Passport Stress-- Smiling

You might call a local passport office while you still have time to change the photo- if necessary. We were allowed to grin, have a pleasant look on our faces, just not show teeth. If you have any doubts, you'd best call instead of stress for the next 4 months. Good luck!
Lisa

Thanks! I may do that! I wasn't doing a huge open mouth smile but my upper teeth are for sure visible! It will be so frustrating to have to pay for an entire new passport. You would think the passport photographer would have passed along that information!

Princess,

"My concern is that when I had my photo taken I did not know that smiling was not permitted."

Just wondering... where did you read that smiling for passport photo is not permitted?

I have had my passport for about 9 years now and have been to Europe & Canada several times and have not had any issues with
my photo where I'm smiling and my teeth are showing.

My daughter & son just renewed their passports (December 2014) and they are both smiling as well.

If smiling were not permitted then the passports wouldn't have been processed.

I would think that if the US government have issued the passport you will not have an issue.

In Australia, you must have your mouth closed in passport photos and you are told this when you submit your application. Makes it really hard with young kids. 10 years ago we had to have a passport photo taken of our daughter who was 2 months old ....eyes open, looking straight at camera and mouth closed. Difficult to get all three at once!

I have SUNGLASSES on my head in my passport picture. Received it in the mail about a month ago and have not tried to use it yet. The sunglasses are the same color as my hair so maybe nobody will notice.

The USA passport requirements state 'neutral expression'.

These rules are set up mainly for automatic facial recognition technology and a photo 'on the edge' might mean it won't work reliably but that means a human doing the job.

The BBC news magazine had an article recently as it is 100 years since the UK required a photo on passports, which in early days could be anything!

The Passport Agency wouldn't have issued your passport if there was a problem with your photo. It is an official document and other countries must accept it.

The not smiling rule is not for our US passports. On my Italian passport application it stated clearly no teeth etc but that is not our US rule so your passport is valid.

In Canada here, you can't have your teeth showing. Or any shiny glares (heaven help the oily faced person), no hair obscuring the face (I took the nicest photo of a lady one time, printed it out...then realized...duh, her hair was down over one eye - retake!), must have neutral expression on your face, glasses were permitted, but because of how hard it was to get a photo without a flash glare in the glasses, generally people removed them.

I worked at a camera shop and we took passport photos - some would get rejected for the most inane reasons. But in Canada at least, if they approved them when they were doing the passport, you are good to go. And taking pictures of babies was the worst! Try holding an infant upright and not have the parents hands in the photos...so frustrating! I think taking the passport photos was my least favourite thing. I can't tell you how many photos we'd have to take of babies - if they were cranky, forget it. I think I spent 30 frustrating minutes trying to get a passport pic one time of a sleeping baby who didn't want to wake up (eyes must be open...sigh)...and once he was awake, then he was crying...not my best hour...lol.

I had no issues with my 2004 passport which has a smile.

just renewed my passport last February and the rules seem to have changed. I had my photo taken at AAA and they rejected the first pose as I was smiling. They said the rule is now no smiling. I complied but checked when I got home. The state department website says " a neutral expression is preferred; a natural smile is acceptable."

So whatever photo is on your current passport, and however acceptable it has been for your trips, be prepared for stricter rules when you renew. Maybe because the passports now have a chip and you can do e-check? We did that upon return to the US last June, and then this year for entry into Australia.

We had our pic taken at Walgreens when we had our passports made a year ago. When we got to the Post Office to take care of the official filing of the paperwork, the PO employer told me they probably wouldnt accept mine because my hair wasnt put behind my ears! So we had to pay for a new picture for me. Let me tell you. ....I have never taken an uglier Photograph!

It's a recent rule. My understanding was your old passport (with a smile) is valid until it expires - but the new passport photos going forward require no smile.

Why no smile? Because it messes up facial recognition software. So if you ever become a fugitive like Bourne, smile big all the time. :-)

My photo with a semi-smile passed the test, despite the warning from the postal employee.

If you worry about things like this, what is it like when something important happens or doesn't happen. At the time your passport was issued the picture was fine, and it is just as good today. Find something else to focus on.

We got our family passports (here in the USA) 2 1/2 years ago and we were told we were not allowed to smile and our hair had to be off our faces. My daughter with layered hair had to play with it until the passport photog deemed it acceptably off of her face. When I told friends how picky our photog was, they said they'd had the same experience with their passport photos- and they live in a different town. So while her picture is probably fine, consulting with the passport office will give her piece of mind and the appropriate answer.

The OP is NOT out of line in questioning her picture and shame on folks who would belittle her for asking a valid question here!

Interesting to read this thread, I hadn't heard about the new requirement to not smile. Probably easier to comply if you're a business traveler. :-I (that's me not smiling). My 9 year old passport has a smile, plus the glasses I wear all the time. Guess next year I'll have to think sad thoughts and look dazed 'cause I can't see the camera.

