By next year travelers will need passports for air, sea and land to go to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The $100 passport fee is unavoidable, but now with digital technology you can take your own passport picture and save a few dollars.
The drawback is that there are very specific standards for a passport photo and if you don’t follow the rules, your application may not go through.
For example, photos have to be exactly 2 inches by 2 inches.
Stand against a white or off-white background with no shadow.
The height from the top of your head to your chin should measure about 1 inch. Your digital camera needs to be at least 1 megapixel.
You can print out the photo yourself, but it has to be on photographic print paper.
If you have any doubts about your printer quality, then take it to a professional.
Or, check out the Web site www.epassportphoto.com that helps you crop and size the photo correctly.
You can print six passport-size photos for free or they can deliver prints to you for $6.
Learn more about passports with Passport Tips: What You Should Know.
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