Travel can often go awry for a whole swathe of reasons. One thing that you might not suspect, however, is your humble passport photo.
From the business class passenger who urinated all over his cabin to the Chinese ‘time traveller’ who got his flight cancelled, travel can often go awry for a whole swathe of unexpected reasons. One thing that you might not suspect could throw off your holiday plans, however, is your humble passport photo.
With the total hegemony of social media in today’s cultural landscape, it seems that everyone is trying just a bit too hard to make sure their passport photos are suitably glamorous and polished. However, this vainglorious effort is bringing unintended and very much unwanted consequences while travelling, consequences that could land you in big trouble with the smiley folks at immigration.
Dangers Of The Dashing Passport Photo
There have been a fast-rising number of cases reported from travellers who encountered difficulty thanks to their over-stylised passport photos. Beth Gould, a TikToker, revealed what happened when she landed in Taiwan: “The machine said my passport photo didn’t look like me, so I had to go to the desk and get my identification verified.” Her glamorous passport picture was, quite undeniably, a far cry from how she looked in real life… especially right after getting off a flight.
@ameliamarni we won’t stop at nothin #passport #passportphoto #passportmakeup #funny @RileyMinford ♬ Just A Girl – No Doubt
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Another traveller fared even worse. Last autumn, a woman claimed she was “pulled into a room” and “interrogated” in Turkey because she no longer looked like her passport photo. Botox and other beauty treatments meant her appearance was so different that six separate members of law enforcement all felt obliged to question her. All in all, the take-home message is clear: you need to look like your passport photo, no matter how ugly that may be…
Tips For The Perfect Passport
As we’ve said above, a good passport photo is an accurate one, rather than a flattering one. Your aim should be to make sure that your photo looks like you do every day… or perhaps even slightly more haggard than every day, given how we’re all liable to look. a little worse for wear after hopping off a long-haul flight. If you do get worried about looking fresh, pop into the lavatory to wash up before going through immigration, rather than relying on a hyper-stylised passport photo that could land you in hot water.
@joanneprophet That time i got interegated by 6 members of passport control 😅😅😅
♬ original sound – Joanne Prophet
Another woman wrote that her daughter — as teenagers so often do — looked radically different from 16 to 21 years of age and experienced numerous detentions when re-entering the U.S. as a result. On one occasion, she was interrogated for three hours. Her sun-bleached hair and round face as a teen had turned dark-haired and slender, making her unrecognisable from her passport photo, according to immigration officers.
Although these problems are likely to slowly diminish as biometric technologies continue to come to prominence, it’s still crucial that your passport picture matches your mug.
