at my 5 years old passport, looking at me, looking back at the passport, looking like saying something but then sending me through. At least I have not had the experience of the husband of a woman I knew. He had gone grey and grown very fat in the last 8 years - the (very blunt like many Australians) customs office did the up and back looking bit and then said: &quot;The years have not been kind, Mr X&quot;

I'm not quite sure what word I was looking for in the 2:02 AM post. But that sure wasn't it! What can I tell you, it was late, I was tired, we'd had a bit of the bubbly!

As I just got my passport renewed this month I had ample opportunity to sit in a waiting room and study the notices. To wit, that if one wishes to cover one's hair for religious reasons, one may do so for passport photos, but the face must be clearly visible. So security personnel won't be relying on hair, or glasses either (I couldn't even wear mine for the photo, the photographer was unable to get a clean shot undistorted by glare off the lenses, which is considered the greater evil.)