A closer look
Most countries have strictly banned smiling in passport photos because showing your teeth actively distorts the biometric facial recognition software used by electronic border gates. Immigration systems need a completely neutral, resting face to accurately map the distance between your eyes, nose, and chin, meaning your joyful expression is viewed by the government as a hostile act of technological sabotage. This mandate perfectly ensures that every single person looks like a deeply depressed criminal mugshot, capturing the exact emotion you will feel after standing in a customs line for three hours. It is strangely poetic that international travel requires you to suppress all human joy and look as miserable as possible before they legally allow you to enter a tropical resort
