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hard copies of the photos if you want, but they're not necessary any more
Last time I got a new passport (in Germany) I used the photo booth in the citizen centre -
which is a) expensive and b) the photos look as if you had some terminal illness.You then go upstairs and wait an hour, when it's your turn you give the lady the postcard sized sheet with the four portraits on it, and she then die-cuts one of them out very carefully for your passport.
Five minutes later when all data are double checked etc. she hands me back the cut out photo and I realize they do actually take the shit hard copy photos, die cut the stamp-sized things, and then scan those in digitally.
Do realize now why all the IDs in Germany look so shit.
salad
We just did daughter's passport photos with Snappy Snaps. The shop takes the photos confident that they will be accepted (as they're used to the rules), and uploads them to the government system whilst you're in the shop. You walk out of the shop with a code that you enter on the passport renewal website (and hard copies of the photos if you want, but they're not necessary any more) and the photo pops up.
(The whole the process works very smoothly assuming you don't have a tricky situation. Apply online, submit the code for the photos, pay online, no forms to send off, just enter the email address of someone who is able to confirm the identity (and give them a few other bits of info) and then that person does that stage online too. Once that's done all you have to do is send off the old/current passport, and the new one (and the old one) get sent back to you. They say it'll usually be done in 3 weeks but it took just 12 days from submitting the initial application online to receiving the new passport for my daughter.)