Why are you now required NOT to smile in passport photos?
Passport photos these days are usually pretty specific - certain size, color, etc.
But the odd requirement the past few years is that usually you're not allowed to smile in them.
We're discussing this here at work, and for every semi-reasonable reason we can come up with, we can come up with a reason why it is daft, so we're now left wondering why.
Anyone got an OFFICIAL reason?
Best Answer
Not necessarily for passports but NJ bans smiling on Drivers Licenses in order to be able to conduct facial recognition. There is also some blog entries with regards to passport photos but the reason is basically the same biometric identification and facial recognition.
EDIT
Found this link on the US department of state website that basically refers to the machine reading requirements of the photos for identification.
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Why You Can't Smile in Drivers License or Passport Photos
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Answer 2
It's not just smiling that is forbidden. You are also not supposed to wink, yawn, frown, squint, or use any other facial expression that would make you harder to recognize on the photo. Most of the requirement for official photos actually tell you to "keep a neutral facial expression".
People are specifically told not to smile because that's what they tend to do when a photo is taken.
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