JEFF CAPLAN'S MY MINUTE OF NEWS
Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Glam passports
Sep 12, 2024, 8:47 PM | Updated: Sep 13, 2024, 2:38 pm
Glam passports are the newest travel trend. (Canva)
(Canva)
Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
SALT LAKE CITY — The newest trend in travel? Glam passports. Busting out the makeup bag and transforming your everyday face into a glamorous puss before you pose a government picture.
Young women are getting makeovers so they look Kardashian camera-ready when they flash their passports. Even Vogue Magazine is getting in on the action with an article about achieving a soft sensual symmetry that transcends government-ordered one-dimensional lighting.
Fashion-defining Vogue Magazine is suggesting the proper product for a passport shoot — from foundation to powders, eyeliners to lashes that’ll make your passport pop. And when you post that pic on Instagram, friends will freak with jealousy as they gaze upon your simmering sensuality. Don’t smile. Strike a pose.
But a question? Are you out of your dang minds? A glamorous passport photo is a one-way ticket to a Turkish prison. See, when you fly to a foreign country and present some burly border agent your glam passport, he’s gonna look up at you. And down at the picture. And up. Down. And once more. The facial recognition will fail and you’re gonna hear the three words the border guy knows in English: “Come this way.”
They’re gonna think it’s not you. Glam passport holders have been hassled and held for hours — even denied entry to countries. Because international law says the passport photo should be an accurate likeness of you.
The Washington Post points out that postage stamp-sized photos should look like you’ve been on a plane for 15 hours. Overnight. In the middle seat.
But if you glam it up, you might end up in a foreign jail cell. Ugly crying. And that’s not glamorous.
Jeff Caplan is the host of Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. Follow him on Facebook and X.
