Any issues with DIY passport photos?

August 5, 2007 11:49 AM

Has anyone had any problems submitting home-printed photos for a US Passport?

Considering paying $5 at Costco or snapping my own and printing a couple at the drugstore if home printing is going to put the renewal at risk...

posted by mzurer to travel & transportation (21 comments total)

Nope. I submitted digital photos printed on HP gloss paper from my home printer, and trimmed to size. Just make sure you get the proportions correct, of how much of your head fills the photo (I believe the measurements are on the application).
posted by cocoagirl at 11:57 AM on August 5, 2007

Also make sure that none of the clothes you are wearing have a brand or logo showing. They will not accept photos with them visible.
posted by Industrial PhD at 12:02 PM on August 5, 2007

Follow the directions to the letter -- they're not as hard as they sound -- and you shouldn't have a problem.
posted by ardgedee at 12:11 PM on August 5, 2007

I printed out some photos on a crappy HP Inkjet and it worked fine for both my U.S. passport and an Indian visa.
posted by nitsuj at 12:38 PM on August 5, 2007

what happens if the photo gets wet and the ink runs?
posted by jdfan at 1:38 PM on August 5, 2007

I used the local CVS (drugstore) to print mine out for submission (I think it cost 19 cents). There were no problems using them.
posted by sandra_s at 1:40 PM on August 5, 2007

I used the local CVS (drugstore) to print mine

Beware of significantly obnoxious store clerks. I went into CVS to print out some Photoshop-prepared 6x4s with tiled ID pics. Imagine my surprise when I went to pick them up and the clerk rang up something like the "passport" price times the number of photos. The sum involved was impressively larger than 19 cents. Apparently, they charge this fee when they get people to sit down and snap a shot of them. Pleading that I had done the entire process myself was useless and not worth spending more than 10 seconds on. Solution: go to a closeby, similar store and output them there.
posted by meehawl at 2:05 PM on August 5, 2007

Be careful of glasses also. My dad's homemade photo was initially rejected because of his glasses. I can't remember if no glasses were allowed or if his self-tinting glasses were too dark or reflective. Carefully read the instructions if that may apply. My photo went through just fine sans glasses.
posted by parkerjackson at 2:26 PM on August 5, 2007

I did this a while back. Be sure to match the head to the template on the application. They can be very picky about that. After getting some of my first round rejected because of this, I scanned the template and overlaid it as a temporary semi-transparent layer in photoshop, just to be sure the head was within the guidelines.
posted by DarkForest at 2:36 PM on August 5, 2007

DarkForest: Did you have to pay another fee when you resubmitted?
posted by grouse at 2:48 PM on August 5, 2007

How strange. I just did this yesterday. As long as the pictures conform to all of the rules for passport photos and your printer is capable of suitably high quality prints, then it's fine.
posted by eunoia at 2:59 PM on August 5, 2007

i took digital pictures of a friend for his passport. We printed them out at Kinkos (glossy paper) and he had no trouble using them.
posted by bourdon at 3:20 PM on August 5, 2007

I would worry about the longevity of generic home prints. Passports last for 10 years, will your home-printed photo?
posted by b1tr0t at 3:20 PM on August 5, 2007

My photo and my wife's were shot and printed at home. I even faked the white background because the backdrop was a door and the refrigerator, respectively. No problems.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:35 PM on August 5, 2007

DarkForest: Did you have to pay another fee when you resubmitted?

No, I didn't, but I did it in a little 10 cent town where it's pretty informal (well, except for following the template exactly...).
posted by DarkForest at 4:01 PM on August 5, 2007

Oh, it was rejected before it got sent to the passport agency then?
posted by grouse at 4:12 PM on August 5, 2007

Oh, it was rejected before it got sent to the passport agency then?

Yeah, the local people checked the photos while we were there.
posted by DarkForest at 4:19 PM on August 5, 2007

I followed this tutorial, printing them on photo paper with a photo inkjet and it worked out fine for my son's passport.
posted by jduckles at 4:41 PM on August 5, 2007

jdfan: They actually don't laminate your photos into your passport anymore, like they used to. They scan them and print them on the passport page these days.
posted by jduckles at 4:43 PM on August 5, 2007

I haven't had any problems with passport photos or international visa photos. One of my coworkers was trying to get visas for herself and her husband's trip to Russia. He had filled out all the forms but then had to go away on business and was unable to get his photo taken. I grabbed another shot I had of him and Photoshopped out the background. They had no problems getting it approved.
posted by rhapsodie at 4:49 PM on August 5, 2007

There's also ePassportPhoto which is free and provides an interface to get the alignment correct.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:46 PM on August 5, 2007