Mugshots

Soooooo… we are planning a trip back to Malaysia sometime in November. While we were booking the tickets, we learnt a couple of things:

1. You cannot book international for your infant without his passport details – the website will just NOT let you move forward past that page

2. Your child MUST have his/her own passport – gone are the days of children travelling under mum’s passport

Hence the urgency of getting Nathan’s own passport had just stepped up a few notches. I had planned on getting it done over the next few weeks but because of the above points we then had to get it done ASAP.

In my research on the requirement and documents needed to get Nathan's passport organised, I came across this nifty little website called epassportphoto.com. Basically it's a free website where you can upload your own photos and use the online tool to crop and resize it to the passport photo requirements for your desired country.

Nathan has the privilege of being the product tester for this tool. I had to do many attempts before I managed to snap one that met the required guidelines set by the Australian passports website… but of course it was no problem with a digital camera.

It’s not much better than a mugshot but for just 30 cents printing at Big W it’s definitely better than paying $10-20 for an even dodgier looking mugshot at some discount chemist photo booth.

Not a bad job actually, eh? I don’t think the discount chemist could have done better. I did think of tickling him to get a smile or a slightly more cheerful expression, but then I’d run into other issues of the photo not meeting the requirements of having a neutral expression etc.

Hubby submitted the application on Tuesday at the post office. The clerk inspected the documents and the photos and filed it – so confirm can pass! I’m definitely going to use this tool for myself next time.

(P.S. I have no incentive whatsoever for sharing this great discovery other than the joy of sharing something really cool with friends and family)