Getting a Passport for an Infant

This summer David's family is treating us to a week in the Dominican Republic at a resort. In order to go, everyone needs a passport. This includes our new baby. Minor (under 16) passports last for 5 years. This seems a little ridiculous for someone under the age of 1 since they will change so much before it expires but whatever.  Rules are rules.

We filled out the application, got her birth certificate from the court house (did you know that you have to pay for those??), and read the requirements for the picture. Our licensing center isn't equipped to do infant pictures since the requirements are next to impossible. For an adult, it's no big deal. You stand in front of a white screen, look at the camera, don't smile and presto! It's done. However, for a baby, this proves to be more difficult. The rules are as follows:

• no shadows on the baby's face
• white backgrounds only
• both ears much be visible
• mouth must be closed
• eyes must be open
• baby must face the camera straight on
• no part of the parents' hands or arms can be showing

This requirements are in addition to the sizing and all that too. We decided to invest in some help from David's mom since at home or professional pictures are basically the only way to go and we weren't ready to shell out 30 dollars for pictures. Surprisingly, we managed to get this but we did have to play with the picture to rotate it so her head is facing straight on and a few other  minor adjustments. We probably took 30 pictures and reading online, this isn't uncommon. Others have taken 50 or more to get it right.

My only advice for you is to take them when your infant is awake (but don't wake them up to take it or they cry and then their eyes close anyways), prop their head with towels (under your white sheet of a background) to make it face forward, take lots of pictures so one is bound to work, and if they are old enough, use something to make them interested in looking at the camera.

We had tried some other things like

•  putting her in her bouncer with the towels but she still managed to turn her head
• putting the sheet over David and having him hold her (by the way, these turned out hilarious)
• laying her on the ground with the towels (this seemed to work best. Our baby always has her head turned to one side or the other but if your baby lays on the back of their head, I would recommend this method)
• different lighting options (to reduce shadows)

Basically, it's going to be a lot of work but it is do-able. Just take lots and hope for a winner! There are also websites to help with the cropping it so it meets the passport size specifications (a simple google search will help you find them).