Doesn't the form still say "one per household"? Before being married, we always just filled out one form on the basis that we were one household. Granted, they may have assumed we were married, which doesn't help your situation, but the argument may convince some agents.

Surprisingly helpful immigration officer in Lagos this afternoon. He picked a new page to stamp and I asked if he could squeeze it into a corner of an already used page. He grinned and obliged.

You think I could ask a US officer to do the same thing? Or show them where to stamp?

Once I politely asked to stamp it in a specific page in LAX,
the immigration officer was nice enough to dig up that page...
but ended up stamping right in the middle of two pages.
(I dont think that was intentional, but a poor aim i should say)

from that point on.. I stopped asking.

But I'll have to do that soon. I'm almost out of pages.

It was at IAD few weeks ago. An US finest Immigration Officer stamped on my page 6 of the passport. The page lists important things to remember your passport. Has anyone been stamped at the similar page?

Do the US immigration folks stamp US passports? Why?

Yes they do. I think it depends on which country you are returning from.
in past I've entered without any stamps on the passport, but recently
My passports been stamped every time returning to US.

After seeing all those comments about having the US immigration stamp in the center of two pages, I decided to check my passport. And guess what? they didn't stamp MINE in the center of the 2 pages, but rather, on its own page beneath the stamp showing I departed Australia! :)

Sanosuke!

Sounds like the same kind of DHS dork I got who stamped over my Brazilian visa. I still run into the fellow.

Separate immigration line for pax w/o checked baggage
 

I wish airports would put in place a separate immigration counter only for pax without checked baggage. Once thru this counter, the exit bypasses the baggage reclaim area. For pax with checked baggage, whether they wait in immigration lines or for bags to appear, the wait is the same. For pax w/o checked baggage, the wait thru this special immigration line should be much less. Any other FT'er think this would be a good idea, and if so, how to get it implemented?

I mostly travel with just hand carried cabin bags, whether the trip is one day or one month. This system would eliminate a lot of waiting in immigration lines.

that is the problem, isn't it? contrasting behavior:
- Costa Rica SJO ... have one spot about 10% of page free from stamps. asking immigration lady to stamp this spot... she smiles and obliges.
- MIA TRANSIT! SIC! ask Immigration officer not to stamp empty page. He says ok, smiles and stamps a blank page in the middle... Not an idiot?

On this note agrees to the previous posters that some immigration officers are more receptive to the requests not to use up free pages compared to other ones. But it also depends... found out that in UK you have to ask. I now have one page in passport dedicated to UK stamps... funny thing that they just can not put the stamp straight... dunno why - all stamps are at the odd angles overlapping each other. Once upon a time I forgot the mantra "sir/mam if possible please stamp used page" - ended up with an "immigration/Heathrow" perfectly placed in the middle of blank page.

Ireland is another story.... for reasons unknown their stamp is exactly 1/2 of the passport page, so even if you ASK to stamp used page, there is no possibility to fit more than 2 of such stamps on same page... now having some pages in passport dedicated to Ireland Immigration... another interesting thing about them is that they changed ink of the stamp from black to green about year ago - and that green stuff smears to another pages - so now it is another chore - to use blank piece of paper to protect adjacent page from Ireland visa spilling over to it... unbelievable!

BTW - any experience of "biggest ever" immigration stamp or Republic of Ireland is the champion in this?

AX

One of my biggest pet peeves anywhere would probably be people who are standing in front of you on a queue, whether they are directly in front or way at the head of the line, and they turn around, glaring at the back of the zig-zag, as if they had skillfully managed to get to the queue earlier than you. This might be the most irritating thing to me at an airport, or anywhere involving a queue (nevermind that waiting in one is also a pain).

Hong Kong has had the officials who listened to me the most. Granted, I've flown through there a lot, and they are always happy to see lots of HK stamps in the passport, but if I ask them to place a stamp somewhere, they will. I just wish the arrival and departure chops weren't different sizes. One guy at Ho Chi Minh City's airport had the most po'd expression I've ever seen on an airport immigration's mien; it must've been his time for lunch because when I gave my passport to him he looked FURIOUS.

As for immigration lines in the US, they always stamp pages which don't typically yearn for the fresh ink. For example, I think the last three times I've entered the US, two stamps have been on my "extra pages added" page, and the third was in the way back of the passport, on the last page, "special" territory. I'm just waiting for the chief who stamps my picture. That'll be a hoot.

Biggest issue: immigration officials that are not happy you are coming to spend money in their country. Last year I went to Vietnam, and I could not get a smile out of anyone.

A year ago, my wife got stamped and my kids got stamped. I did not. I inquired and the immigration official said people that don't travel much (wife, kids) usually like to see stamps in their passport where people that travel a lot do not (me).

Sounded good to me.

I think you can request no stamp...it is in their computer anyway.

Interesting. I was thinking along those lines. So frequent travelers don't get stamped, then? Or is it all up to the agent?

Are there any other countries that stamp the passports of their own citizens? My lifetime count for German stamps is 1, and not only did I have to ask for it, I also had to justify why I wanted it.