A friend of mine will be coming over from The Netherlands to visit me in the States. I was doing some snooping about on the net regarding customs passage.

Is there really as much Hoo-Haa to be concerned about as it reads? I mean, there are pages and pages of "do's and don'ts"...penalties for "this and that".....Requirements, regulations, rules, laws.....list goes on n on.
(It even seems more difficult to leave the states than entering.....?)

The primary reason that I began lookies on the net was when he went to get his passport, they sent him through all these requirements that his pic for pass HAD to be in color. When he received his pass yesterday, the pic was in black and white, (passport appears ligit).
I assumed that the US regulations require a color pic for passport to allow passage.

So far, I cannot find anything on the net which states the specific requirements regarding the pic.
Does anyone know anything about this?

Has anyone any personal experience in international travel which you can share with me? Sure would much prefer getting the info straight from those who have "been there, done that" sorta thing...than to have to sift through our government's offerings...ugh! Although, I certainly have read much and have saved links and even Adobied some .pdf forms (precautionary measures).

I really appreciate your inputs...

Thanks~

Shangrala