Still Valid Child Passport but Baby Photo

em on 30/09/2022 - 14:38

We are going overseas in March next year. I was planning to get a replacement passport for my child who will be 4 in January. His current passport will still be valid but the photo is from when he was 2 months old.

We can get a free replacement but worried about the backlog in the Passport office at the moment.

Has anyone got any experience with this? Can I still use the valid passport even though my 4yo looks very different?

This is the info about it but it doesn’t say if it is necessary https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-passport-how-it-works/s…

Travel Passport

Comments

  • Presence on 30/09/2022 - 14:42
    +10

    If the passport is valid then its valid.

    People change their hair, makeup, beard, teeth etc regularly.

    • em on 30/09/2022 - 14:56

      Yes I get it, just given the passport office specifically have free replacement for a passport to update the photo where the first photo is a child under 12 months it makes me nervous.

      The current passport backlog makes me even more nervous though, lol.

      • Love a bargain on 01/10/2022 - 14:59

        If it's optional rather than mandatory, then it's all good.

    • Sleeqb7 on 01/10/2022 - 10:37
      +1

      How… How often are you changing teeth?

      • LFO on 01/10/2022 - 11:19

        Only after a massive head on accident.

        Or after expensive cosmetic dental work.

        Not often, indeed.

  • dust on 30/09/2022 - 14:43

    You can still use it but yes I agree, if you got a passport for a newborn they're going to look very different long before the passport expires.

  • SBOB on 30/09/2022 - 14:44
    +2

    Can I still use the valid passport even though my 4yo looks very different?

    yep, 100% valid.
    won't matter if they look different, and you wont be the first person using a childs passport where the initial photo was several years prior to its current use.

    • CrowReally on 30/09/2022 - 14:48
      +2

      With the exceptions of time-travellers, I dare say most passports are used with a photo taken several years before its current use ;)

  • elgrande on 30/09/2022 - 14:53
    +6

    They just need to make a baby face as passing through security. A bonnet helps.

    • em on 30/09/2022 - 14:55

      I’ll keep that in mind, haha. I can just imagine what he’d come up with.

  • Hardlyworkin on 30/09/2022 - 15:06
    +4

    Do your child have any criminal convictions that may prevent them travelling overseas? ;)

    • Mark1159 on 01/10/2022 - 21:49

      US immigration officer waved us three all in, but made six yr old son (clown) stand the line and demanded this very question.

  • 87percent on 30/09/2022 - 15:08
    +4

    It’s fine.. as long as the date is valid (usually need at least 6 months)

  • Benoffie on 30/09/2022 - 15:22

    In similar boat but ours is 12 months out. The issue is, you cannot enter some countries with less than 6 months validity on it.

    We're replacing our kid's now.

    • em on 30/09/2022 - 15:30

      Yes we will have 10 months validity when we travel which I’m ok with. Just don’t want to be turned away because the baby photo looks significantly different. If we were travelling in 8+ months I’d have no hesitation but given how badly processing is going at the moment I don’t trust them to get it back in 5 months.

  • Ocker on 30/09/2022 - 15:53
    +9

    Our eldest got his first passport when he was just 2 weeks old, used it till it expired with no issues.

    • Tobias on 30/09/2022 - 16:42
      +2

      I concur, had exact same scenario.

      Did notice that as they got older the passport checking person occasionally asked their name.

      • crotty60 on 01/10/2022 - 08:41
        +2

        Same story here, passport photo when our son was 2 weeks old and just travelled at nearly 4yr.

        Out of interest I asked the customs officer how he can know it’s my son and he said there are a few key facial features they can check plus he asked my son “what’s daddies name and what’s your name?”.

        He also added that it’s a sense of feeling/trust with the passengers.

    • em on 30/09/2022 - 17:36
      +1

      This is the reassurance I was looking for, thank you!

  • oscargamer on 30/09/2022 - 19:22
    +2

    Just get a free replacement. March is 6 months away

  • onetwothreefour on 30/09/2022 - 19:22
    +1

    Done the same with 3 kids, no problems at all. The immigration people normally laugh and say something like "haven't you grown".

  • danield on 30/09/2022 - 21:43

    I have a semi-unrelated question:
    We have been waiting 14 weeks for my son's child renewal. Next week is the last week we have before leaving on the 10th Oct. Calling the passport office is useless, they keep saying "they will try their best to get it done by then blah blah blah".. Anyway I haven't been to worried as my son holds a second passport that I figured was a good fall back, now it's starting to look like he'll need to use his Japanese passport to travel, only to and from Japan. Does anyone think there will be any issues if he's traveling on Japanses passport without any long term visa in Passport. He is 5.

    • elanda on 01/10/2022 - 08:35
      +1

      Australian citizens must leave Australia on their Australian passports: https://www.passports.gov.au/general-information#dual-citize…
      So you may run into trouble at the airport. If he’s travelled on both in the past they will be linked. I’d go into the passport office with evidence of your impending flights. You could also try getting in touch with Penny Wong’s and Tim Watts’ office, specifically mentioning how long you’ve been waiting and when you’re flying out.

      • danield on 01/10/2022 - 18:12

        The office is well aware of the flight dates, but all they do is acknowledge the flight date is on the file and they will do there best to have it ready, hardly reassuring. I dont see the point in going into the city to visit the office just to tell them to hurry up..

