Just How Difficult Do You Want To Make It?

A passport complaint in two different flavours.

First off, if you get a passport for ten years, with a definite start date, and just as definite expiry date, why then do places have a restriction on travelling on a passport within the last three months of its life? What is the point in having that expiry date if it actually expires (for all intents and purposes) three months earlier?

Secondly, just how difficult can you make the simple process of renewing a passport? We're off to Copenhagen for a long weekend at the end of March, and Mel's passport runs out in May. That's fine, the necessary forms are procured (you now have to ask for them from behind the counter of the Post Office rather than being able to pick them up from a shelf) and filled in.

The procedure is simple, the renewal a doddle. A minimal amount of the form to be filled in, and only the old passport and two photos to go with it. And we would use the 'check and send' process at the Post Office to make sure everything was alright. So I took the photos at home, processed them, printed them out.

First Post Office says the backgrounds are too light (i.e. white). Apparently this isn't allowed anymore. Which confuses me slightly because I'm sure those little photo booths do white backgrounds. Anyway, suitably informed I toddle home, re-process to create a grey background (which I'm told is fine), toddle to a different Post Office today.

And now there's a problem with the images being 'homemade'. The first post Office knew this to be the case as well, but did not raise it as an issue. I did this for our Indian visas last year without trouble. Hell, I even did it recently for my boss to get a replacement second passport and it was processed without problem. Why the sudden problem? I would defy anyone to find a different in quality between the image I supplied and one produced by the little plastic box in the supermarket. In fact, without the harsh lighting the image is a truer reflection of the person in front of the camera.

It can't be for 'security' reasons of people amending the way they look - the new picture matches the image from 10 years ago. That takes two seconds to check. But somewhere in the rules it is written that the images must be 'professionally' printed, and things must be done by the book (in some instances, as the derogations from the guidance above testify).

So tonight we head out to find a photobooth and get it done 'properly'. It only took us half an hour at home to take a photo Mel was happy with...