YouTuber stopped by border control because her “hot” passport photo didn’t look like her

Alice Sjöberg
Alisha Marie passport fail

YouTuber and influencer Alisha Marie claims she almost missed her flight after she was delayed from boarding the plane, due to her passport photo being “too hot” to actually be her.

We all want to be comfortable when spending hours traveling. This usually includes a comfy outfit, no makeup, and a bedhead hairdo.

But if you pair this with the 2022 TikTok trend of glamming up yourself for your passport photos, you might be met with some confused border control workers.

This is what happened to YouTuber and social media star Alisha Marie, who almost didn’t get through passport control while on vacation in Istanbul, Turkey.

Alisha Marie almost misses her flight after passport photo fail

Alisha discussed her “passport fail” in a video that racked up over 15 million views on TikTok.

She told her 663,000 followers: “They almost didn’t let me on my flight because they said I don’t look like my passport. This is why you should never do hot photos for your passport because I don’t look like this.”

She referenced her casual look of a black lounge set, a cap covering her hair, and no makeup. Meanwhile, her passport photo showed her all glammed up with nicely done hair and a full face of makeup.

Alisha captioned the clip: “I’ve never been SO HUMBLED IN MY LIFE.” 

Luckily, the airport staff did let her through security so she did make her flight in the end.

But, social media users were baffled by the woman’s photo of choice.

One person said: “I’m amazed they let you use that as a passport photo… you’re not allowed to have your hair cover your eyebrows because they have to see the whole face.”

“The passport makeup is catching up to y’all,” another said, referencing to the viral passport look that made its way across TikTok in 2022.

Many had sympathy with Alisha, with one person saying: “Babe this has happened to me and OMFG the humbling!”

Another commented: “I took my passport photo while in a ponytail because I knew I’d be a dirtbag in a ponytail at the airport.”

About The Author

Alice is the Entertainment Evergreen Specialist at Dexerto, whose expertise include social media, internet culture, and Reality TV. She is a NCTJ qualified journalist that previously worked in local news before moving on to entertainment news with OK! Magazine and a wide variety of other publications. You can contact Alice at alice.sjoberg@dexerto.com