In the United Kingdom, almost three quarters of people need to wear eyeglasses.
Generally, prescription glasses wearers hardly leave them during the day.
However, some situations might require the removal of their pair of eyeglasses.
We will see whether this is the case for the passport photo and the conditions specified for eyewear.
In recent years, the process of making photographs for identity documents has become more drastic.
Indeed, for security reasons, the face must be easily and quickly recognised by airport agents.
For this purpose, a number of official requirements have been established for the passport photo.
Notably, it must be recent (less than six months old) and taken by a photographer or in a suitable photo booth.
In the passport photo, the face must appear clearly and unobstructed so that it is easily recognisable.
Thus, the head must be straight and uncapped, the mouth closed and the hair off the face.
Regarding eyeglasses, they can indeed be worn in the passport photo.
In fact, unlike wearing jewellery, wearing eyeglasses is not considered an obstacle to facial identification.
However, the pair of eyeglasses must meet certain specific criteria.
First of all, it is important to specify that you are not compelled to wear them if you do not want to.
Indeed, a spectacle wearer is not formally obliged to wear their visual equipment in the passport photo.
If, on the other hand, you decide to wear your eyeglasses in the photo, they must meet certain official criteria.
To begin with, the eyeglass frame should be rather thin to avoid obscuring the eyebrows and eyes.
Indeed, the eyes must be perfectly visible and well opened so that the look is perfectly recognisable.
In addition, the frame of the eyeglasses should not be too large so that it does not lie too low.
In this case, it might cover the face excessively and not allow a good identification of the person.
Finally, the eyeglass lenses should not be coloured or tinted.
When taking photographs, it is also important to check that there is no light reflection on the lenses.
All these elements would create a masking of the eyes and would hinder a proper identification at the airport.
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