19 December 2005
Following the announcements at the PMA Conference, Nigel McNaught of PMA has been in continual close contact with the UK Passport Service to monitor the situation. In talks with Kevin Sheehan, the Chief operating Officer of UKPS and with Rob Sharland who is managing the project there are several key findings emerging.
The January issue of the PMA Magazine will contain a full interview with Kevin Sheehan, meanwhile here are the main points:
1. A leaflet with new guidelines on photo standards is being prepared and will be available in January. Meanwhile the PMA website www.pmai.org contains a link to the latest issue of the guidelines.
2. The problems in meeting the standards with respect to children's photos are being slightly relaxed and a Passport Examiner will judge these pictures rather than the automatic scanner. The major requirement is for a clear distinction between the face and the background.
3. Many rejections were caused by using a white background with no differentiation between the face and the background. The regulations now call for an off-white or grey background.
4. The most common cause of rejection is back printing and PMA has discussed with UKPS the need to involve manufacturers in this process. In addition applications have been received where the authorising signatory has written on the back of both photos in very black ink and this has shown through on scanning. The date of 1st January 2006 which has been mentioned in some quarters for the rejection of passport photos with backprinting is not correct. UKPS has held talks with Sony, Mitsubishi and ICI and, while UKPS would like to make the date as soon as possible, they recognize that it will take some time for existing stocks and supplies to work their way through the system.
5. Other common reasons for rejection are the obscuring of the eyes by hair or glasses.
6. The overall rejection rate of applications is 12% but this includes rejections caused by incorrect completion of the form as well as for photo reasons. The rejection rate is greatly reduced by using the check and send system.
7. The new leaflet and the UKPS website will point out that home produced photos are rarely of sufficient quality to be accepted.
In line with these new recommendations PMA is producing for members a door decal and poster which will allow them to publicise their Passport Photo Service and identify them as the source of ID Photos. The decal will be sent to all members in January.