Way back I wrote how my wife had to have a new passport photo shot because she smiled in her original one. Later this year, I have to get my five year old’s passport renewed. I’d better hope he doesn’t smile. But what about young babies? Good news for parents in the UK. Passport change puts a smile on baby’s face from the Daily Telegraph says that if they are under a year old, they don’t have to smile or even keep their eyes open. Why the change? In three months, over 15,000 child passport applications were rejected because of the no smiling rules.
Here’s a bit of irony. Remember my five year old? His passport picture is from when he was six months old, bearing little resemblance to how he looks now. But the passport last for five years, so it’s accepted. I really don’t want to run down each year to update a child’s photo. But the idea of whether an infant should be allowed to smile or not is foolishness, when you consider that photo’s not even going to resemble the child in just a year or two.
It’s always fun to see the immigration people eyeball my five year old’s passport, with us all sharing a smile since we all know there’s no way it’s verifying who he is.
