EPISODE 2.10 — PASSPORT PHOTOS
We have arrived at the document that everyone assumes will be straightforward and that a surprising number of people still manage to get wrong. Passport photos. I will not pretend this is a complicated episode. But I include it as a full episode because the photo requirements are specific, there are more sets of photos needed than people realise, and because my own first submission was rejected due to a collar that the Israeli consulate described, with admirable precision, as "ambiguous."
Every person making aliyah must submit passport photos. The specific requirements are as follows.
Four official, identical passport photos for each person aged sixteen or above who is making aliyah. These four photos will be used for your Teudat Zehut — your Israeli identity card. They must be taken professionally at a photographic studio or approved passport photo service. Homemade photos are not accepted. They must be recent, in colour, on a white background, with a neutral expression and both eyes open. You must not be wearing a hat or headgear unless it is for religious reasons, in which case the face must remain fully visible. Glasses should not be worn if at all possible.
In addition to the four photos for the Teudat Zehut, you will need a family photo. This should be a good-quality, recent, colour photograph of all the individuals making aliyah together. Families submit one group photo. Single applicants submit an individual photo. This is a separate requirement from the four official passport photos.
A further set of passport-style photos is required when you apply for your aliyah visa at the Israeli consulate, which happens after you receive your Mazal Tov letter. This is a separate set from the four Teudat Zehut photos, though they are taken to the same specification.
My practical advice is to get more photos taken than you think you need at a single session. The cost of an extra set is minimal. The convenience of having spares throughout the process — for the portal, for the interview, for the visa, for the various forms that will ask for a photo at unpredictable moments over the following months — is considerable.
The collar situation: I wore a crew-neck sweater that, in the photograph, created a neckline that apparently suggested I might or might not be wearing something underneath it, which the consulate was unable to determine. The photograph was rejected. I retook it wearing a shirt with a clearly defined collar. The second photograph was accepted. I learned that in official photography, ambiguity in any form is the enemy. Wear something with a collar. Be very clearly a person in a room, not an ambiguous shape near a collar.
There is nothing more to say about passport photos. They are the easy document. Enjoy this episode while it lasts. Episode 2.11 is the personal statement.
