Smile for Your Passport Photo to Prevent Identity Fraud
The next time you take a passport photo, you might want to smile. A new study, often mistakenly thought to be a ban on passport photos, has shown that smiling in photographs can actually help combat identity fraud.
Researchers at the University of York found that some people found it difficult to identify people in photographs with neutral facial expressions, but found it much easier when the same people smiled, reports The Independent . This means that you are more recognizable by the smile in the photo, and someone pretending to be you might stand out more.
“Photo ID is an important part of our life, and yet we know that it is difficult for the human brain to match photographs of people with other photographs and match photographs with a real person,” said Dr. Mila Mileva of the university department. The psychologist who led the study told the newspaper about this.
She believes that requiring a smile in photographs can help improve identification and combat identity fraud.
However, you still cannot legally smile a silly smile in your passport photo. While there is a misconception that you cannot smile at all in your passport photo, you are allowed to have a “natural smile” in your photo. Here’s what I’m talking about:
Such a smile is still not acceptable:
Smiling still won’t stop someone from stealing your passport and potentially trying to do something fraudulent with it, but it can reduce their chances of successfully impersonating you by at least a little.