A couple of years ago I finally got a passport, and I’ve luckily been able to make a couple of trips to Europe since then. I must say, I have been heartily underwhelmed by the quality of the passport stamps. I had these images of filling up my little book with an “official” record of where I had been, that I could show my grandchildren someday.
But recently I traveled to Italy and they didn’t even bother to stamp it. What nerve! I was actually a bit nervous about this for a bit, since I thought the stamp mattered in some way and that they might catch me when I tried to leave. But no one cared at all on the way back, in either Italy or the US. I saw a similar thing when I traveled to Germany - they did stamp it, but so lightly you couldn’t read it.
So what’s the deal here? Is the stamping part not important anymore? Is it just a romantic notion that’s been long dead?
You only get stamped upon entry into the EU. Once you’re in the EU and travelling between two EU member countries, then there is no stamp. Remember, a visa to one EU country allows entry into all EU countries. So, passport stamps are most certainly still needed.
Think about it like the US. Foreigners need a stamp when they enter the US, but then do not need a stamp when going from one state to another.
Yes, when you enter one country, you enter all of them. Heck, in a few months’ time, they’ll all be using the same currency! (The Brits aren’t involved in this nonesense.) Not as much fun as it used to be, but definitely convenient.
It depends where you are going.
In Europe, it really doesn’t seem much of an issue.
Some Asian countries are very careful to find the entry stamp and place the exit stamp beside it after reading every other stamp in your passport, others couldn’t care less where you came from or where you are going.
And if you think passport stamps aren’t important, or nobody cares anymore, just try and get into Lebanon with an Israeli stamp anywhere in your passport ! Ain’t gunna happen. Some of the more extreme Middle Eastern countries won’t even let you in if you have a stamp that could imply that you may have visited Israel, I’ve heard.
And if you try and enter Japan with a passport full of south-east asian destinations, on a flight from Thailand, believe me they notice, and they also sort through your backpack for over an hour ! :rolleyes:
I know people who have two passports, issued - legally - by the same government just to get round this problem. They use one for Israeli trips, and the other for Arab countries.
I’ve never been, but I’ve always heard that if you go only occasionally to Israel, they will put the entry/exit stamps on a separate piece of paper. Certainly every Middle Eastern country I’ve ever visited has done a very detailed page-by-page inspection of my PP to make sure I haven’t been there.
Goo - Never had any trouble in Japan, but I know what you mean. If you want a really serious customs inspection (no rubber gloves, but plenty of screwdrivers and other tools), I can suggest entering Saudi by car via the causeway from Bahrain.
Countries that conduct thorough checks (make you fill in forms and enter details on a computer when you arrive) will have details of your previous visits matched by name and DoB. So when you land they could say, “ah, I see you were here 5 years ago using PP # 12345”. But no-one else will have that information, unless - I guess - you are a target of the new war against terrorism.
They go further than that :
I’ll try to find out exactly which countries do the following, because I found it extremely interesting when I heard…
If you exit Egypt or Jordan at certain points, it is obvious that you then entered Israel (this applies to overland travel only) and certain countries will refuse a visa to anybody having an exit visa from one of those countries. This is because they know about getting the Israeli visa on a seperate piece of paper, and so check to see for Egyptian or Jordanian “suspect” exit visa stamps.
I researched this when I was on my way to the Middle East and was told this story by a backpacker who had come from the region, as well as reading about it in a guidebook. Unfortunately, I never made it there and it doesn’t look like I will for some time, now.
I’ll see if I can find out which countries are the excessively paranoid ones.
The Allenby bridge between Jordan and Israel - that’s one. I remember reading about it. If I were to go to Israel, I’d definitely get a separate PP.
The stroppy places are probably the ones you’d expect - the Gulf states, especially Saudi, have checked my PP very well. Same with Algeria (years and years ago). Others I would guess would be Syria and obviously Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Libya. Morocco and Tunisia are probably OK, as would be Egypt.
