Passport photo, was told I have to cover my shoulders & upper arms...

[sunshinehighway]

When I renewed mine the woman at AAA thought it would be best if I took off my white sweater. She said it's just preferred to not wear white because it can give a "floating head" look and the picture might end up rejected.
I already had a trip planned and didn't want to mess around with the photo being rejected so I took the sweater off, tucked my hair behind my ears and didn't smile.

 

[WDWJDS]

That is what I am saying, Immigration is not customer service oriented, when we renewed last time, half the people were being sent home for one thing or another. Go early and follow the rules

I think the issue is what exactly IS the rule? Official websites say one thing, but in-person sites say totally different things.

As a side note, when my daughter and I renewed our driver’s licenses, we were both told that we couldn’t smile. DH was allowed a big, cheesy grin! All done at the same DMV site.

 

[Dimplenose]

UK passports haven't allowed smiling for some time now, or glasses. I think it is to help the automatic face recognition machines at some airports.

 

[Imzadi]

UK passports haven't allowed smiling for some time now, or glasses. I think it is to help the automatic face recognition machines at some airports.

That part makes sense. But what's with having to show the ears? I've never heard of an all points bulletin put out by police looking for a person with one ear. Generally, most people have 2 ears.

 

[mummabear]

I had new passport photos made at Walgreens in January. The lady taking my photo would not let me show my teeth when I smiled and she insisted that the photo had to show my ears so she tucked my hair behind my ears. The travel gov site states that you can show your teeth as long as your smile is a natural one and it says absolutely nothing about showing your ears! How odd that Walgreens is telling people these things.

Obviously we have different rules for our passports but for my NZ one, we cannot smile or show teeth, it must be a neutral face and must have hair tucked behind our ears. I believe it is for the facial scanners.
Everyone's looks like a mug shot.
And ridiculously the same rules apply to babies even though they can't use the scanners, have you ever tried to get a 3 month old to have their face forward and flat, eyes open and a neutral expression!

I can't remember the rules for our Canadian ones, I think they were basically the same, but a different size.

 

[Skippy918]

In my first passport photo, I had my glasses on. This was in 2000, so pre digital passports. The photo is laminated in the page.

 

[Pkltm]

Obviously we have different rules for our passports but for my NZ one, we cannot smile or show teeth, it must be a neutral face and must have hair tucked behind our ears. I believe it is for the facial scanners.
Everyone's looks like a mug shot.
And ridiculously the same rules apply to babies even though they can't use the scanners, have you ever tried to get a 3 month old to have their face forward and flat, eyes open and a neutral expression!

I can't remember the rules for our Canadian ones, I think they were basically the same, but a different size.

I am in Canada!! We cannot smile, show teeth, no wearing white, no glasses and when I did mine 2 years ago we could not have exposed shoulders.

 

[bellebud]

OP here... the exposed shoulders thing is bugging me the most. The other things, I can see a reason for. But exposed shoulders?? If anything, it's better for identifying birth marks, tattoos, gauging someone's weight/build.

 

[TheRealTeal]

As a Walgreens photo tech, I've never heard of or been told any regulations about what type of clothing the person is wearing. I've also never had any come back or get rejected due to this. I would suggest avoiding white just so you aren't a floating head, but there aren't any rules about it.

Walgreens is given annual regulation updates from the government that we are to adhere to. Currently, the person must be looking straight on, no eyeglasses, no visible teeth, and no shadowing or coloration in the background. The head must fit into certain parameters pre-programmed into our equipment. The reasoning we have been given is that it's so that the image works with the facial recognition software they use.

I absolutely have had customers return for a re-take or a refund when their image was rejected due to eyeglasses being worn or teeth showing, so those are both things that really can be a problem and cause a slow-down in your application process.

Of course, all of this only applies to US passports, to the point that we have been advised by Corporate to not take photos for other countries anymore.

 

[BLAZEY]

UK passports haven't allowed smiling for some time now, or glasses. I think it is to help the automatic face recognition machines at some airports.

Same for Canada. No smiling, or glasses. They even gave me a tissue to wipe oil from my face as not to get shine or shadow on the picture. With most place offering that the will re-take pictures if they a not approved they are doing everything they can to lessen the chance of rejection of the photos. Honestly it a win win tha they do this.

