Don't get non-official stamps on your passport!

[flamingos]

There was a discussion recently that included getting your passport stamped in Nassau and someone mentioned at a non-official tourist stamp could invalidate you passport.  I saw this story today - a woman was denied boarding on a flight because the destination country (Thailand) would not accept her passport with a Machu Picchu souvenir stamp. 

 

https://www.traveller.com.au/passport-stamps-how-a-novelty-passport-stamp-could-see-you-banned-from-travelling-h1mgal?fbclid=IwAR1dDRlbsn6XBGn1j4sTUd66bfYQcVJmp5Y7AfYZ0fyaqzaq8SZgIGPLqMc

[orville99]

Haven't gotten a passport stamped since we transited from Hamburg West Germany at the Magdeburg border crossing on our way to West Berlin back in the 60's.

[DCPIV]

Oh, my goodness.  Yes, indeed!  Your passport is not for collecting mere souvenirs. It says so right in your passport.

 

 

Get a souvenir book if you want a souvenir stamp.

[Travelling2Some]

No shortage of clueless so this is a good thing to mention.  But, wow . . . duh . . . maybe don't crayon on your birth certificate and decorate it with stickers either.

[jamestown478]

I have been to a couple of Caribbean ports where they have people in "booths" wearing official looking uniforms offering passport stamps but when you look at what they are stamping you can clearing tell its a bs non government stamp.

[bigeagle12]

You can get an official stamp in the Bahamas and Caribbean islands .. just not souvenir or commemorative stamps.

[alfaeric]

5 hours ago, DCPIV said:

Oh, my goodness.  Yes, indeed!  Your passport is not for collecting mere souvenirs. It says so right in your passport.

 

 

Get a souvenir book if you want a souvenir stamp.

If you don't mind having official stamps as souvenirs, you can still get them.  I have one the day before I turned 50 from Cuba, and the day after from the US- and I had to ask for the latter.

[bonsai3s]

We visited Israel many years ago...our passport was officially stamped.

We were told that a number of countries will no longer allow us to enter.

No worries, we have no plans on visiting any of those countries.

 

* And yes, we have been to Machu Piccu twice, most recently in 2018.  We walked right by that stamp kiosk...and there was a very long queue to get the stamp...it was a stamp attached to a small chain and an inkpad...all self-service.  I can only imagine how of those people used it on their official passport.

[flamingos]

13 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

We visited Israel many years ago...our passport was officially stamped.

We were told that a number of countries will no longer allow us to enter.

No worries, we have no plans on visiting any of those countries.

 

* And yes, we have been to Machu Piccu twice, most recently in 2018.  We walked right by that stamp kiosk...and there was a very long queue to get the stamp...it was a stamp attached to a small chain and an inkpad...all self-service.  I can only imagine how of those people used it on their official passport.

That's a different issue altogether, with politics.  😞

[BND]

Also, if you fill up the pages of your passport, you have to get a new one, so unofficial ones just take up space.  My original passport has stamps from Italy and France.  My second one had Bahamas (flew there for a vacation). My current one has none.  I have never gone looking for stamps and we've been to a lot of different countries on cruises.

Edited January 9, 2022 by BND

[DCPIV]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

We visited Israel many years ago...our passport was officially stamped.

We were told that a number of countries will no longer allow us to enter.

 

You can get a second passport if need be.  Some countries with issues like that sometimes give you a slip of paper with the stamp and relevant information on it rather than stamp your passport.

[smplybcause]

I remember when I first flew to Canada with my passport I only got when they started requiring it. 19 year old me was so confused and disappointed I didn't get a stamp that the customs agent gave me one anyways. 16 years later I fly to Mexico and my response is dammit I hope I don't fill up all my pages before it expires.

[PiperHolliday]

3 hours ago, BND said:

Also, if you fill up the pages of your passport, you have to get a new one, so unofficial ones just take up space.  My original passport has stamps from Italy and France.  My second one had Bahamas (flew there for a vacation). My current one has none.  I have never gone looking for stamps and we've been to a lot of different countries on cruises.

 

I've had this happen twice. The first time, officials would just stamp over old stamps. The second time, I had pages added to my passport. When that was full, I got the larger passport book from the get-go. And of course, that's when the pandemic happens and I stop traveling so much. 

[PiperHolliday]

3 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

We visited Israel many years ago...our passport was officially stamped.

We were told that a number of countries will no longer allow us to enter.

No worries, we have no plans on visiting any of those countries.

