ccohen322

Hi All,

I know there's been threads about this before, but I would love some current info if anyone has (last thread was in 2012 I believe). I'm looking at a cheap flight on Saudia, with a layover in JED for <12 hours. Without exiting the airport, should there be any problems with an old Israeli stamp (and visa) in my passport?

Thanks!

westmideast

Generally speaking, they are not flipping through the passports to search for stamps nowadays on arrival, but you might get (un)lucky and get an enthusiastic chap.... Perhaps have the pages of note be kind of stuck together so as not to be opened for stamping. If you are not exiting the airport(which will royally suck, since the lounge is barely decent and the shopping/restaurants are pathetic), typically no one will even bother to check your passport except on departure at the gate and there is no stamp then. They will possibly look for a Saudi exit stamp in the passport, and make sure to remind them you are transit. They usually do this at the gate after you submit your boarding pass to the airlines staff and are about to walk outside to get on the bus. Its usually done by a uniformed officer, so when you submit your boarding pass do mention to them/him that you are transit(or tell the airline staff to tell him because of language barriers).

ccohen322

Got it. I think I'll be okay then. I'll just bring a book and hunker down
Thanks for the detailed response!

Efrem

I would be very wary of doing this. It can be a red flag: what is s/he trying to hide there, that s/he doesn't want me to see?

Yoshi212

If OP is an US citizen a 2nd passport for travel can be obtained for situations like this. http://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/second-passport/

stimpy

Yeah, I personally would not take this risk. I've had zealous police look through 200 pages of my passport slowly to see if I had an Israeli stamp, then turn and ask me if I've ever been to Israel.

This is what having a second passport is for. Or a better idea is simply ask the Israelis to not stamp your main passport which they will kindly do.

Efrem

That's fine for a new passport, but doesn't address the OP's problem of existing stamps from past travels.

malioil

Do NOT take the risk. If you are travelling to Bahrain then have 30 pages of Israeli stamps for all we care, but I would NOT do this in Saudi Arabia. One overly enthusiastic chap and you'll be tasting some of that famed Saudi hospitality...

Get a second US passport as outlined above before proceeding with this trip would be my honest advise.

muscat

If it's only one stamp, why not cut the page out? If asked, "the dog ate it, my 4 year old cut it out, etc"

Yoshi212

No, just no. The pages are numbered for a reason.

http://www.state.gov/m/ds/investigat/c10714.htm

There are relatively easy legal means to resolve this situation.