invisible

Considering that more and more countries are deploying automated gate systems at airports to allow travelers cross borders without interaction with staff - personal examples I've seen - EU, Japan, US, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand - how much time do you think it will take to have border crossing stamps to be sign of past? Well, at least in developed countries.

5 years? 10? More?

In other words, when will the future with passport having max 10-18 pages because for most of the world you would not need a page in passport to put stamp there?

farci

Perhaps a clue lies in this Australian article - no passport required?

Ditto

But automated gates only allows citizens of the same country access (with EU being an exception allowing other EU countries as well), even in AMS where you have automated exit gates that can be used e.g. by US nationals, you still get a stamp.

How else do you suggest both passenger and the authorities keep track of when you entered and left a country which you are visiting temporarily?

There is of course what they do in Israel, which is generating a small piece of paper with those details, but I suppose at the end it is all the same...

invisible

Automated gates in Singapore and in New Zealand can be for example used by US citizens to enter and exit the country. No passport stamp is involved.

Often1

CBP often does not stamp passports for US entries. Global Entry does not stamp passports at all and is open to many non-USN's.

Schengen requires a stamp on entry & exit because that is the only current way of tracking entry & exit from the Zone. Until every land crossing on a single-lane road is wired into a Schengen-wide system, that's not likely to change (although some countries such as Italy routinely don't bother).

Ditto

Is this available for any US citizen, without requiring any enrolment/registration?

cpdc1030

Yep - AUS, NZ, CAN, US, UK passport holders can use the NZ e-gates with no prior registration. Pretty cool. Anyway, in NZ it's the biosecurity checks they take much more seriously...DO NOT bring muddy hiking boots

reclusive46

The same applies for Australia and if I remember correctly, Finland also allows some non-eu citizens to use it's egates. (Although that may just be when leaving)

I seem to rarely ever get stamps anymore despite travelling a lot.

bitterproffit

I didn't get stamps from Australia in my passport when I visited this summer. As an American citizen, I used the automated egate. It was as simple as a GE Kiosk. It already knows if you purchased the ESTA visa as well. I was a little bummed I didn't get a stamp.

Ditto

Schengen border code clearly specifies that "The travel documents of non-EU nationals are systematically stamped upon entry and exit.", so even if you can use an e-gate, someone still needs to stamp your passport.

SEA-Flyer

Yet they are haphazard about it in pretty much every country. Last month on entry to Schengen at AMS, they stamped my wife and I, but not our kids. Have had inconsistent stamping experiences in AMS, CPH, CDG, ORY, FRA, OSL, KEF, MXP, MUC, AGP, etc

IMOA

When I went through the Finland e-gates with an Australian passport late last year I still got a stamp which somewhat defeated the purpose as you still had to line up to be stamped.

In Aus the countries that can use the smartgate on arrival is Australia Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America. For the departures electronic gates all nationalities can use them.

Even without the electronic gates stamps are going though, Hong kong doesn't stamp anyone any more do they? NZ hasn't stamped an aus passport for at least 10 years and I can see a lot of countries going that way. My current passport is almost full and I can't see that ever happening again.

txflyer77

Correct, Hong Kong stopped stamping a few years ago.

GUWonder

Many times this year on many a day, I get 3 stamps per day. And that's just my intra-EU trips. While reduced passport stamping due to technology/process changes is a reality and less useful of a means for tracking, passport stamping is still sometimes very useful for many US citizens abroad.

IMOA

Arrived in Brussels today (from U.K./outside schengen) on an Australian passport and they didn't bother to stamp it which was a first. Not sure if this is a change on policy or if she just forgot but as someone with only 2 blank pages left and some upcoming travel to South Africa it was much appreciated.