Yeah, Hemlock you’re right about the stroppy ones. The major ones of concern were Syria and Lebanon, as these are the ones visited by the majority of overlanding backpackers. Most backpackers don’t quite make it to places like Iran ! Mind you, I’ve heard it is a wonderful place…
Sorry for the hijack, SmackFu !
Carry on, we’re finished
Israeli passport stampers are cool about not actually stamping your passport if you ask nicely. They are not as tight-assed as you might imagine - I left Israel with an expired visa a couple times, and they didn’t care.
As for in the EU, I did get get stamped in Dover upon ferrying from Calais. This was the last leg of a three-week jaunt through England, Wales, Ireland, and France, and this was the only time anyone cared to look at my passport (which made me nervous, as I am not an EU citizen, and I didn’t want to do anything illegal). They made all the passengers get off the coach, EU citizens in one room, non-EU citizens in another. It was a breeze, though, no difficult questions or anything.
This thread makes me sad…it appears that I lost my passport a couple weeks ago. I just noticed that it was missing, must have fallen out of my bag. All my pretty stamps, the little notice that said it was issued in Florence, Italy, the really horrible picture of me…gone. Ah well, if I get a new one, I can go to Lebanon.
SmackFu, If the agent seems friendly, you can ask them to give you a stamp even if they were going to let you through without one. If they don’t seem friendly, don’t bother them. I’ve had two lousy customs experiences in Germany, so I only do what I’m told around those guys.
That’s only true for the EU countries which are part of the Schengen region (which is most, but not all of them). There is such a thing as a Schengen visa, but holding it will not entitle you to enter, say, the U.K.
It’s my experience that customs won’t necessarily let you through just to get a stamp. I’ve tried twice in the last few years, once while waiting in Zurich for a connecting flight to Prague, and last year (this weekend!) while waiting in Paris for a connection to Stockholm.
I made the acquaintance with a lovely young Swiss on my flight into Zurich, and she was kind enough to “escort” me across the border so I could get a stamp, but the French customs wouldn’t let me through when I tried last year.
I guess it was because I sat next to a bratty American kid on my flight to Paris, not a lovely French mademoisselle. Or something like that.
It’s a clean slate. I’ve had four passports so far (they used to be for 5 years, my most recent one is for 10.) The replacement contains no record of your previous travels.
I wish some countries didn’t stamp your passport! I travel so much that I have had to get new pages added to my current one twice (about 20 pages in all), and it still has two years to run.
I’m not sure if the “once you enter the EC you don’t need a stamp” is true at all.
I’ve flown directly to France several times, and France has not stamped my passport, or even looked at it, in 3 years. When I arrived last December, there was not even a person there to check them!
AND…anytime I visit the Continent first, then go to England, England ALWAYS stamps my passport.
I already mentioned it, Una. The UK isn’t a Schengen country, and thus the open borders that exist on the Continent (i.e. amongst the Schengen countries) don’t apply. The UK does have open borders - more or less - with Ireland, though, and your passport won’t be stamped when travelling between those two countries.
I remember two and a half years ago going to France from England (Canadian citizen), and the French not stamping my passport, but the English did. Last year when going from Greece to Canada through Amsterdam, I got a Dutch stamp and a Greek stamp, even though I was going between (I think) two EU countries.
A few years ago I traveled into and out of the UK in my EEC passport (I have dual citzenship) and my passport was not even opened to check that I was mine! I just had it ready and they waved me on through.
I remarked on this to the imagration guy when I left and he just smiled and said that if it wasn’t my passport “they would know”.
When I was visiting Finland and Estonia with my wrestling team this summer, I noticed that when re-entering Finland from Estonia, the Finnish passcontrol guy stamped near the back of my passport. This made no sense, since it was more or less a brand-new passport (I had gotten it especially for this trip).
and it doesn’t look like I will for some time, now.