Had to get a new driver’s licence today. They took the new picture which is then run through a facial recognition program where your new photo is compared to your old licence photo as proof of identity. Program runs & runs & runs. Comes back it’s not me. (Well it was when I looked in the mirror this morning.)

Had to have another photo taken & had to pull my hair back. (Great. This will be my licence photo for years.) Again the program runs & runs & I’m sitting there with the woman processing my request waiting & waiting. I asked if there was an override to this step. No she says. What happens if it still doesn’t recognise me? We keep taking pictures until it does or the license can’t be issued she says.

It does realise I’m 10 years older I ask then I realise: 10 years & 42kgs lighter. Oh…

Thankfully, the program decided it was me with the second photo & my new licence will be sent to me in 21 days. (Don’t get me started on that. What happened to them producing the licence there & then & your new licence is warm from the laminated printing process.)

Anyone else have unexpected experiences because of their weight loss?

How frustrating. Once it recognized you they should have let you restyle your hair and take another one. It’s kinda scary that we are so reliant on technology they don’t know what to do when there is an outlier like that.

I've been told twice I need to get a new license because I was 410 pounds when I got it lol I still haven't done it yet and it's causing me trouble. I really need to do it. I just don't have the time or patience to go sit at the dmv for hours to do it.

Not like that - although I once had the person who was at the checkin desk at my gym accuse me of trying to get in using someone else's membership card. I immediately had them make me a new card! (I'd shown him my driver's license to prove it was me. He was shocked!!)

So my college course takes tests on this program called "respondus" where the system locks us out of using anything else and records us, It asks us to show ID to verify our identity. I look WAY different in my DL I am curious once my professor sees it, he will question if its me. LOL

My 10 year passport has two years to run on it. I have wondered if I could accidently on purpose, set fire to it. I have had a lot of strange looks going through passport control. I have to answer lots of I.D. questions. It was a lousy photo to begin with and she looks nothing like me now. Every time I go away, I hold my breath until I am let back in the country. Roll on 2026

2 hours ago, summerseeker said:

My 10 year passport has two years to run on it. I have wondered if I could accidently on purpose, set fire to it. I have had a lot of strange looks going through passport control. I have to answer lots of I.D. questions. It was a lousy photo to begin with and she looks nothing like me now. Every time I go away, I hold my breath until I am let back in the country. Roll on 2026

i gave a 10 yr passport also (got it in 2017, had wls 2018), and it expires in 2027

i inquired, and apparently i can get the picture updated by applying and paying for a new passport. it'll cost me $160 (for the new passport) + a $45 admin fee for renewing before expiry.

i know it will probably save me time at immigration and security at airports, and really its only $45 measly bucks, but i just dont want pay that extra $45 for a new pic ON PRINCIPLE!

i'll put up with the extra questions and sideways looks for a couple more years just to be stubborn.

I'm up for my driver's license renewal and my face has changed due to the weight loss in the last 10 years. Sorry you had to go through that, but thank you so much for the heads up!

If only @ShoppGirl. But once the photo is approved it becomes your photo. If you take another it has to go through the identification process again. Sigh! Thankfully I don’t usually have to show my licence often so if it’s a crappy pxt it won’t be seen often.

I wonder what will happen with all those young girls with their over filled sausage lips & chip monk cheeks & the eyelash extensions that half cover their eyes. That’s going to be interesting. Lol!

Hopefully you have a better system in the US so you don’t have to go through this @Tomo.

I admit I considered only getting a one year license but waiting in the queue again & all the kerfuffle & the comparatively additional cost for a one year vs 10 year license put me off.

10 hours ago, Arabesque said:

I wonder what will happen with all those young girls with their over filled sausage lips & chip monk cheeks & the eyelash extensions that half cover their eyes. That’s going to be interesting. Lol!

not exactly the same thing, but in the same vein (sort of), which got me thinking just now...

The Kid also has a 10 year passport that she got when she was 16 yrs old. which means she'll have the same picture until she is 26. I'm pretty sure she's going to look totally different by then, i mean, she already looks different now.

i wonder if maybe official documents with photo identifications really SHOULDN'T have such lengthy validities. or maybe we should start using retinal scans, ha!

19 hours ago, ms.sss said:

i gave a 10 yr passport also (got it in 2017, had wls 2018), and it expires in 2027

i inquired, and apparently i can get the picture updated by applying and paying for a new passport. it'll cost me $160 (for the new passport) + a $45 admin fee for renewing before expiry.

i know it will probably save me time at immigration and security at airports, and really its only $45 measly bucks, but i just dont want pay that extra $45 for a new pic ON PRINCIPLE!

i'll put up with the extra questions and sideways looks for a couple more years just to be stubborn.

Totally me

Interesting! I have not yet run up against this. I think my photo on passport looks *just* enough like the new me never to have drawn comment. I'll now be ready for when it does though. Driving licence the same.

And yeah, I'd also put up with the crappy photo for 10 years before paying an extra penny for the nicer photo, LOL.

On 6/25/2024 at 8:11 PM, Arabesque said:

If only @ShoppGirl. But once the photo is approved it becomes your photo. If you take another it has to go through the identification process again. Sigh! Thankfully I don’t usually have to show my licence often so if it’s a crappy pxt it won’t be seen often.

I wonder what will happen with all those young girls with their over filled sausage lips & chip monk cheeks & the eyelash extensions that half cover their eyes. That’s going to be interesting. Lol!

Hopefully you have a better system in the US so you don’t have to go through this @Tomo.

I admit I considered only getting a one year license but waiting in the queue again & all the kerfuffle & the comparatively additional cost for a one year vs 10 year license put me off.

I've heard stories of ppl who go to other countries for facial plastics..then they can't get home because they don't match their passports! Id''s should be ears, they're more reliable for identification than fingerprints, or start putting fingerprints on id's with scanners at airports IF you can get past the civil liberties issues.

I personally am waiting until I hit my goal to avoid the constant hassle. Although, I met up with a friend last week after not seeing her for a few months - she walked right past me! I had to call out to her she said she didn't recognize me at all. So, I suppose I'll need to get id's done soon.

Edited July 29, 20242 yr by BlondePatriotInCDA

12 hours ago, BlondePatriotInCDA said:

I've heard stories of ppl who go to other countries for facial plastics..then they can't get home because they don't match their passports! Id''s should be ears, they're more reliable for identification than fingerprints, or start putting fingerprints on id's with scanners at airports IF you can get past the civil liberties issues.

I personally am waiting until I hit my goal to avoid the constant hassle. Although, I met up with a friend last week after not seeing her for a few months - she walked right past me! I had to call out to her she said she didn't recognize me at all. So, I suppose I'll need to get id's done soon.

Oh gracious I hadn’t thought about that with their swollen & bandaged faces or noses or chins. But ears can be altered a little with face lifts & I saw a social media post where someone asking if there’s a surgery to reshape ears. Maybe retina scans are the way forward.