bankops

International traveler since 1982 and I have ALWAYS been stamped ente.ring the US on a US passport. NYC, ORD, MEM, DTW, SFO, DFW, MIA, BOS, IAD, MSP, PHL, ATL, RDU, DEN, HOU and CLT

They do not scan your passport visa pages. If you are in the US, you can send in your passport for renewal, but if you are not in the US and thus dealing with an embassy or consulate, then you don't send it in.

Flaflyer

Looking back in my old expired passport, my last no stamp entry was DTW December 2007. I have no US stamps in that passport at all, averaging 2 intl. trips per year for the 10 years. Mostly DTW and ATL entry, possibly MSP or LAX, IIRC, and I have to recall as there are no stamps. Was I lucky or special?

I have been stamped since. Perhaps it is a new thing to use up your pages faster.

LTN Phobia

I don't think it's a good idea.

But it was quite amusing to see some immigration officials starting to stamp right over the top of existing stamps when they saw that my passport was nearly full.

Rather good of them, although my stamp pages looked incredibly messy and they struggled to find the relevant entry stamp when I was trying to exit.

SeattleFlyerGuy

I'm just the opposite: I have to specifically ask for them to stamp my passport at SEA and other places I've entered the country. It's frustrating because they always want to know WHY as if it was some sort of offense..

meh130

I sent my passport in last week to get pages added for trip coming up later this month.

I paid the $60 expedite fee, and the $14.85 for return rush mail.

I sent the passport in at noon Tuesday 23 June. The passport should have arrived by noon Wednesday 24 June. New pages were added Friday 26 June. The passport was mailed from the passport agency on Friday 26 June by Priority Mail (not overnight). It arrived on 30 June.

BobbySteel

I still maintain, in a pinch, go ahead and gently peel 'em out as needed. The full page ones are supposed to be empty underneath (unless they pasted over another country at the time). If you have time, get another passport. If you're a few days away from a trip to Indonesia (notoriously bad about requiring blank pages) and can't get new pages in time, gently pull! I'm sure there are tips on the internet for removing stickers (cold/hot/steam/etc) if you're worried.

MatthewLAX

See below.

roccor

Removing stickers or any other alteration of your passport will get you into trouble, somewhere, sometime. Better to just get more pages and when you order a new passport get the version that comes with more pages, not the regular tourist version.

kittipalo

I had a bunch of Chinese visas which I removed to make space. No problem next time someone went to get me a visa.
Entry/exit stamps are all still there as is the info in the computers at the borders

traderprofit

Going to Chile Wednesday for vacation. I have no fully blank pages. Visa isn't required, just stamp. Do I need fully blank pages for Chile?

Please, someone with specific experience, not specualtion

Self_Loading_Ballast

For what it's worth: entered Chile (SCL) earlier this year on a US tourist passport. Upon entry, two separate stations added two separate items to my passport:

1. I had to pay the "reciprocal" fee of $132 that is charged to all US citizens (as punishment for the fee the USA imposes on Chileans coming the other way). The courteous and efficient folks at the reciprocal-fee desk (an easy-to-miss station before the actual customs/immigration lines) stapled a half-page receipt on page 24 of my 24-page passport. Page 24 is one of the four "amendments and endorsements" pages at the end of the passport, and in my case it was blank. I also had several blank visa pages, but the Chileans put the receipt on page 24 anyway. They also put a one-inch "paid" stamp directly on page 24.

2. At immigration, I got an ordinary quarter-page entry stamp, which the officer neatly placed on a page which was already half full. When I later exited the country, immigration put the quarter-page exit stamp in the last remaining blank quarter-page immediately below the entry stamp.

So, to summarize: "reciprocal fee" stamp and receipt used most of page 24, but it wasn't a regular visa page anyway. The entry and exit stamps used a quarter-page each, and were placed on a page that was already half-full.

Hope this helps.

traderprofit

IT HELPS A LOT Thanks.\
I was actually thinking abt trying to get a p[assport service to do it but they can't guarantee I will have it same day. I do not understand how these passport services are allowed immediate access when I would have to make an appt and the first appointement available is the day after I leave

Does anyone have a take on how to get new pages same day if I go to LA a day earlier? I was told by these agencies they won't see you without an appt but that could be posturing

theworld

I'm going to tag onto this post as its kind of relevant to my query.

First of all I'm a British passport holder, so we CANNOT add extra pages to our passports, therefore that is not an option.

Here's my situation. Like many people, may passport is quickly getting filled up with these full page sticky visas, especially from China.

I have noticed that these china visas are easy to peel off. My plan would be when my existing passport nearly runs out of space I will apply for a new passport (in the UK can hold two passports). When ever I travel to China I will use my new passport, but if I got to other countries I would use my old passport (with the Chinese visa stickers removed).

I presume this is probably a legal no no, but any other thoughts?

yyzvoyageur

The way I understand it, you want to take your Chinese visa counterfoil out of your old passport and paste into your new passport. If I'm correct in my reading of your post, this is a bad idea, not least because the visa has your old passport number on it.

theworld

No, no, I want to be able to use the pages of the old passport by removing the China visa stickers.