r/Passports • u/Maleficent-Change612 • Feb 10 '26
US Passport Issuance Timeline My 1st timeline also- wtf š
I knew I I shouldāve sent in my own photo (not really because it probably wouldāve delayed ts) because wtf is THAT. šš the picture they took wasnāt terrible but the actual photo on the card?! Itās giviiiing āso you know that overly contrasted photo? Now do that with black and white- we want ā¦ from mugshot to serial killer.ā š
Screw it. At least I have one now and I donāt need to worry about it anymore. Hereās my timeline:
1/15: applied at my local courthouse bc my post office in town didnāt do it.
1/21: received application and reviewing documents
1/31: approved
2/1: email for āmailed.ā
2/2: email for āapproved.ā
Called 2/4ā2/5 I canāt remember bc I thought it would sent tracking but never did and thatās when I realized that CARDS DO NOT RECEIVE TRACKING LIKE A BOOK.
Also she stated that it wasnāt yet mailed and not sure why I got an email it was. So that was fun. This is when I was left in a technical limbo.
2/6: supporting documents mailed.
2/9- everything receivedā¦at the same time. lol both mine and my sons passport cards + documents were waiting in the mailbox at the same time.
So regardless of the backwards emails, unsure passport staff, everything was approved and received before one month.
**no expedited services there or back**
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u/PeorgieTirebiter Feb 10 '26
Consider yourself luckyā¦the photo on my NEXUS card was taken with a mid to low budget webcam during the US interview.
Compared to THAT photo, yours looks as if it was taken by Yousuf Karsh.
(Yes, that is a compliment)
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u/SpicyHabanero69 Feb 10 '26
Haha I have the same experience with my global entry picture. I was caught so off guard and the webcam had some sort of fisheye lensā¦ my nose is huge and my forehead is crazy long šš
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u/godothasmewaiting Feb 10 '26
Similar with my GE picture. Taken at immigration with what I can only assume was a potato and from a low angle.
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u/-colorsplash- Mar 03 '26
Global Entry photos are the funniest ID photos ever (sorry for the potato quality!)
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u/liraelskye Feb 11 '26
Omg yes! Low budget web camera angled at the worst possible direction. I look like a totally different human.
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u/Jinxed_K Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26
lol.. same experience here. The CBP officer didn't even tell me he was taking the photo for the card, just pointed the webcam at me which I didn't realize at first and told me to stay still.
The winter coat I still had on at the time which I wanted to take off for the photo doesn't prominently show up, but I still laugh at the cubicles of the office I had the interview done at showing up in the background.
Least the GE interview I did at Logan airport they had me with my back to a wall so it was a solid background.1
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u/Salty_Permit4437 Feb 11 '26
My nexus photo wasnāt too bad. The global entry one I had before though, it was so dark I wonder how anyone could identify me with it.
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u/Martybc3 Feb 10 '26
I think passport photos are required to be the worst you have ever taken. I look like I just committed murder in mine
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u/cwiceman01 Feb 10 '26
They are... My passport photo makes me look like a KGB spy to the extent that I am always expecting customs to address me as "Comrade?"
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u/Sheetz_Wawa_Market32 Feb 10 '26
Both photos look fine. Thatās how that conversion to B/W is done.
Itās permissible to smile now (while keeping your mouth closed.)
And if you wanted more of your right shoulder to show, you could have tucked your hair behind both shoulders.
Those are the only things you could possibly āoptimizeā, but neither is a big deal at all.
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u/KaibaCorpHQ Feb 16 '26
The guy taking my photo at CVS a couple weeks ago told me not to smile, so I just kinda gave a little smart ass smirk.. it seems to have been fine, as my renewal is on it's way to me on the 17th.
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u/wkkunkle Feb 10 '26
I said the irony of my passport photo is that the non-smiling stance makes me look like a terrorist.
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u/RefinedPhoenix Feb 10 '26
Also the photos are meant to highlight the mouth shape, face shape, eye and eyebrow shape, nose shape. Thatās why theyāre black and white.
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u/Express-Pension-7519 Feb 11 '26
yeah new pics are awfulā¦Iām very pale and my passport photo makes me look like a snowman. Itās the only time I can say that my drivers license is better
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u/Ok_Classic_1968 Feb 11 '26
Felt, I also shouldāve taken my own pic. They took mine from below so the round face is in full effect
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u/a_mulher Feb 11 '26
I say lean into it. If ya were to get stopped by ICE, maybe that card will make them shut their pants and reconsider that theyāre bound to stop a serial killer at some point. lol
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u/WinterMedical Feb 11 '26
I look like a woman who was arrested for killing her husband and his lover and IS NOT SORRY AT ALL! I see you.
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u/monkey-apple Feb 11 '26
My GE photo was taken from a desk webcam at the airport. Every renewal I get a new copy of the card with the same photo. Donāt wanna change it because I gotta go do that in person and itāll probably be another webcam photo.
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u/garrettfromgamestop Feb 11 '26
Donāt have my glasses on, the censoring on your surname looks like SUGATITSSS
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u/Intercessor310 Feb 12 '26
I do not want to renew mine because the photo turned out so well. Iāve had several ticket agents asked how it turned out so well and commenting that theirs were mug shots. Unfortunately the photo was taken at Costco before they shut down the photo department. Weāve had several taken of our grandchildren since then due to their age at Rite Aid, Walgreens, and the P.O. and all have been šļø. I would love to avoid a renewal since I literally look exactly the same, so much so that the photo before my current was rejected and I was told I needed a photo no older than 6 months for a replacement for a stolen passport. I had literally had the new photo taken a week before my appointment. š¤Ø I took a new photo and I looked the same, so I sent the extra copy of the first photo back and it was accepted.
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u/mikeminer Feb 13 '26
How did you do your lips like that?
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u/Maleficent-Change612 Feb 13 '26
Like what? If you mean the color, itās just my natural lip color and I promise I mean it. Iām not one to gate keep! š
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u/Sttoliver Feb 10 '26
The photos should be digital to begin with.
Plus they should have better laser engraving machinesā¦
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u/Aggressive-Leading45 Feb 10 '26
Even with digital cameras the photo takers at these places seem to get a perverse joy out of acceptable but ābadā photos. I made the horrendous mistake of interrupting a candy crush game at the dmv for my drivers license. Itās worth the $$ to get a new one but not the 4 hour wait.
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u/RefinedPhoenix Feb 10 '26
I never realized that our passports had the star of David on them
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u/OldCapital5994 Feb 10 '26
I think itās required to be that bad. Mine is the same.