Passport regulations clarified!

We had a couple of phone calls this week from photographers telling us that passport photographs they had taken recently had been rejected by the Post Office as the Passport Office had changed passport picture regulations.

We phoned the Passport Office to find out what was going on. An Identity and Passport Service spokesperson told us that the policy has not changed and has been included in its guidelines since 2005.

From 1st October they will start enforcing the following standards:

• They will no longer accept black and white photos;
• They will no longer accept photos with an off white background and only light grey or cream backgrounds will be accepted;
• School photographs will now be accepted as the onus is on the applicant to gain permission to use any copyrighted photo for their application

They told us: “It is very important that applicants look at the guidance leaflet and send us photos that meet international standards: this allows the use of facial recognition technology and the production of the UK’s new biometric ePassports, to fight fraud and forgery”.

We asked them how the enforced guidelines had been communicated to photographers and the photographic trade press, they told us: “A leaflet explaining passport photograph requirements is included with each passport application. Clear guidance including the standards we are enforcing from 1 October is available on our website and The Passport Advice line can also provide help on queries regarding photograph standards.” So, in short, there has been no communication with the photographic trade or press about the enforced guidelines since they were announced on October 1st.

The good news, for the trade, is that with such strict guidelines to adhere to the chances of passport applicants taking their own photos must be greatly reduced, hopefully increasing the number of people turning to professional photographic services instead.

Article courtesy of Pixel Magazine, 20th October 2008.
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