A UK passport of adults is usually valid for 10 years. However, as time passes by, you might look different from the time when you apply for the passport. You might look more mature or change your style. Have you ever thought of changing your existing passport photos? If yes, then you might ask whether it is possible to renew your UK passport photo. Well, according to the government, if British citizens find their image change a lot and the photo is no longer recognizable, they can apply to update their British passport photo.
Some might ask if it is worth changing the passport photo. The fact is that updating the photo would cost us time and money. But think of it. If you have to frequently use your passport as ID identification and the unfavorable photo always upset you, you do have the right to replace it with a new one.
Why change UK Passport Photo?
Apart from the reason that you are not satisfied with your passport photo anymore. It is also required to replace your previous photo under the following circumstances.
- Obvious figure changing
10 years is definitely a long period of time. During this time, if you have a completely different shape, a new photo is required. For example, you might gain or lose weight. Your face or skin might have changed a lot as you’re aging.
- Surgery on the face
Facial biometric features provide the most important information to confirm your identity while taking a cross-border trip. If you have ever had facial surgery and your facial features have changed, you must offer a new photo to renew your passport. Or it would bring you trouble the next time you go through customs.
- Gender transition
If you have had a transsexual operation, updating your passport is as important as updating your ID card. As your appearance would change greatly, you need to replace the old British passport photo and your personal information.
- Passport expiration
Passport renewal is a must-do when your passport comes to expire. Most people would take this opportunity to change their passport photos because it is required to use one that is recently taken.
How to Change the Photo on UK Passport
Currently, the only way to change your passport photo is to go through the passport application process again from the very beginning. If you are a beginner to change passport photos, this passage would lead you to complete the following 3 steps:
Step 1: Take a favorable passport photo
Taking a new photo is the primary thing because that’s also your main purpose. You should take some time to study the official requirement so as to guarantee approval for the first application. People used to go to the photo booth or a photography studio to take an official ID identification photo. However, as technology develops, more and more people turn to make UK passport photo online without going out wasting time and money. Attention! You are not allowed to take selfies, so you had better ask your friend or family to help or use a tripod.
General British Passport Photo Specification:
- Width: 35mm
- Height: 45mm
- Resolution: 300 dpi
- Proportion of Head height: 55%
- Top of the Photo to Top of the Hair: 15%
- Period of Validity: taken within 30 days
- Color: hatless colored figure
- Background: light grey or creamy
- Eyes: open, without glasses
- Mouth: closed
- Facial expressions: neutral expression without smiling, laughing or grinning
- Pose: head in the center, look straight to the front
- Glasses: not compulsory to remove; don’t let them obscure your eyes or reflect
- Hair: do not cover the ear and any part of your face
- What’s in the photo: only the head and shoulders are visible
- Photo quality: clear, non-beautifying, no creases/folds/tears
Step 2: Fill out the application form
After you have prepared the passport photo, the next step is to fill in the application form, which includes providing your personal information. You can choose to apply online or fill out the paper form.
In order to apply online, you need to visit the official website. Answer all the required questions and upload your new UK passport photo.
As for the offline option, you can go to the local branch and get a paper application form. Put the form and your old passport into an envelope after filling it out. If you want to make sure your application is 100% correct, you can pay to ask the staff at the post office to check your material.
Step 3: Return the old passport
If you choose to apply for an update offline, your old passport should be sent back to the passport office along with the paper application form. If you choose to apply online, you should also return your old passport. British citizens are now allowed to hold two passports at the same time.
How to Change the Passport Photo Online
As we have said before, making UK passport photo online is very popular and convenient. If you are familiar with operating on computer, you might be interested in the powerful tool that we introduce.
The biggest trouble with going to the studio is that it is difficult for us to take a perfect photo in one shot. The photographer might charge extra fees to retake.
Now, with AiPassportPhotos, you can take even hundreds of photos and choose the most satisfying one so that you would be confident to hold that picture on your passport for another 10 years.
AiPassportPhotos, with high efficiency in dealing with digital biometric photos online. If you edit your passport photos with common computer editing software, it might take you the whole day to adjust and resize and the risk of rejection is uncertain. While AiPassportPhotos just requires a few seconds.
Firstly, choose the corresponding template of the countries and upload an image. If the image is qualified, it would crop size automatically. Next, you can save the printable template and print it out for application.
Conclusion
Nothing is worse than having an unpleasant photo on the passport. Actually, you can change your passport photo any time you want even if before it expires. And the valid period would restart. However, each time you apply for the renewal, you have to pay for the new passport again. Therefore, we highly recommend you take it seriously to take a new photo. That is why AiPassportPhotos was invented. You just take the photo or you can retake for hundreds of times and it would tell you which one is absolutely acceptable, thus saving you time and money to frequently visit a photo booth. Once it is prepared, you can show your passport at customs confidently whenever you take an international trip. How fantastic it would be!
Erin Lo 
Dolores Xiao