Same new rule for our WA driver's licenses now, no glasses because it messes up the facial recognition stuff. But still have to wear them for the actual driving! (Can I smile now?) :-)

No, rankster, you are missing the point. At the time her passport was issued, her picture was acceptable since the passport was issued. It may not be an acceptable picture when she renews in eight years but today it is a valid passport. No need to worry about it. No need to waste your time or the passport office asking if the picture is OK. It is a valid passport. Now, it would be a good idea to get a couple of non-smiling passport photos to take with you in the very unlikely event that you lose your passport and have to have it replaced.

Both our passports were reissued in 2012 with smiling faces. Especially my wife is showing all of her teeth. Since 12 those passports have been through a dozen or more immigration check with no second question. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Now, if you want to make reentry to the US more stress free then apply for Global Entry. You have time. Well worth the $100 - good for five years. Skip all the lines and they never look at your picture or passport.

Yeah - it's not the photog being picky - it's the regulations...if someone came back to our store with a rejected photo, we would retake it - for free. So you want to get it right the first time, not only because of that, but because (at least where I live) it's a 30-60 min drive to the passport office, or a few weeks wait thru the mail, so any delay because of a rejected photo is a PITA. Even here, we had a satellite passport office that is about a 30 min drive away - they were rejecting and being way more picky than the main office (60 min drive) about photos. We got to the point where we would recommend people either mail it in or go to the main office instead of the other one...

Just mailed my passport renewal paperwork in a couple of weeks ago, with a semi-smiling photo from Walgreens -- hopefully things go OK. In the last couple of years, contact lenses haven't been working so well anymore, so I'm usually back to wearing glasses. The Walgreens employee instructed that I should remove the glasses for the photo, but the State Dept. Passport Website specifically said to wear glasses for the photo, if you normally wear them, as long as they're not too dark (dark glasses needed for documented medical reasons are OK), so I kept them on.

Since most folks generally aren't exactly smiling after an airport security screening these days, and some may not be beaming after a 9 to 12 hour flight in coach, maybe the passport photos are supposed to reflect a person's visage at those times, when a passport is apt to be scrutinized? :-)

Thank you so much for all of your input! Makes me feel so much better to know that others with smiling faces have not faced any difficulty! :)

As a point of information , there is in fact a singular exception I have encountered : The required photo for a VISA from the Russian Federation specifically requires a " neutral expression " be maintained in the photo = no smile , lips closed , eyes open . I post this only for further information for anyone contemplating a trip to Russia . I am aware of this issue due to my upcoming trip to St. Petersburg . There is no issue surrounding the passport , only the Russian Visa . Just a heads up for those with an interest .

When I travel out of the US I always have 3 pieces of picture ID: US passport from 2007, AZ driver license from 2011 and a current IDP. All have me smiling and showing my teeth. Other than that, any similarity among those 3 is strictly coincidental! They have different glasses, different hair styles and different hair colors. So far, I have had no problems no matter where I've landed or left from or in getting back into the US.

My husband has had very short white hair and a short white beard (he cuts both himself) for at least the past 10 years, and he's had the same glasses. He always seems to have the same look on his face, too. Needless to say, he hasn't had any problems either.

Thanks for bringing this question up. I have certainly learned a lot about what to expect for our passport renewals in 2017 and will try to anticipate that with my driver license renewal in 1/2016. I hope I can keep from giggling.

When I renewed my passport in 2008, the person at AAA that took the photo told me not to smile. I complied and my passport now has a photo that looks like a bad mugshot. I guess I am just a stern looking guy with my mouth closed, unsmiling. Can't wait for the next renewal when I get another crack at it. I am convinced my surly passport photo has caused me to be questioned more at the airport that I would have otherwise been. While I joke about the topic in general, that part about extra screening questions I am very serious about!

I am smiling in my passport picture and have had no problems. I would agree with others that this is for the facial mapping when you come back into the country (the new machines take your picture, somehow with jetlag I am never looking the right way but it must be enough to connect). In my previous passport picture I was not smiling and it looked like a mug shot. That picture almost always lead to special screening including on time on the Canadian border when the customs guys wanted to know if I had ever been arrested. This was a church trip in a 55 passenger bus and I was the only one they asked. The moral of the story is don't look too grumpy in the picture, and customs would have rejected your picture if they did not like it. The only issues I would see gaining entry into any of those countries is if you were wanted for some crime in an EU state or were on a watch list. In London they wanted to know where I was staying and when/how I was leaving - I hostel backpacking on a Eurostar early morning commuter train so I think I stood out.

cyn is echoing the advice of my college room mate.....my first passport was acquired to visit her on her rotary scholar posting in England in 1987,,,,,, she said that because we'd be sleeping on the floor of the ferry to Ireland, etc, etc......a scruffy photo would be best, I didn't want to be pulled aside because I no longer matched some Glamour Shot (remember THOSE?)

anyway, my TSA based anxiety on this weeks domestic flight was that I'd been to a graveside service the week before where I helped pick up the brass shells after the 21 gun salute and carried them in my coat pocket back to church....days later I started to worry about the gun powder I now had spread all over coat, gloves, and purse.......... :) fortunately, they did NOT pull me out for extra testing this time.......

I agree with the consensus here, the US govt would not have issued your passport if there was an issue with your picture. I am planning a month in Europe this summer, my passport is the least of my worries. Relax, you should be fine. :)