Rush Passport – Passport Blog

There was a recent blog post in the NY Times, titled A Paler Shade of White for Passport Photos by David Pogue.

Don't Let This Happen to You

It chronicles a story that is unfortunately all too common.  The author was planning a cruise to Bermuda and needed to renew his children’s passports.   He went to the U.S. Passport Office near his home to take care of it.

Had to renew passports for his three children and tried to do everything himself, he printed the forms from the Web, got out the birth certificates and follwing the instructions on the State Department’s passport website, he carefully prepared the duplicate passport photos.  According to the website, with regard to passport photos,  “Frame subject with full face, front view, eyes open. Make sure photo presents full head from top of hair to bottom of chin; height of head should measure 1 inch to 1-3/8 inches. Make sure eye height is between 1-1/8 inches to 1-3/8 inches from bottom of photo. Photograph subject against a plain white or off-white background. Print on thin photo paper or stock.”

The first two children’s passports were a cinch, but upon applying for his third child’s passport, he describes the agent as “cranky right out of the gate.”  The ‘cranky’ agent blurted out  “These photos are unacceptable. You’ll have to go to a passport-photo bureau and get them retaken.”

Mr. Pogue was confused as he was certain that he followed the instructions meticulously.  When he questioned the agent, the agent explained that they were unacceptable because they were printed from a computer.  This is the moment at which Mr. Pogue should have left the office and avoided further aggravation.  Instead, Mr. Pogue tried to explain himself using factual information presented from the official US passport website which explicitly states that computer prints are perfectly acceptable.  The agent, now became beligerant and threatened Mr. Pogue “Do you want to argue with me, or do you want your passport? These photos are unacceptable.”

Now with his child’s passport in jeopardy, Mr. Pogue realized that he had to behave himself and waited patiently while the agent filled out the forms.   But he couldn’t keep his mouth shut – and for good reason – he was 100% correct.

Here is what transpired next:

Mr. Pogue: “Sir, can you just tell me what’s unacceptable about them? I was just here last week for my other kids, and I printed photos exactly this way, and they were accepted. Can you just—“

Cranky Misinformed Agent: “The background has to be white. Don’t argue with me.”

Mr. Pogue: “But the Web site says ‘white or off-white!’ I can show you!”

Cranky Misinformed Agent: “It has to be plain white. It also has to be on thick glossy photo paper.”

Mr. Pogue: (Feeling like he was in an absurdist play) “What!? The Web site says explicitly ‘thin photo paper! And ‘white or off-white’!”

Cranky Misinformed Agent: (Really annoyed) “I AM NOT THE WEB SITE! I am a U.S. passport official, and your photos are not acceptable.” (Tugging his shirt to bring his badge closer to Mr. Pogue’s eye level.)

At this point, Mr. Pogue gave up.  He found a passport-photo place, paid $15 for photos of his five-year-old that looked identical to the one’s that he had brought to the agency.

Why did the passport agent’s information differ so much from the official US passport agency’s Web site?  One can only speculate, but readers should learn a lesson from this:  There are times when you can take pride in being able to complete a process that is normally reserved for ‘professionals’ like repairing your own motorcycle, doing your own stunts in an action film and performing your own brain surgery.  But, when it comes to passports, leave it to the passport professionals.