Here’s a reminder to not look too good on your passport photo.
A woman almost missed her flight after she was scrutinized by airport security because she bore little resemblance to her polished passport photo.
LA-based Alisha Marie, who is a beauty vlogger with millions of followers on her social media channels, spoke about her experience when she traveled to Italy for a friend’s wedding.
Her flight had a layover in Istanbul Airport (IST), where she was questioned by airport security over her passport photo.
“Please bear in mind that when I travel, I look like an actual thumb,” Alisha Marie said on a YouTube video where she recounted her experience while, ironically, doing a makeup tutorial on how to recreate her passport photo look.
Although very skilled at creating makeup looks, Alisha Marie does not wear makeup when she travels. She said that the airport official at IST airport held up her passport near her face, and started comparing the photograph.
The airport official started to ask her for more identification documents because she looked really “different” from the passport photo, she was told.
“I’ve never been so humbled in my life,” Alisha Marie said, adding that she started to become anxious before the officer finally allowed her to go.
In general, requirements for passport photos worldwide have relaxed due to the pandemic, when people were allowed to take their own passport photos when lockdowns and restrictions were in place.
Since then, dozens of tutorials on how to look good on your passport photo (and other government-issued IDs like drivers license) have been highly searched for.
