Buried in my “stuff” is my British passport from when I was 5 months old. I could see assorted customs authorities wanting a more up-to-date photo.
My 17.8 year old son, with a full shaggy beard, traveled with me using his 13 year old passport, from before puberty. Rather to my surprise, the official looked at it, looked at him, and waved him on.
If you look deep into the State Department’s website, there’s a page that says something to the effect that “You do not need to get a new passport for your child just because his or her appearance has changed as the natural process of aging.”
Yeah, i wouldn’t have been surprised that they accepted a baby picture for a five year old, because basically, the parents are responsible. But i was a little surprised given that he looked like he could have been 20. But i suppose that’s a really common situation.
I asked the customs(Canada) people if there was an issue as I had grown a beard since my passport photo was taken, and they said there was no problem.
One more question about online renewal. I had to mail my old (not quite expired) passport in with the renewal application. When they sent the new passport, they also returned the old one with some holes punched in it, presumably rendering it no longer valid. How do they deal with this issue when renewed online?
They just cancel it electronically as soon as the renewal is submitted , no holes punched. Not sure why they didn’t do that when renewing by mail - they surely could have because they had to cancel lost or stolen passports.
Speaking to a Canadian online renewal, you are directed to make a diagonal cut on the cover and data page to void the old passport as soon as you click on submit.
They don’t have you send the old one away.