A woman has spoken about her struggles to get a passport - because her hair was 'too white' for photos to be accepted.
The issue seems to come up when someone with white skin and white hair gets a passport photo taken on a pale-coloured background, as the rules dictate.
This can lead to passport computer software being unable to tell when a person's hair stops and the background begins - and their passport applications failing.
Ann Wingfield, 85, has white hair. Like many Brits, she applied for a new passport after the worst of the Covid pandemic , when international travel was allowed again.
Ann and her husband were keen travellers before the pandemic, and have taken their caravan across Europe several times, as well as enjoying cruise holidays.
So on February 23 this year Ann and her husband went to their local Morrisons to get new passport photos taken.
But Ann was told her passport photo was not accepted, so she went back again the next day to try again.
The photo technician told her the issue was her white hair not showing up properly against the pale background required for the passport photo.
Not only that, but the problem had happened before.
"They said they had had this trouble before," Ann said. "It was a grey background so there really was a difference between it and my hair colour."
Ann submitted her photo online to get a new passport on February 26, and was told again that her photo was not acceptable.
Many other Brits have run into the same problem.
On Twitter, one user said: "Anyone else had this problem, I am unable to pass the rules on photos for renewal of my passport as my hair blends into the background. White hair can’t be that unusual can it."
Another said: "Warning to anyone with white hair trying to get the passport office to accept a photo. Have tried about 20 times and they keep rejecting it saying they can't find the outline of my head."
Fortunately, Ann decided to ignore the warning given online about her photo, and submitted it anyway.
It worked - and it is actually the best thing to do when this problem crops up, according to HM Passport Office.
Doing this means a human can take a look at the application and work out if a photo is useable.
A spokesperson for the Passport Office said: "Where a photo does not pass our automated check, customers may override the outcome and submit the photo as part of their application.
"The image will then be assessed by a human to determine whether it is suitable.
“We are determined to make the experience of uploading a digital photo as simple as possible and continue to improve this process for all of our customers.”
Ann now has her passport, but said: "if I'd have known it was going to take all this time I would have saved my money, I wouldn't have bothered."
