Poor quality passport photos

I totally agree with Neville Calleja's letter regarding Maltese passports (October 5). As with Mr Calleja, I always get problems with the poor quality of the photos and most immigration officers comment that the passport could easily be forged.

When I use my passport in the US, most officers ask whether I have any other form of identification as the photos in the passport are not clear enough. Another major problem with the Maltese passport is that the page containing the photos is not covered with plastic sheeting, making the passport look more like a forgery. What point is there in having the last page of the passport covered in plastic and not the page with the photos? And why do the passports have the holder's particulars on the last page when most passports have them in the first two front pages?

I hope that the next edition of the EU Maltese passport will take these problems into consideration and use the passports of other EU countries as a model.