Death of the passport stamp?
 

First off, I want to confess that I am obsessed with collecting passport stamps and always get excited when I visit a new country because I know I will get a new stamp.

However, recently, Hong Kong (I use a HK passport) has signed agreements with Germany, South Korea, and Singapore that will allow HK passport holders to use e-gates. While these are primarily meant for frequent travelers, I can't help but feel as though the death of the passport stamp is a lot closer than I thought.

Anyone share my pain? :(

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...-kong-visitors

I think passport booklets are an outdated tool and will probably be replaced by card-style passports at some point in the future. More and more countries are not stamping passports, and I believe most countries track visas by computer so it is not possible to travel on a counterfeit visa. Eventually, there should be no need for booklets anymore. Antiquated technology, however, is usually slow to disappear, so it may take a while.

Unavoidable, given the rise of these "e-gates", but I will be sad to see them go. I often flip through my passport during layovers/ taxi or waiting for immigration and enjoy looking at the different stamps and visas.

Having lived in both Shenzhen and HK, I can relate. Of course, the mainland still offers 'em, but I used to go between the two a lot, trying to make a page completely red...@CX HK, have you tried varying which borders you pass through too? For Shenzhen, I've checked off Shatoujiao, Wenjindu, Luo Hu, Huanggang, Shenzhen Bay, and the airport.

In any event, the HK e-channel (for non-residents) is inefficient, and I think the slip is a waste of paper.

(Unfortunately) as a HK citizen I have to use a "Home Return Permit" card, although it does save me a lot of time and money. I do try to enter through different ports of the same country, eg. EWR, JFK, and BOS for the US.

The purpose was to "save time", although to be honest IMO the most efficient way would be to stamp passports on arrival but not on departure, following the example of the US, UK etc.

Another casualty in the war on sentimentality. It's all about being more and more productive, more and more efficient, more and more robotic than human.

It makes my husband very sad that the simple passport stamp is going the way of the dodo.

Remember as kids, flipping through mom and dads passports and thinking about the places we can go. Flipping through the iphone doesn't do the same thing.

eChannel saves me an average of 25 minutes per week (most often at Shenzhen Bay or the HK Macau Ferry Terminal... Huanggang doesn't have eChannel for passports yet).

I happen to dislike passport stamps because adding extra pages is annoying.

I love the receipt system they use in Hong Kong, I would be very happy if all countries adopted such a system. I'm sick of having to get a new passport every two years because the old one is full (passports are quite expensive in Canada).

And I just renewed my passport with double the pages too. Hopefully they won't be too bare once this one's ready to be replaced.

Can't you request a stamp anyway?

I know of people who have done this in Europe where stamps are not the norm for other Europeans.

I thought EU border agents could not stamp an EU passport.

Besides, there will be nothing to stamp when our passports all become an ID card...

Nope... they physically don't have the stamps anymore, so they couldn't even if they wanted to.

I read an article saying the receipt system saved each agent something like 15-20 seconds per visitor, so when multipled thousands of times, you get thousand of people who are sad that they don't get a stamp. :D

Seriously though, they should retain 1-2 lines for "classic stamp" seekers. If they want a stamp, they can wait.

(I would probably be in that line)

Am I just being stupid? I don't see how the receipt system can save 15-20 seconds per visitor. The "stamping" itself takes 2 seconds to find an open spot and stamp, and at airports like FCO the entire process takes about 3 seconds from handing over the passport to getting it back and being waved through.

Death of the passport stamp?
 

If you really want a stamp you can still get stamped at most locations.