Passport Photo

[bjarvis]

I finally found a place in the greater DC area which will do photos in a format suitable for Canadian passports. With nothing else planned for this morning, I dashed out to University Blvd & Colesville Rd (about three miles from home) to get the photos while Kent was still getting dressed.



For what it's worth, I hate the new photo requirements. The specification that the picture be taken with a "neutral" (read: blank and/or stoned) expression is utterly unflattering, especially for an official document which has a lifetime of 5 years. What a great way to make a good first impression when visiting a foreign country. :-^ The part that irks me is that the requirement is essentially a concession to automated facial recognition systems and their inability to deal with three-quarter profiles, expressions of happiness/sadness/whatever and the inability of bureaucrats to consider more secure alternatives for official documents.



Now I just have to find a window of opportunity to get downtown to have my would-be guarantor can sign & initial on the dotted lines so I can drop my renewal in the mail.

Comments

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Specifically, as of 12/31/06, a passport is required for re-entry by air or by sea. As of 12/31/07, a passport will also be required for re-entry by land.

Full details available online at: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

[urbear]

That just changed again (it had already changed once, as the original proposal was to have gone into effect on Dec 31 2005). See this. Basically, they intend to create yet another travel document for citizens of Canada, Mexico and the US, called PASS (People Access Security Service, a tortured reverse-engineered acronym if I've ever seen one). The intent is to make it inexpensive and more accessible than a passport. This is government we're talking about, so I give them a probability of success somewhere around 0.2.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a renewed passport at this point, so I should be OK to go to Canada and return for another ten years. :)

I agree ... the probability of success is quite low. I'm almost willing to bet they devolve to ... driver's license and/or birth certificate with other photo ID.

Which is what we use now as the lowest common denominator for re-entry from Canada.

[urbear]

Relying on a driver's license is dangerous. A driver's license says nothing about citizenship... it just verifies your identity (and your license to operate a car, of course). A lot of border agents will allow you to use it, but they're doing you a big favor. Or maybe not, since you may get away with it on the way out but not on the way back!