 

* And yes, we have been to Machu Piccu twice, most recently in 2018.  We walked right by that stamp kiosk...and there was a very long queue to get the stamp...it was a stamp attached to a small chain and an inkpad...all self-service.  I can only imagine how of those people used it on their official passport.

 

I had an Israeli stamp on my first passport but work required me to go to some of the countries that do not allow entry with an Israeli stamp. They got me a second passport to use for those countries. 

 

Now, Israel will usually just stamp a paper and put it in your passport to avoid that issue. 

[Coralc]

6 hours ago, alfaeric said:

 from the US- and I had to ask for the latter.

That is neat that you have a Cuba stamp! I have a US stamp in mine, from when we sailed Sydney to Honolulu, but you do have to kind of coax them to give you one, because it isn't necessary. But I really wanted one, because I have so few stamps. The grouchy immigration guy in Italy wouldn't even stamp our passports. When I asked, his response was, "No. Go!" and waved us on. 

[sailor05]

Ours was stamped by the authorities in Nassau when we took a cruise on the Adventure last summer. We didn't ask and if I recall they required a couple blank pages to even be allowed to enter.

[Ptroxx]

I was on a bus tour of Europe and we did t get many stamps because of the tour.   But the company gave us these stamps for our guide book for every location we went to.    

[EllieinNJ]

Some years back when we took an Alaska cruise, I remember a bus tour where they took you to have your passport stamped.  Maybe at the border of the Yukon?  Didn't look like an official place but maybe it was.

[AstoriaPreppy]

4 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Some years back when we took an Alaska cruise, I remember a bus tour where they took you to have your passport stamped.  Maybe at the border of the Yukon?  Didn't look like an official place but maybe it was.

 
The US National Parks all have customized stamps, and the park service even sells a passport book that you can fill up. In larger parks (like Denali), each of the visitor's centers have their own stamps. If you're sailing Glacier Bay, the rangers that come aboard for the day always have a NPS stamp at their info desk. 

[Ptroxx]

1 hour ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 
The US National Parks all have customized stamps, and the park service even sells a passport book that you can fill up. In larger parks (like Denali), each of the visitor's centers have their own stamps. If you're sailing Glacier Bay, the rangers that come aboard for the day always have a NPS stamp at their info desk. 

Ok this is very cool. I didn’t no this.   
now In retirement I plan on trying to hit as many parks as possible.  
I just got a lifetime parks pass. 
guess I’m gonna need one of these passbooks.   

[CanobieFan]

I love the National Parks passport / cancelations! I started getting into it a few years ago and got pretty mad at myself for not having done it sooner (thinking of all the stamps I could have gotten for the  parks I went to pre-2018)  

[SRF]

On 1/8/2022 at 9:41 AM, orville99 said:

Haven't gotten a passport stamped since we transited from Hamburg West Germany at the Magdeburg border crossing on our way to West Berlin back in the 60's.

 

Hmmm, I get mine stamped a lot.  Most places seem to be back doing so.  Even Germany.

[xxHadleyxx]

On 1/8/2022 at 3:41 PM, orville99 said:

Haven't gotten a passport stamped since we transited from Hamburg West Germany at the Magdeburg border crossing on our way to West Berlin back in the 60's.

That's odd, assuming you have travelled much at all in the meantime.

 

My currently valid passport has official stamps (and i never request one, so these are all just the standard) from: UK, Spain, France, Russia, Portugal, Ireland, India, USA, Mexico, China, Turkey and a couple I cannot identify...so that is pretty much everywhere I have flown into, and a few places I arrived in via ship or car too.  Many of them very typical/commonly visited nations. nothing very exotic at all.

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by xxHadleyxx

[Seville2Cabo]

On 1/8/2022 at 5:34 PM, BND said:

Also, if you fill up the pages of your passport, you have to get a new one, so unofficial ones just take up space.  My original passport has stamps from Italy and France.  My second one had Bahamas (flew there for a vacation). My current one has none.  I have never gone looking for stamps and we've been to a lot of different countries on cruises.

They used to add pages to your passport for no cost.  Now you have to get a new one,  but you can get a passport with additional pages.

[JupiterTwo]

On 1/9/2022 at 10:32 AM, AstoriaPreppy said:

 
The US National Parks all have customized stamps, and the park service even sells a passport book that you can fill up. In larger parks (like Denali), each of the visitor's centers have their own stamps. If you're sailing Glacier Bay, the rangers that come aboard for the day always have a NPS stamp at their info desk. 

 

Presidential libraries do this, too.