Availability of passport stamps

[JessicaTam]

I recently travelled to NZ (AKL) and made a point of asking for an arrival stamp in my passport. When I was departing I asked for a stamp and they didn't have one. This went as far as the supervisor who said they thought there was one somewhere but couldn't find it!

Do you go out of your way to get a stamp in your passport? Are they becoming a thing of the past?

 

[moa999]

I go out of the way to avoid -
already half filled passport after 3yrs (too many Asian trips) and that includes avoiding HK stamps via echannel
For some reason I got an Aussie exit one on my last departure (wasn't happy)

 

[anat0l]

I don't make a big deal out of asking for a stamp.

That said, often the only place I don't get stamps are... Australia and New Zealand. Everywhere else is a stamp (except, of course, intra-Euro-Schengen).

Not sure about the effect of demanding more stamps. It does look like you're travelling lots but at the same time I'd rather see more foreign stamps than Australian stamps, really.

My former 32-page passport that just expired was only about 20 pages filled or so. Even with plenty of space left, this year immigration officers were tending to find little pockets of space somewhere on existing pages to put their stamp (even overlapping old stamps) rather than use a new page. I'm not one to mess around with passport control officers more than I have to (especially in non-English speaking countries) so I just take it and go.

 

[JessicaTam]

Are only HK passport holders able to use the echannel process?

 

[craven morehead]

I recently travelled to NZ (AKL) and made a point of asking for an arrival stamp in my passport. When I was departing I asked for a stamp and they didn't have one. This went as far as the supervisor who said they thought there was one somewhere but couldn't find it

Leaving Queenstown the other week and specifically asked for a stamp ( more so for the kids first trip o/s ) and were point blank told that they do not issue stamps to Aussies?

 

[JessicaTam]

I don't travel enough to risk filling my passport, so am happy to ask. I can see that the frequent traveller would rather avoid them.

 

[casanovawa]

I used to like getting them, but with the passport only 4 years old and only a few blank pages towards the end of it (and the cost of getting a newer bigger one this time) i try to not get stamps if i don't have to, specially for countries that i have been to anyway... I hope they are happy to keep finding room on some of the previous pages to get another year or two out of it...

 

[moa999]

Are only HK passport holders able to use the echannel process?

No..
About half the e-channel gates work for foreign passport holders.
They give you a sticker to put on your passport (they out it on the outside, although I moved mine to inside back cover)
You scan the sticker at the first gate, thumbprint at the second gate and out pops a piece of paper which is your entry stamp (it used to be a sticker but is now just a piece of paper)

Available to a wide range of people including QF Golds and Plats.
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ustoms/hkia-frequent-arrivals-card-43804.html

 

[Archphoto]

I usually ask for a stamp when I exit and enter AU - 2x year so it's not those that fill it. Asia however, fills it faster than anything - every 3 months for TH and then stamps in and out for everywhere else. At one stage was filling the 64 page (10yr) in under 3 years (included trips to the EU & USA several times) - and that was without the AU stamps.

(Wish we could just have pages added at the local consulate, like the US do - 64 pages just doesn't cut it for me.)

 

[oliverd]

I used to like getting them, but with the passport only 4 years old and only a few blank pages towards the end of it (and the cost of getting a newer bigger one this time) i try to not get stamps if i don't have to, specially for countries that i have been to anyway... I hope they are happy to keep finding room on some of the previous pages to get another year or two out of it...

And what happens if they don't find space? There must be people stuck for years in foreign airports where there isn't enough space for that exit stamp...

 

[simongr]

I used to like getting stamps but with my UK passport having on 2 pages available for visa I dont use that passport for visas - even so I am about 10+ pages down of visa in my Oz passport due to Saudi and China and Thai and India visas already... only 2 years down.

I actually lost my UK passport that had lots of older stamps in as well.

The Americans are the worst for inbound stamps - I had a guy stamp in the middle of the page across two pages - meaning that those couldn't be used for visas in the future

 

[dodgeyhack]

I paid a few CHF for a stamp at the tourist office in Leichtenstiein... So I guess I do!

 

[Fantic125]

My passports just over 4 years old, and my trip to the US in a few weeks will eat into it's last page, and for 3 years of it I had an APEC card, so no need for visa's apart from India and Brazil.
Next one will be a 64 pager, but it would be nice if the stamps were smaller as well!

 

[Major]

I am on my 6th passport and can look back at old ones to see when I visited different countries from the stamps.
Some countries don't exist any more. I have stamps from East and West Germany (including Checkpoint Charlie), Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union (CCCP).
Every country in Europe/Scandanavia had their own customs / immigration and would check your green card (car insurance if you were driving) then stamp your passport. You could fill up a passport quite quickly, before the Schengen Agreement.
3 Trips to NZ this year and not one stamp, but I not terribly fussed. I have also been to Singapore and Malaysia this year and they are zealous about stamping everything and anything.

 

[Geegeela]

Check Point Charlie - 10 Euro

 

[Awesom Andy]

It also depends on the entry points as well. I go between SIN and Malaysia every now and then via one of the 2 bridges, and the officers there are experts at finding the most tiny spots for a stamp. Once, they only put in half a stamp, and with that half a stamp somewhat overlapping the entry stamp but still have the vital info completely readable. I believe they have a university course on passport stamping...

 

[redcow]

When compiling my Flight Memory starting back in 1976 I found the stamps on my old Passports invaluable when trying to remember what year and who we were flying with as I had a lot of BP's and flight schedules so was able to match things up pretty well

 

[harvyk]

And what happens if they don't find space? There must be people stuck for years in foreign airports where there isn't enough space for that exit stamp...

I expect the exit stamp would be placed over the top of the entry stamp... I'm pretty sure the exit stamps in my passport, they are all right next to the entry stamp, and even a little overlapping.

What annoys me a little was my last US entry stamp was place several pages after the last set of stamps, thus I have a set of blank pages in the middle of my passport and then another entry stamp...

 

[Andyzx]

When I left Sydney last week to go to NZ (k1w1 passport), I was very surprised to get a stamp, first time in probably 10 trips. Mrs Zx (Oz Passport) was surprised too and asked for one which was given. Rest of the trip was via E lanes so no more stamps.

The world is a little more boring these days without the stamps to prove where you have been.:shock:

 

[harvyk]

The world is a little more boring these days without the stamps to prove where you have been.:shock:

Agreed,

For the first couple of years of my passport, I was only travelling between AU and NZ. If someone had looked at it, it would have looked like it was never used as there was not a single stamp in it... In fact when I got my first stamp in it I was a little surprised (it was in the cook islands).