If you are following the law, I continue to maintain that entry and exit stamps actually are beneficial.

Example scenario:
March 1 Enter Schengen area. Receive Stamp.
March 15 Exit Schengen area--no stamp
May 15 Enter Schengen area--no stamp
June 15 Exit Schengen area. Officer questions you for overstay--thinks you arrived March 1 and never departed

If this became an issue, you could prove you didn't overstay using travel records, electronic immigration records, etc., but I maintain it's easier to have all of your travel clearly documented.

If someone wants to violate immigration regulations, then maybe there are different priorities, but that's certainly not what I'm addressing here.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Thank you!

Sorry to bump this thread but I just wanted to let everyone know that I recieved a Swiss stamp 3 days ago when I flew into ZRH. I kindley asked (and looked as cute as possible) the agent if he would stamp my passport. He told me for 5 CHF. I asked if he was serious and he said no, it was a joke and then stamped my passport. The only down side was he stamped over my very faint, one and only French stamp.

On another note my [male] friend asked a different agent to stamp his passport and the guy said no.

Now to get one in Austria tomorrow and one from Lichenstien on Sunday.

Reminds me of going to Liechtenstein - they actually DO charge you for a passport stamp - about 2 CHF, if I remember correctly. At least it's a nice big fancy stamp, taking up about half a page. I was there, and ponied up - I figured it would definitely be a unique one...

Ah, Liechtenstein - one of the passport stamps that is definitely on my list, but which I have sadly not yet gotten. It's right up there with Brunei...

Michael

The stamp for Brunei is actually rather cool. Unfortunately when I got mine the ink was running low so it's a bit hard to read :td:

Where in Liechtenstein does one go to get the stamp?

I have EU passport and thus get no stamps in most places there. Now I am thinking about getting US citizenship (and keeping my old one), but the friggin paperwork asks departure and arrival dates and countries visited for past 5 years.

Seems to too much paperwork just to be American, so I haven't bothered so far...

We asked for stamps at the Canadian border and they pulled my wife in (Green card Canadian living in the US) and grilled her for 40 minutes.

The only problem with stamps is the necessity for a newer fatter passport eventually.

I'm surprised at how other posters have said the US doesn't stamp US passports. US Immigration keeps stamping my US Passport when I return from outside the country. I'd rather not have it filled up unnecessarily. They also seem worse than anywhere else about just randomly stamping a page near the back, rather than using a box on a partially-filled page.

It's happened many times coming in from Canada, including by rail from Vancouver. Also by air arriving in SFO, DEN, EWR, and BOS. What's the point in stamping a US citizen's US passport? I don't need a visa!

I don't recall for sure, but I think it was the tourist office in Vaduz.

In Zurich, the agent looked at my husband's and waived him on through. He asked about the stamp and the agent just smiled and told him they don't do that much anymore. He didn't even look at mine, just smiled and waived me on through.

My latest trip used up 2 more empty pages needlessly :mad:

I did a trip with Princess Cruises last fall, and they did this. We visited Japan and South Korea. They took our passports a few days prior to arriving in port, and returned them on the port day with the stamps in them. The stamps were very neatly done too -- none of this "taking up two spots" stuff.

Canada almost always stamps my passport when I come in. I've arrived via rail in YYZ once and YVR twice with my current passport -- YYZ stamped, and YVR stamped the first time. (I think they didn't stamp the second time because I accidentally used the diplomat line :o )

USA rarely stamps, unless I ask. I've entered at a couple of places -- ORD, DFW, YVR, YYZ, LAX. JFK did stamp on my one trip through there.

On a recent trip to Italy, I got stamped both entering (at VCE) and exiting (at FCO). But on a trip through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands back in 2001, arriving by air and traveling by train, I didn't get a single stamp until I re-entered the USA (on 9/7/2001... I often get chills down my spine looking at that stamp, thinking about what would have happened if I had extended my trip just a few days longer)

I visited NZ a few times earlier this year, and when I asked for a stamp, I was told they don't stamp. I assumed that meant they don't stamp, but I saw themn stamping other passports so I think it must mean they don't stamp Aussie passports.

A few years ago my brother was in the US on a visa waiver. He flew back to MEL and later on went back to the US, flying AC via YVR. Well, that wasn't as easy as it sounds. The US had no record of him leaving the US from his previous trip, meaning that if he had just gone to Canada, the original 90 days keeps on rolling, so they thought he had overstayed his 90 days. He had no arrival stamp from Australia to prove he actually had left the country. Somehow he did manage it because he was allowed back in. Ever since then since the US is the country I frequent most, I asked for stamps on arrival in Australia, just in case I ever need it.

Regarding the whole page (or 2 pages required for SA stamps/visas), on my most recent trip there I had the empty pages, but they used a page which already had a stamp. Go figure. Although a couple of weeks ago a mate was heading to JNB for a wedding. This full passport page thing caused him probs in IAD and they wouldn't let him board. He managed to get his passport sorted out and rebooked onto an ex-JFK flight. He booked a flight to to JFK that arrived at the same terminal in JFK. The flight was delayed once into JFK, missed his connecting flight and missed the wedding. He won't be trying anything like that for a while.

goodo