A passport one

[MolliciousIntent]

Doing online passport applications for my 2yr old and baby - having a fucking NIGHTMARE getting good enough pictures. Does anyone know what happens if you send off a passport application with a photo the system rates as "poor" ?? Do they reject it?

I had mine rejected recently due to a poor photo (too much shadow in my face). I had to take a new one and resubmit.

I wouldn't risk sending one with poor!

I tried during the day with sunlight instead of flash. Stood near a window, and a couple of other things that they suggested. Got there in the end.

Fuckkkk. How long did it take for them to reject it?

I've submitted the application but the identity hasn't been confirmed yet - is there a way to cancel? Tried calling and they hung up on me.

My Uncle recently had a photo declined, but I don't know what rating the website gave the photo initially. The key point is, the photo was declined ONE MONTH after he sent his application. So he has lost an entire month on an already long passport application process. They plan to go away in June.. I personally wouldn't risk it, and would take my child to a place which does them professionally (Max Spielman, Timpsons etc)

Even if you go to Max Spielmans I would still check the code they give you before you pay and leave
My friends photo code wasn’t accepted so she wasted time and money

If you need these back in next few months then go to Timpsons. It's shockingly expensive at £10 each but they know what they will and won't accept. I had to take my girls hair bobbles out (both had high up bunches in) as they sometimes they r rejected as interfere with background. If they do get ejected they will take them again but it's unusual for them to get rejected as they so experienced doing them. Adult ones they can actually put through a system that says 100% if they are accepted they can't do it with kids ones as they allowed to be looking away etc.

They are a lot more lenient for children I believe. I don't think the system takes into account the allowances made for children (check the gov website as a lot of the conditions are relaxed) so it may come up poor because it is judging by standards set for an adult photo.

Had exactly the same issue, take photos in loads of different lights (so same place but different times of day) to try and find a non-poor one. I managed to get one on my phone for a baby in the middle band (can't remember the exact terminology, sorry!) and it was accepted no bother.

That's me trying to be practical though, obviously if it's super urgent please ignore me and go to a place that does proper ones!

I'm gonna go to Timpsons. Still can't find a way to cancel the existing application or change the photo. If the identity isn't confirmed, do you think i can just eat the cost and submit another application for the same child?

We just got ours done at Timpsons, they were really good and much less hassle than trying to do it yourself. They send it to get checked for quality while you're there so you know the photo will be accepted. Definitely worth the money.

DDs photo was rejected. (It was rated Good...)

All that happened was I had to resubmit the photo, which I did within 2hrs (I had to wait for her to come home from school).

The new photo was approved later than evening. The passport arrived the same day as her sisters, which had had no problems.

Bot DDs baby and toddler photos were awful. I got them done by photographers (before the digital method) and they knew what they were doing. The toddler one looked like a mugshot of a drug addict.

The rules for under 6 are less stringent than for adults and for babies even less so
So you may find you are ok

From the gov website
Children must be on their own in the picture. Babies must not be holding toys or using dummies.
Children under 6 do not have to be looking directly at the camera or have a plain expression.
Children under one do not have to have their eyes open. You can support their head with your hand, but your hand must not be visible in the photo.
Children under one should lie on a plain light-coloured sheet. Take the photo from above.

Baby photos are very lenient. DC2 had one as a baby and she was lying down and eyes closed. That was accepted because guideline didn't say newborn infant needs to have eyes open or facing camera. I remember all I needed was hand supporting the neck not on show. When DC1 was 1, we took her to Timpsons for a photo. It's much easier to do when they have proper lighting. They had her sat down on the floor to take the photo.

I applied for my 2 year old recently. I got the photo done at Max Spielmans because I couldn't get one that passed the online checks at home.

The photographer in Max Spielmans checked the online system for a pass/fail while in the shop, and took about 6 trying to get one that passed. It said it couldn't distinguish the person from the background, I think because my baby's hair is so white it didn't have a clear edge between the hair and the background. We agreed a better picture wasn't possible and I submitted it despite the "poor photo" warning and the passport came no problem.

We had one which the software said was ok or good? Can't remember but it was implied that it would be accepted. That ultimately got rejected. We then sent one which the software said was poor as was blurry (it really wasn't!) but submitted anyway with a message saying it seemed to fit requirements. That passed the criteria and we got passport yesterday

It was a slog with our 2 year old though.

For photo background, I hung a white sheet over the back of a door that faced a window. I waited until a time of day when we got full sun through that window to avoid shadows. It seemed to work.

Just been to Timpsons, thanks for the tip!

Still no idea about changing the photo on the application tho

I don't think you can change the photo on the application. If it fails to meet the standard then they'll contact you and ask you to upload a new one, and open the application to receiving the new photo. Shouldn't delay things too much as you've got the Timpsons one ready to go if necessary.

Good luck!

The Timpsons photo is only valid for 30 days, do you think they'll reject the photo in that time?

Holy shitttttt this is so much more stressful than I anticipated.

Mine was rejected for 2 yo, I think it toom about 2 weeks after the verification had been done. They then contacted me via email, I added a new pic onto the website then got the ship confirmation message about a week later. Didn't need to re verify or anything. Shouldn't take too long.

Thank you! All the daily mail articles about people having to cancel holidays cs they're waiting for passports has made me very, very nervous

I had a 'good' photo rejected last week (child's first passport). I submitted a new photo about an hour later (around 4pm) and it was approved around 6am the next day. Passport arrived a couple of days later. The reason it was rejected was that it was a bit too close apparently but the second photo was a very similar angle and still cropped part of the head off on the photo upload (fine on the actual passport).
Process took about 5 weeks from me submitting initially. Longest stage was from when they said they had received the documents (2 weeks after I know they were delivered) to when they rejected the photo.

I had my kids done at timpsons and the passport office rejected my older child's photo 🤦‍♀️

Timpsons were really good, and re did the photo. Gave me the code which we uploaded there and then, the passport came back 2 days after my other childrens.

the whole passport process took about 3 weeks

Passports successfully received! Thanks all.