> My favorite part of the UK’s eVisa was taking a portrait photo of my 1.5y old.

I have had to take photos of each of my two kids at six months old for passports. That was not a lot of fun (though it's nice to look at the baby photo for the older one now).

I had professional photographers (guy at timpsons) do it with when my kids were that age. Was a doddle and cost about £5

The hilarity of having to compare a baby picture with a 5 year old kid stood in front of you is a separate problem.