And now it’s the background of my passport photo that’s the problem
I need to renew my passport, which has expired. That requires a photo that follows all the rules.
Rather than try to do it myself, I went to CVS, which purports to have a service that takes a person’s photo in a government-compliant way. Although the ensuing photo was far from flattering, it seemed to pass muster. And their computer said so, as well.
But alas, when I tried to renew online the government website rejected the photo. Why? The background was too dark, it said. And yet the background was white. Quite white. Was it very, very, very white? Not exactly, I suppose.
So now it’s back to square one. Where do I go now? Walgreen’s or the UPS store? The post office no longer offers this handy dandy service. Where have you had success? Or are you do-it-yourselfers?
What about the Post Office?
A couple months ago I got my passport renewed and photo taken at the UNM bookstore. I paid extra for expediting and received my brand-new passport in five days.
I used the post office, but that was about 4 years ago.
AAA worked for me as well. It really is frustrating to deal with the government entities. Getting a permit in Los Angeles, or in this case Beverly Hills? Most recent case, to erect a 3 foot retaining wall which is merely a replacement following a tree removal, used to take 15 minutes over the counter. We are on week four (and paid $1,600 to expedite) and are now being required to provide a soils report. I could go on here, but you get the idea.
Uh oh. Got to renew my passport soon, too. Let us know what ends up working, please!
Neo: The Delete button in this comment feature doesn’t work. I intended to delete my earlier comment and redraft it. Instead, Delete seems to fix the comment in place and remove the buttons to edit/delete/save.
Anyway: Simply copy the photo file on the Desktop or in its folder, then paste that directly into Word (in Print Layout view). Then select the photo. A special Picture Format menu should appear. The Adjust section on the left has various submenus that may help.
Of course, if you have something like Photoshop, that would be even better.
Walt:
I adjusted the background but they still wouldn’t accept it.
No post office anywhere near me will do it.
My wife renewed her passport early this year. We used the online application. I was unable to get a good do it yourself picture. The background had reflections and too much texture. We then went to AAA. They gave us a thumb drive with a digital image as well as a printed picture. Unfortunately their software was new and it cropped the digital image too much. We went back and had them redo the picture using visa specifications which create a larger image. This worked and she got her passport about 2 weeks later.