Monthly Archives: March 2008

Why do you need extra passport photos handy?

While traveling abroad, you must carry extra passport photos with you. This is because you are required to submit passport photos for a Visa or for any other application forms. If you have extra passport photos handy, you can save both- money as well as time. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep the passport photos with you while visiting any other country.

You must check the passport photo guidelines of the country you are traveling to and ensure that you follow them.  If you are really looking for an economical solution, you can get few passport photos printed using your home-printer. In case you are doubtful about the size of passport photos you should carry with you, log on to ePassportPhoto, and select country-specific dimensions to print your photos. 

If you can experiment with your passport photos by using Photoshop, you can try another interesting option. You can get your passport photos converted into business cards. This means that you can put your passport photo on a business card while including business-related information, such as name, home address, e-mail address, and your mobile phone number. You can even print these business cards at home by using inkjet photo printer.  This business card would serve two purposes. Firstly, you can give them to your business associates and they would remember you due to your passport photo. Secondly, you have a passport photo handy if you require it for getting passport, visa, company, bank or tourist passes. You can simply staple the entire card to the application or cut it out to submit along with an application form. 

If you want, you can also put your passport number on business card – without specifying that it belongs to your passport. You are required to mention your passport number to the hotel where you stay in. If you want to conceal the passport number, you can add null numbers or alphabets either at the beginning or towards the end of the passport number printed on your business card.

Passport photos in Far East, specifically Hong Kong

China is one of the major cities in the world that attracts millions of tourists from across the globe every year. The country boasts of friendly people, primeval locations, and magnificent architecture. Any visitor to the country would require a valid passport and visa. 

If you are living in China and want to get your passport made in China, you must submit the passport application to the nearest passport issuing office of your area. If the person is not physically present in the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, he or she is advised against forwarding the passport application to the Passport Office in Hong Kong. The passport photo must only be in color in 2”x2” (5 cm x 5 cm) with a white, off-white, or very-light colored background. The passport photos must not have blue color in its background.    

In case you are visiting to China, you must have a passport with no less than 6 month’s remaining validity and one blank Visa page on the passport. In addition, the person must have one completed Visa Application Form (Q1) with one black & white or color passport photo stapled or pasted on the form. If you are planning to visit the country with regard to your business, investigation, lecture, technological or cultural purpose, and short-term studies, you must also possess the invitation letter from the host company or the unit. Other than this, you must possess a letter from your company. Besides, all visitors must show proof of adequate funds to support themselves while they stay in Hong Kong.  

The United State citizens must submit 2 completed Visa Application Forms along with 2 recent passport size photos. If you need to apply for an entry visa to China, you must submit the following documents with the Consulate:  

1. Country Passport with at least one full blank Visa page
2. The name of the applicant written in BLOCK letters
3. A duly signed Visa Application Form
4. One latest passport size photo, and
5. Application fees

How to get best passport photos of kids and babies

Passport rules have changed all over the globe in past few years, and now children and infants in the United States as well as in many other countries need to have seprate passports. However, it is not easy to take passport photos of the infants. Parents and photographers face great difficulty in keeping their floppy-headed infants looking straight at the camera. Moreover, keeping the children calm during this entire process is another challenge to ensure an acceptable passport photo.  

Lately, there has been a great deal of hue and cry on how to get the best passport photos for kids. In a nutshell, the passport photo of your baby must:  

· Be taken when the baby is awake · Have the baby looking directly into the camera
· Have his or her mouth closed with no pacifier
· Have baby’s face visible without any other object in view,   not even parents’s hands to support him
· Never fall on his face or cover his eyes
· Be devoid of any shadows from behind
· Not have the baby looking away from the camera
· Not have his or her face covered While the passport photo of the kid should be compliant with passport rules set by the government authorities, it is quite challenging to  make your baby and lens work in coordination.  

If you are unsure how your baby would respond during passport photo session, you can try this infant photography technique. This technique would surely help you get best passport photo of your child. Put a white piece of cardboard on the bed or the floor, and make your child lie down on it. The parents of the child must stand beside the photographer and try to keep the baby engaged during passport photo session. This way, your child can be more attentive, and would not also fall asleep. After few trials, you can expect to get a reasonable passport photo of your child.

Can you trust your home-printer to print your own passport photograph?

Often you need to pay hefty amount of money to your local photographer for a passport photo with an expressionless face and a plain white background. While taking a passport photo is one of the easiest things to do, ironically majority of the U.S. photo studios tend to charge a lot of money to print a set of four identical passport photographs.   

If you are looking for an economical solution, you can give a serious thought to printing your own passport photos using home-printer. That’s true. You can save an enormous amount of money by getting passport photos printed at home. If you have a photo printer at home, you can easily convert any of your digital pictures into a valid passport-size photo meant for your passport or visa applications. In fact many of you, who are fond of photography, must have already printed your own passport photos at home. Those, who have never done it earlier and need more time to learn this art, can either send the digital photos to a friend, who knows can print them for you. Alternatively, you can also look for some online photo service providers, who can send you free prints of your passport photos. 

If you are worried about the sizing requirements of passport photos of in your country, you can log on to ePassportPhoto. The website allows you to upload your photo, resize it, select the country-specific dimensions, and save it as a .jpg file. Now you can either print it at home, or send it for free printing to international photo service providers by using the links on the website. If you are a computer-freak, you can even cut and paste an image, edit it, and get a simple but satisfactory product while sitting at home. Now it is possible to get multiple passport photos at the cost of buying one by using your home-printer.