During my preparations for new job in Switzerland I found out that I need a lot of photographs for various documents. Unfortunately the old photographs which I had had taken few years ago won't work, because they are too old (yes, I have changed a bit) and because the don't meet the criteria required for various documents. Last time I had the photographs taken was probably for the diploma or the French/Swiss card. This time I will need them for even bigger number of documents. Unfortunately various documents have different requirements with regard to the photo size (easy to overcome without taking a lot of photographs) and to the things that are visible on the photo (one ear, two ears, etc). I found the necessity of having several photographs taken rather annoying.

First of all I have to change my National Id Card, as I am still a user of of identity document which was issued before 2001. Luckily there are no strange requirements on the photograph format, thus it should be rather simple. I think that it would be enough to fill in the form, pay the fee and wait for about 1 month (so I don't know when I'll be able to pick it up).

It turned out that in the near future I will need the International Driving Licence. It is a document that is needed in some countries and some states of US to drive a car. I won't need in in Switzerland or California, but still I may visit other places, where it can become useful. The procedure for obtaining this document is rather straightforward - I just have to go to the city hall in the city of my permanent residence. Unfortunately the photograph is different from the one needed for example for passport - as it is required to show the left profile. The other unfortunate thing is the fact that I will have to visit my home town. And to do that I will have to use the expensive and dirty imitation of railroad operator - namely Polish State Railways (PKP). I am in a good situation, because I can travel by IC/EC train, in which standard isn't that bad...

But that is not the end of the list. I will need another photograph for the American visa. Here the requirements are quite detailed and strict. Surprisingly enough the photos were quite good and after making additional copies in passport format I will use them in Swiss card and other necessary documents.

There is one more type of photograph that I will need. I plan to take the JLPT examination in December and it is required by the Japanese Embassy to provide 3cm x 3cm photographs along with the exam registration. There are no special requirements, so probably I'll use one of previously mentioned photographs.

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