to think that a baby can't go on hoilday without a passport

[AuntiePickleBottom]

ok i know it is soap world (eastenders) but surely it's not possible

[LRDTheFeministNutcase]

Babies used to travel on their mum's passport for the first few months ... don't know when the law changed, but it's a while ago!

Love the attention to detail though.

[DogsBestFriend]

Dunno about EE but as far as I'm aware babies DO need passports these days. Isn't that why folk laugh and say that it's daft, that many babies (of the same colour/hair colour if they have any etc of course!) look the same so it's all a bit pointless?

[MissTinaTeaspoon]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that

[SkelleyBones]

And you can't get a same day passport for their first one, hope that helps somebody out I was most upset to discover this 2 days before we were due to fly.

[Andrewofgg]

This may sound insane but before babies needed their own it was for many years only their fathers' passports that they could be put on! Then it was made either parent but now, no, they need their own.

I used to work near the old Passport Office in Petty France and I once queued up there (from 6.15 a.m.) to be first through the door to apply for a passport for my neighbours' twelve-day-old - picked the passport up the next day - and the whole family flew to see her sister in the USA when he was just fourteen days old. Rather them than me.

[duchesse]

Babies do indeed need a passport. You have to have their pictures taken in the same way as any other passport photo- with their eyes open and their ears showing. DD3 was 3 weeks old when we applied for hers and the photographer was doubtful we'd manage it as she was asleep when we arrived. Luckily she complied and opened her eyes for just long enough for the photos to be taken.

[AuntiePickleBottom]

duchesse, i am now panicking as my dd either pulls funny faces or screams blue murder when photo are being done...we are planning our 1st hoilday abroad next year.

can the school passport pic be used, as DS one are lovely

[Sirzy]

The passport rules are madness for babies though. DS had his passport done when he was a few months old. Now at 19 months he doesnt look like the pic and certainly wont when he is 5!

[Conkertree]

We were told that the rules about eyes etc are less strict when its a very young baby. Ds2s passport is excellent - he looks like a mafia boss at 2 months old.

[lia66]

my dd's passport pic she is 4 days old and fast asleep. she was laid in her pram on a white sheet. Looks like any 4 day old baby, certainly looks absolutely nothing like the blonde haired lively 4 yr old now.

[PumpkinBones]

My friend too her 2 week old to Portugal with no passport, just a birth certificate, that was 5 years ago now though.

Duchesse I was told by the passport office that babies under 12 months don't have to have their eyes open, or their mouths closed! The didn't mention ears though

[KaraStarbuckThrace]

Duchesse - the rules are relaxed for babies under a year, they can have their eyes shut, I just picked up a passport application pack a couple of days ago as need passport for DD - 1mo tomorrow!
Apparently needs to be a grey or cream background now not white!

[Sirzy]

Those who need to get photos done for babies take them to max speilman. They are great and if the photo is sent back will do more for free.

[wigglesrock]

Dd3 (5 months) got a passport at 6 weeks, we're just back from holiday!! The rules have slightly relaxed re eyes, she looks like a frightened frog in hers. Dd2 is almost 4 and her passport was done at 3 months old - she bears almost no resemblance to her photos at all - she now has hair .

[Andrewofgg]

Fortunately immigration staff the world over know that babies turn into children . . . many of them have children and most of them were children once themselves.

[CharlieCoCo]

when i took my charge overseas once, she was 6 and her passport photo was when she was 2 and she kept saying to the people who were checking her passport 'it looks nothing like me'. luckly, even though she certainly didnt look like a 2yr old, you could tell it was her and thats what one of them said to her lol.

[Dexifehatz]

I had my DD2[16m] passport photos taken at Max Spielman and they were great.The lady was prepared to take loads but got the perfect photo in the first shot!