        Whats this with Penny Wong and Tim Watts, is there a specific reason why these two?

        EDIT: If he’s travelled on both in the past they will be linked
        He has traveled on both, so if they are linked is this a benefit of a problem? Linked means they know he has both thus expect to see an Aussie one, or meaning cause its linked they know he is Australian thus 'She'll be right"?

        • elanda on 02/10/2022 - 19:28

          Going to the passport office in person is different to the call centre, which is staffed by a lot of relatively new employees trained recently to help alleviate the huge numbers of calls. Going in person with evidence of flights within a week has done a lot more for many people whose stories I’ve read. It’s not “telling them to hurry up”, it’s showing evidence of urgent need. Passports can be printed there same day if urgent enough, whereas most are printed at larger sites in the suburbs then posted out, or couriered to passport offices for pickup.

          I’m speaking as someone who started escalating after waiting for 10 weeks with flights about three weeks away and who read hundreds or more experiences of desperate people in media reports and on social media posts. I took note of everything that worked for people … and of what hadn’t worked for those who’d had to cancel their travel plans (which in some cases included just relying on what call centre staff told them).

          Penny Wong and Tim Watts’ departments are responsible for the Australian Passport Office and are keen to deal with the huge backlog, which of course started before they came into office. After reading what worked for others, I emailed both of their offices plus my local federal MP. Within two days I had a personal call from a passport officer in Canberra saying they’d been processed and to expect an email soon to say they were ready to be picked up, and within two hours i had that email. The next business day I had a call from a staffer from Watts’ office wanting further details so they could help (and obviously I was able to tell them my issue was solved). I don’t know whether it was Wong or my local MP’s intervention that actually helped, but obviously one of those things did because passport processing officers do not usually call you in those circumstances.

          My kids and I are dual citizens. I’ve always left Australia on my Aus passport and entered the other country on that one, and planned to do the same for all of us on this trip. Last time we flew out to that country, at Melbourne airport’s immigration checkpoint they knew of the citizenship of the other country, asked my plans re passports, and when I told them the guy said he needed those passports too and linked them in the system. So if you’ve done the same in the past (or even if you haven’t), the file linked to your son’s Japanese passport will likely show he’s an Aus citizen and therefore they’ll expect him to leave Australia on an Aus passport. I have no idea how strict they are on that. But I personally wouldn’t risk travel plans falling apart at the airport.

          • danield on 02/10/2022 - 21:42

            @elanda: Sounds like your success came from contacting Penny Wong and Tim Watts as opposed to visiting the actual office. I'm still skeptical that a visit to the office is going to much, BUT.. if they can print them on the spot then Ill hold my judgement, as I wasnt aware that they could actually do that, and that will be the last resort come the end of the week and we are all out of time.

            I have emailed both offices of Penny Wong and Tim Watts, so I hope I can get some action from there and Ill be on the phone to the passport office everyday this week raising hell for the poor level 1 support who answers the call.

            We certainly don't intend on showing up at the airport with just his secondary passport in hand, definitely not, but if we don't have his Australian in our hands on the day we fly, well then we definitely will. My initial thoughts that the issue would be getting back into the country not so much getting out. His passport is definitely linked, as my wife and I are both single citizens of our respective countries so we have no experience using multiple passports and in the past just dump all the passports on immigration at both ends.

            • elanda on 04/10/2022 - 18:32

              @danield: I personally didn’t show up at the passport office - I didn’t need to - but I’ve read numerous anecdotes of people who did (with evidence of their impending flights) and were either able to wait a while and leave with their passport/s, told to come back later that day for them, or told to come back the next day. Where that tactic failed for some is when the Melbourne office had printer issues one week and so people were leaving the office empty handed and often in tears because they’d run out of time - which is why I went a different route. I was too stressed to leave it to a couple of days before we left, which would have been about 14 weeks after applying.

    • 1st-Amendment on 08/10/2022 - 06:52

      Calling the passport office is useless

      Isn't funny how many bad experience people have with government run services, yet happily vote for more government control of their lives?
      Because using a passport as an example, what takes so long? They verify your identity and print a document. That's it. It should take minutes, not months.
      Imagine if Amazon or Google ran the passport office, you'd be able to get a renewal in a day.

  • thatonethere on 30/09/2022 - 22:43
    +1

    Still fine. Our kid had to have a baby photo passport and it was accepted.

    Just note some places dont accept six month to expiry. Bring copy of birth cert.

  • miwahni on 01/10/2022 - 00:12

    Both my grandkids had passports issued when they were babies. They are now aged 4 and 2, and travelled to New Zealand last month with no problems.

  • md333 on 01/10/2022 - 23:10
    +1

    I wouldn't bother with the update, but if you do, I think the backlog may be improving, I just got new passports for both my children and they came through in 4 to 6 weeks.

    • em on 02/10/2022 - 08:43

      That’s great to hear. We applied for our almost 1yo passport yesterday but didn’t bother getting the updated one for the 4yo. Hopefully it will come quickly!

    • mrtin on 05/10/2022 - 23:05

      Damn it'd been over 3 months and still waiting for kids passport……

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