South America - Very silly Easter Island passport question

I am one of the poor schmucks who booked a slightly more expensive flight to fly direct from LIM-IPC which is now being re-routed via SCL as of next week. This upsets me for a couple reasons: (1) it will now take a number of hours longer for each direction (2) I now have to pay a reciprocity fee (3) most importantly, no longer will my passport get a stamp from Easter Island! Does LAN care? No, they didn't even inform me of the flight changes, it was only because of a post on FT that I was aware of a potential problem and began to look into it myself. (Thank you!) Okay, sorry, venting done. :)

My question is this, does anyone think it would be possible to convince an immigration person at the airport at IPC to stamp my passport after arrival? I do have dual citizenship between Canada and German so I can avoid the reciprocity thing if I use my German passport, but this Canadian passport will be a lifetime souvenir (it has some pretty fun stamps).

I know in Tijuana, Mexico, you can go to the liquor store and they'll put a "stamp" in your passport for $1 but I'm not about to do something stupid like that (I am not even sure you are legally allowed to do that - it would be like taking a page to draw on it, seems like a VERY bad idea), but if it's an official stamp that is just 'out of sequence' ... ?

I told you it was a silly question! :D

My question is this, does anyone think it would be possible to convince an immigration person at the airport at IPC to stamp my passport after arrival?

I should have thought this would be perfectly possible, indeed I imagine they would be used to such requests. If it doesn't work on entry, try again when you leave.

I really doubt they will do it. First of all, I doubt an immigration officer in Chile would bend a rule. Secondly, the stamp is your tourist visa and the clock starts ticking at your point of entry into the country. Thirdly, I don't know if you'll be able to find an immigration official when you arrive on a domestic flight. Fourth, if someone would do it, your departure officer may be confused if he sees 2 inbound stamps w/no outbound, and the computer has you only inbound once (with the same stamp as your departure document).

So, no.

If all else fails you can get a stamp at the post office:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelshorts/4765437096/

Rather more decorative than the official one :):

PS would be interested to know what happens

I really doubt they will do it. First of all, I doubt an immigration officer in Chile would bend a rule. Secondly, the stamp is your tourist visa and the clock starts ticking at your point of entry into the country. Thirdly, I don't know if you'll be able to find an immigration official when you arrive on a domestic flight. Fourth, if someone would do it, your departure officer may be confused if he sees 2 inbound stamps w/no outbound, and the computer has you only inbound once (with the same stamp as your departure document).

So, no.

I sort of had a suspicion that was about the answer ... that said the dual passport thing would be a way around it potentially (officially enter and exit on the German passport but just get a stamp at Easter Island for posterity in the Canadian one). Unfortunately my Spanish is much too meager to get this point across so I don't hold much hope. This does bring about another question though - I take it there is definitely both an inbound and outbound stamp? Some of the countries I have travelled to do that, but certainly not all.

If all else fails you can get a stamp at the post office:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelshorts/4765437096/

Rather more decorative than the official one :):

Hmm, that is a very nice stamp, but it sort of brings me back to my earlier pondering, isn't that like colouring or drawing in your passport?! Is that really allowed?

PS would be interested to know what happens

Check back in 6 weeks, I will be sure to let you know! :)

This is all quite interesting !
I will be there Dec 1-5, from/to SCL.

I assume they will only officially stamp you coming to/from Tahiti,
since LIM is now out.

However, that is a nice looking stamp! If the post office will do it, well..
...it looks more like a souvenir stamp than an entry (no date),
so there might be some risk with such an "unofficial" stamp.
Being a touristic place, it might be ok.

I look forward to your report !! ^

My thought with this plan is- who are you going to ask? Immigration won't be open for an IPC-SCL flight since it's a domestic flight and the airport only has 1-2 flights a day. I flew this flight last week and I don't recall seeing anyone at the immigration desk. Even if immigration was open for an PPT-IPC flight first, I assume all the passengers coming off would go through immigration first. After that, there's no reason to keep it open for the IPC-SCL folks.

I didn't get a souveir stamp (I got the official one from coming in from LIM), but they are cheap to get (around US $1). I didn't hear of anyone having problems having the stamp in their passport (it's very different-looking from the official stamp).

If all else fails you can get a stamp at the post office:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelshorts/4765437096/

Rather more decorative than the official one :):

PS would be interested to know what happens

Hi,

I got one of those also when I was in Easter Island last year. ( and no comments on subsequent visits to the US ,UK or the EU)

Regards

TBS