Surgically enhanced influencer’s dowdy passport photo freaks out customs officers — who nearly bar her from country
She looks too good to be true.
A social media influencer claims she was interrogated by immigration officials when she returned home to Brazil earlier this week because she looked nothing like her passport photo.
Gessica Kayane, known as Gkay to her 20 million followers, touched down at an unidentified airport on April 10 and had to show her passport before being allowed back into Brazil.
The 32-year-old, best known as a YouTuber and TikToker who has also appeared in several Netflix films, is not known for her natural appearance.
She has had a boob enlargement, a breast lift, her nose reshaped, fat removed from her jawline and cheeks plus lip fillers.
When she approached officials at the airport with IDs from before her surgeries, they didn’t recognize her.
“I was almost barred from entering the country because the photos on all my documents are different from my face now,” she wrote on Instagram.
Kayane now rocks long bright red hair, a slender nose, a chiseled chin, plump cheeks and full lips.
However, her passport photo shows a more natural woman with dark roots peeking out from her head and wider features.
To make matters worse, her national identity card and driving license show her looking even less like she does now.
Fortunately, Kayane had documented her cosmetic procedure journey and had photos of herself throughout her transformation.
“I’m glad I had my Instagram and several ‘before and after’ to prove it,” she noted.
The influencer seems to have learned her lesson.
“First things to do back to Brazil: update all the photos of my documents,” she declared.
The social media star isn’t the first person to be stopped when officials claim the person handing their passport over doesn’t appear to be the same one in the picture ID.
However, it’s usually the other way around.
Some women doll themselves up to take their passport photo, looking more glam than they do in real life.
Australian reality star Amelia Marni even made a viral TikTok tutorial on how to glow themselves up with makeup on picture day so their passport snap looks less like a mugshot and sent #passportmakeup viral a few years ago.
However, experts have warned against these photo “glow-ups” on the grounds that they could make it more difficult for flyers to navigate immigration checkpoints.
“If you overly-enhance your look when taking your photo, you can actually slow down the process of verification checks at the airport,” warned Gemma Brown, the Head of Product at the UK travel site Travel Republic.
According to US Department of State, travelers don’t need to apply for a new passport over minor appearance changes such as growing a beard, hair dye or the natural aging process.
However, they do need to do so if they underwent any major transformations, including significant facial surgery or trauma, the adding or removing of large facial tattoos or piercings and gender transitions.
