U.S. passports: why would the second photo be returned to me?
 

I ordered renewal U.S. passports for my children. The new passports arrived and look fine but two of the kids had one copy of their photograph returned. (The duplicate photo is mounted in the passport as usual.) I called my local passport office and they said what happened to me was weird and they had never heard of it happening before. But they said not to worry..... Has anyone ever heard of the government returning one of the two photos that are required to get a passport? I don't mean rejecting the photo. I mean using it but returning one copy. I'm concerned that the affected passports might not be fully valid and we'll arrive at our destination and be turned back.

That is strange but don't worry as long as there is a photo in the passport you won't be turned back. The problem,if there is one,would be in the Us government records not with the country that you are entering.

Some or most of the passport photos are now being digitally scanned. I don't know if maybe that happened to your kids and they sent the extras back - that could dependson location.

My husband and I got our passports at the same time, had photos taken the same, and his was rejected and the passport was processed in a different place.
No telling though...

FUNNY !!! I'm getting ready for a Russian river cruise and have 3 kits for use in applying for a Russian visa provided by 3 different visa services.They each instruct you to provide a different amount of photos one, two or three .....go figure ? Another of lifes great mysteries......visa/passport photos.

I fretted enough about this that I finally paid the money to call the passport bureau. They said not to worry, photos were returned all the time! I probably should have asked why but I felt relieved and just dropped the matter. It may well be the digital scanning, who knows. Thanks to everyone for your replies!