I was detained at Amsterdam Schiphol for extensive questioning 20 years ago because a security agent insisted that my novelty passport from the Dorason train station in the Korean DMZ was a stamp from North Korea. During the conversation, I was able to give a remedial geography lesson and convince her superiors that I had never entered North Korea.
I assume you mean an Immigration Officer rather than a security agent. But I don't see the problem even if it was a North Korean stamp. The Netherlands is not the USA . But how could anybody mistake a novelty PASSPORT for a stamp?
Passport went through the laundry one week before travelling to Ireland. Wife went through first, spent 5 minutes chatting with the agent, then my turn. Took one look at my freshly laundered passport and just went off on me, saying no way he could let me in the country with my mashed document. Noticed me looking towards the wife, turned to her and asked "Are you travelling with this man?" Wife gives a sweet smile and replied "I never met the man". Agent saw the look on my face, and could barely stop laughing long enough to wave me through. Keep the passport in a safe place weeks, if not months before you go, unless you're travelling with my smart aleck wife. Thanks for the tips Aly.
Insist on a stamp when leaving any country. I was detained in France for over staying a work visa. I didn’t overstay, just forgot to get a stamp when I last left.
I don't quite understand how you 'forgot' to get a stamp when leaving France/the Schengen area as, assuming you are not an EU/EEA citizen which you can't be if you needed a work visa, then the passport would have been stamped automatically by immigration when you left. If it was not stamped that was their error. I assume that this detention occurred when you returned to France? Obviously, they would have only been interested in an overstay in France/the Schengen area and not elsewhere. The advice to insist on a stamp when leaving ANY country is all very well, but don't forget that countries such as Canada, the UK, the US and others have no immigration control on departure and therefore no departure stamps exist.
@@Ben-xe8ps Some countries or airports do not stamp your passport even if you are exiting the EU/Schengen area with a residence permit. For example, Berlin Airport refused to stamp my passport despite my inquiring three times with the officer. This happened a few years ago, and I have heard similar experiences from others as well.
If you were stamped in, ensure you get stamped out. The reality these days is most countries in the "west" are now only electronically recording entry and exits of nationals and visa/residence permit holders. Its only some 3rd country nationals (tourists) who still get stamps. None of my passports have had a stamp from ANY "western" country in the last 15yrs, only from small island nations and overseas territories that are semi-autonomous and legally permitted to stamp passports (parts of the former British and French empires).
Surprising because the US has moved past stamps - when crossing through airports, it automatically registers the dates of arrival and departure and provides the information online
@@matthewnirenberg Moreover, EU citizens don’t need to have a passport for traveling inside Schengen and within EU countries . A national ID card suffices.
An acquaintance got a new passport before a cruise vacation. Everything looked OK, so she put it in the safe until it was needed. The day before the trip, as she gathered her documents and tickets, she saw that the passport had her down as a male and she had not noticed previously. There was nothing she could do correct the error in the less than one day before she was due to start her cruise, so she hoped that it would not be noticed and it wasn't. 😅
Many countries don't have a gender marker on passports, so it's not commonly checked. Plus, those that do often let you write whatever you want there. Australia is an exception that I know about - it has a gender field, and you need to prove it if it's not the same as that recorded in their systems. But honestly, as a holder of a passport that does not have a gender field, I don't see why all countries don't do it this way - the gender of a traveller is irrelevant because it's not something you can use to identify someone on the spot (assuming the gender is different than what's apparent from the photo).
I got a souvenir stamp for East Germany in 2007, never had any issue with it. About passport validity after your travel dates, I learned that two weeks before I was due to leave for Rome and my passport was going to expire two months after my trip. No good. I had to get a new one in a hurry. I heard someone else at the passport office say that where she was going, her passport needed to be good for a year after her travels.
I was at Stockholm Airport and was detained because I had a temporary passport as mine had been stolen on train in Germany. It took several Airline Employees and much anxiety on my part before they realized it was valid. My daughter was freaking out because she didn’t want to leave me in Sweden. Keep hold of passport at all times and if something feels off DO Not let anyone touch it!
Detained by who? An airline employee may have been unsure of what this temporary document was but an airline employee would have no authority to detain you. If you were detained by Swedish immigration then I don't see how any airline employees would have been involved in their verification of your document.
@@Ben-xe8psAirlines, before they issue a ticket often verify that you have the proper document for the flight, otherwise they have to return you at their expense!
@@Reed-2big Do you actually mean a ticket or are you referring to checking you in and issuing a boarding card? I appreciate that, but I am discussing the claim that they were DETAINED which no airline employee has any legal right to do. The airline staff may well have been uncertain about this document but they could not have detained the passenger.
