Looks different in reality vs visa photo
I'm going to fly to the United States in october. The problem is that i got my visa 1.5 years ago when I had short hair and beard. Will it be a problem that I have now a longer hair and beard? I'm also going to renew my passport soon so I need to know if I must cut my hair for the new passport so the pictures in the passport and visa will be the same or I can keep growing my hair.
edit: The problem is I do not own a biometric passport yet, and some of my friends had warned me about that the haircut can cause problems and they can even decide to not let me enter to the country. I don't know what should I do
Best Answer
Both the Visa Information System for embassies and Border Control officers have your biometric records. You don't have to be worried as your fingers are going to be scanned on entry and compared to retrieved data from the VIS database.
Plus: The U.S. government uses a sophisticated image processing algorithm for face recognition and it can easily identify face patterns even with beards/different haircuts/plastic surgeries and face expressions.
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Are passport photos flipped?
The actual guideline states that 'photographs where the image is reflected left to right or right to left so that the picture is flipped from one side to another, are not acceptable'. Therefore, you can expect a request to submit another picture if you do flout the rules.What happens if you look different in your passport?
U.S. passport regulations about changes in appearance. There are no official rules as to what personal changes require retaking a passport photo and changing your passport. If you grow out or color your hair, or gain or lose weight, you might still look the same as you did when your passport was first issued.Can I use the same photo for visa?
You photo has to be taken within the last 6 months, anything else is not accepted and you risk rejection. It is never a good idea to send information to any goverment agency that already know is not correct.Why is your passport photo important?
The first and most important reason you might want to carry extra passport photos is so that you have them on hand if your passport is stolen and you have to get a replacement quickly.Why You Look Better in Real Life Than in Pictures (and How To FIX IT)
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Images: George Milton, Max Vakhtbovych, Brett Sayles, George Milton