Where can I get Canadian Permanent Resident card photos taken in the Dallas area?

February 6, 2009 10:18 PM

Where can I get Canadian Permanent Resident card photos taken in the Dallas/Plano area?

I need photos taken per the specifications here.

I've called every chain drugstore and photo store I can think of as well as numerous private photographers. The photos need to be stamped with a date and in metric dimensions.

None of the places I've called have such a date stamp. Most only take US passport photos and are not able to cut the photos into the requisite 45mm x 35mm size. Some have machines that can produce the date on the back of the paper when developing the photos, but they can't fit the date text within the metric dimensions.

I have gone to a couple of drug stores here to get passport photos taken in the hope that I could trim them but the picture quality was terrible and washed out on the instant Kodak machines they used. The backgrounds also turned out blue due to the lighting.

In Canada, the drugstores use a stamp with the name and contact info of the store as well as the date. Ideally, this is what I want but I would rather not pay to fly to Canada and come back just for the photo.

Where can I get photos like these taken in DFW?

posted by globotomy to Law & Government (7 answers total)

Best answer: The FedEx Kinkos on 288 in Denton can do it. Note that the date doesn't need to be stamped; it can be written so long as it's in permanent ink and not a sticker. Print out the page and take it to Kinkos (not just the one in Denton if it's not convenient); they will figure it out.
posted by fireoyster at 3:56 AM on February 7, 2009

Try walgreens. They take your picture with a digital camera, plug it into their computer, and select "Canada" which gives you the right measurements. They put it in a folder with a receipt pasted on the back; I hand wrote the address & date on the back of the photo itself.
posted by jschu at 7:54 AM on February 7, 2009

I had a similar problem getting Canadian Passport photos in Lafayette. I went to several different places and had the photos rejected once which caused a lot of problems. The problems were not with the dimensions or the markings, but with eyeglass frame glare and "shadows" behind my head. The problem with any of the regular places is that they usually have only one flash and it is offset from the lense, producing offensive shadows behing your head. In the end, the best ones came from a little photography studio that had a three flash setup that illuminated the background behind my head so there was no perceived shadow. The photographer info and date were written with a sharpie on the back with no problems. I'm not sure if the PR people are as picky as the passport people, but I recommend not wearing glasses if you have them. Sorry, can't give you a specific place in Dallas.
posted by Yorrick at 11:06 AM on February 7, 2009

Response by poster: I ended up going to Fedex Kinkos since Wallgreens had previously told me they couldn't do it. I went to the specific Fedex Kinkos listed because both of the ones near my place said they could not do it. There were some shadows behind my head but I didn't wear glasses. There were shadows behind my Permanent Residence application photos which were previously accepted so hopefully these PR Card photos will be accepted, too.
posted by globotomy at 1:33 PM on February 7, 2009

Response by poster: For what it's worth, the photo in my current US passport has the same shadows behind the ears as well.
posted by globotomy at 1:34 PM on February 7, 2009

I got mine done (for the British Passport, but the dimensions & requirements were the same) at Mailboxes, Inc.
posted by media_itoku at 5:44 PM on February 7, 2009

You should go to a professional that use a little printer to make ID photos and give hime the size and let him set it in Photoshop. As for the date it's just a stamp that usely used here in Canada, or the guy can write it down and use his own stamp over it.
posted by zouhair at 12:07 AM on February 9, 2009