 

[NotUrsula]

It's almost surely a visa issue; there are probably some countries which do not allow bare shoulders in the visa photo, and it is simpler to follow the most conservative rule if there is any doubt about how the photos will be used. Since the photo is a fairly extreme closeup, it's easy to end up with no clothing at all visible, which gives the impression that you might not be wearing any.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Hey, this is 'Murica. We have the right to bare arms.

 

[jerseygal]

I went to an AAA store to have mine taken. I had a white sweater, didn’t know when I wore it that morning, and told not to smile. The background that they use to take pic is white. I sent the pic in, it was accepted, look faded out. Had I known,would have worn another color.

 

[Shanti]

I had new passport photos made at Walgreens in January. The lady taking my photo would not let me show my teeth when I smiled and she insisted that the photo had to show my ears so she tucked my hair behind my ears. The travel gov site states that you can show your teeth as long as your smile is a natural one and it says absolutely nothing about showing your ears! How odd that Walgreens is telling people these things.

You actually are not supposed to smile in a passport photo. At least, no more than the Mona Lisa smiles. You're definitely not supposed to show your teeth when smiling.

 

[low-key]

never ever ever let someone tell you to hide your cleavage, we must rid the country of cleavage haters

 

[leebee]

My niece's photos were just rejected (and returned) because she was smiling.

 

[NHdisneylover]

That part makes sense. But what's with having to show the ears? I've never heard of an all points bulletin put out by police looking for a person with one ear. Generally, most people have 2 ears.

I think that it isn't actually about being able to see ears---but having hair or head scarves, etc behind ears, means that the cheek bones and facial structure are fully shown and not hidden behind hair, etc.
People can rather easily change hair cuts or styles, etc but it takes considerbly more work and time to change the shape of the cheekbones and other underlying structures---so having those fully visible for recognition makes a lot of sense actually

 

[dish rag]

What chance was the person taking? There are no rules listed on the website regarding bare shoulders nor color of your shirt (there is for background of the photo).

The chance one is taking is having the photo rejected. My lawyer in Canada called us that my PR photo was recently rejected in Canada, it was taken at CARP in Canada and they are supposed to know what they are doing. Only have limited time to have it resubmitted. They sent back very specific instructions. So today I am going to a place in Orlando, taking the instructions and hope to have it correct this time. As another poster said, they have no problem rejecting the photo.

 

[cabanafrau]

That part makes sense. But what's with having to show the ears? I've never heard of an all points bulletin put out by police looking for a person with one ear. Generally, most people have 2 ears.

IDK, but aren't ears supposed to be particular to each individual, like fingerprints?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The chance one is taking is having the photo rejected. My lawyer in Canada called us that my PR photo was recently rejected in Canada, it was taken at CARP in Canada and they are supposed to know what they are doing. Only have limited time to have it resubmitted. They sent back very specific instructions. So today I am going to a place in Orlando, taking the instructions and hope to have it correct this time. As another poster said, they have no problem rejecting the photo.

For the US I know they can reject the photo but that would be for things against the rules which can be found via the website another poster mentioned on the first page.

Current U.S. rules regarding certain things mentioned in the thread:

Bare shoulders=not against any rules (there isn't any mention regarding this and an example acceptable photo shows the woman with bare shoulders)

White shirt=not against the rules (there isn't any mention regarding this other than some helpful hints for babies and several example acceptable photos show individuals with white shirts)

Smile=acceptable so long as it's a natural smile, an unnatural smile is not acceptable

Glasses=not acceptable unless you submit paperwork from your doctor reflecting it's for medical reasons, etc.

So if you take a picture with glasses on with an unnatural smile yeah you're taking a risk it could get rejected. Wearing a white shirt with your shoulders bare should not get you rejected unless you are not conforming to one of the other rules regarding the picture (could be hair on face, a hat, proportions, background, etc). That was my point.

As far as your issue listed above, respectfully that's really different than a passport photo with guidelines spelled out on our government's website. Plus they even put out a youtube video (hey they're up to date on the times lol). When you do your passport applications you'll also see the photo guidelines listed: (though the website has it listed easier)