Passport Photos

When I got French nationality, I spent 6 months growing an impressive old-style moustache just for the ID photo. it's the little things that count.

If one goes with a fake (but not obviously fake) moustache, would they question?

What is your definition of fake - can be pulled off? Not your own hair?

Lots of options here.

What if it's your own hair, but glued back on haha

It doesn't really matter. If you are not recognizable, it's not valid. That is the whole point of a photo-ID the photo has to be a good likeness with you. Glad the GP met friendly people that let him get away with it but don't count on it working for ever :-)

The driver's license is not an ID, though. Besides, at least in Germany you get it and then it never changes. So the photo is pretty much always outdated.

In most US states, your drivers license is the only photo ID most people have.

I was going to make a quip about how that's because, compared to Europe, almost nobody in the States has bothered to get a passport.. but apparently the percentage of Statesians who have passports has skyrocketed in the last 35 years from ~3% to 51%: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Z9qF8/6/

For any US Citizens renewing a US passport: if you want a national ID that fits in your wallet, you can pay $30 and get a passport card. They are a no brainer upgrade to a passport application or renewal IMHO. Cost is a bit higher due to a $35 application fee if you are getting them separate from a passport book but I think they are still worth it.

They can be used for land and sea entry to the US. They serve as ID on domestic flights and for I9 employment verification.

Many countries technically require you to always travel with national ID or require it for traveling on trains (since they have national IDs, unlike the US). But passports are bulky and American travelers have been taught to leave them in safes or buried in bags where they are hard to steal. A passport card can be kept on hand 24/7 in case a national ID is needed.

In the event you lose your actual passport after traveling abroad, they would save a ton of time at the embassy since you have a form of passport already on you. Compare this to the panicked alternative of trying to get a replacement with a photocopy of your passport (which standard travel advice says you should have for this reason) and somehow getting a birth certificate.