@@Ben-xe8ps Agreed at JFK when I showed up with a one way ticket as I was going to a job, I was question and not really detained in the normal sense but they almost didn’t let me on as I had no return ticket. I had to call my new employer to get some of it straightened out! I was traveling as a tourist until my green card could be issued. Not fun.
@@Reed-2big Your reply confuses me. You say that you arrived at JFK intending to board a flight to a destination for which you were required to hold a return ticket and the airline refused to board you as you only held a one-way ticket. That seems a correct decision to me. Quite how your employer assisted you or got the airline to change it's mind, other than buying a return ticket for you, I can't imagine. But you mention a 'green card' which is a US specific thing? Which country was this which would allow a change of status from tourist to foreign worker after arrival? I appreciate some countries may be more relaxed about this than others, but if you had travelled here to the UK as a tourist, such a change of status would not have been allowed. At best, you would have had to leave the UK and obtain an employment visa before returning. At worst, if it was discovered that you had not been truthful about the purpose of your visit to the immigration officer on arrival, you would have been classified as an illegal entrant and removed from the UK, your passport marked accordingly and you would have had great difficulty in returning.
I just got a new passport however until a year ago i was an international flight attendant and i asked some hard to get into countries for a souvinier stamp. Yet i am glad i saw ur video.
Very informative and, as someone who has traveled to over 80 countries in my career, spot on. I would add a sixth - Make sure you sign your passport in the appropriate place in ink and your signature matches your name as it appears on the passport. I personally witnessed a US citizen denied entry into the UK because his passport wasn't signed. They wouldn't just let him sign it there. In the end he may have been allowed into the country, but I would guess it was a hassle that he didn't need after a long flight.
I had a brand new passport when I went to Germany for a trade show many years ago. When I arrived in Munich, the extremely polite immigration agent asked me how long I would be in the country. When I said one week, he suggested that I would have plenty of time to sign my passport before my next flight. He was so deadpan, I thought I was in trouble, but then he smiled and said something like, "Have a nice visit in Germany."
The Swedish police (issuing passports) won’t let you walk away with an us-signed passport. You are given a pen and have to sign the passport when picking it up in front of the policeman handing out passports.
US immigration is the worst I've experienced for burning through pages with single stamps on fresh pages. Happens so often I just assume it's deliberate.
Turkey, Serbia and Northern Cyprus do the same. Thanks to them, I have at least 4 pages with only one stamp right in the middle. I didn't know you could ask them to gently stamp an already stamped page, usually considering the way they looked at me I wouldn't consider even trying to say a word
US Exceptionalism, entitlement or ignorance.... call it what you want..... Yet, had an incredible Immigration officer at Chicago Airport. Longhaul flight, Flight attendants gave me the wrong form and I had problems with my eyes.... He filled in the form for me and I just signed it....he was under surveillance, too...
@@KimJongStinYou can. Verbally non verbally... most will oblige happily... I have done it for the past couple of years.... It's also about communication skills, how your approach and attitude is.....
@@KimJongStin I think in North Cyprus you can even ask to have your stamp on a separate paper.... because of the NC status. I am an EU citizen. I will fly into ECN this February and will see and try....
With the first 1: there’s a place in the Florida keys known as the conch republic. They offer a passport for it. You could get that and get the souvenir stamps in that.
I wish I would have found you a month ago. Got married last October and we booked our honeymoon prior in my maiden name. I had my passport done after the wedding in my married name and I had to pay $200 at the airport for name change to match my passport. I was soooo bummed as that kind of ruined the initial excitement of our honeymoon, but it was better than being denied.
You forgot to mention one thing: at the check-in, they sometimes stick the baggage tag on the back cover of your passport (instead of the boarding pass) and when removing it, the glue leaves some marks there and in some cases also damages the cover. So you have a damaged passport and it's not your fault. Has anybody have problems because of that?
I always ask the agent to give me the baggage claim stickers before s/he has the opportunity to attach them to either the passport or the boarding pass, which is much more common. I also take a picture of the stickers with my camera phone (as well as taking pics of my checked bags at home before going to the airport).
I have never seen a baggage sticker stuck to a passport. I have seen the small stickers that indicate you have gone through with the internal airport security screening put on the back of a passport,
@@johnschmit998 Agents - more than one - have done that to mine. Or the boarding pass, which is harder to peel off. I ask them to hand them to me and I stick them back-to-back and put them in my wallet.
Spot on! I am a U.S. citizen (native born, which only means anything for this comment). My neurologist took away my driver's license (for good reason--I would not wish vertigo on even my worst enemy!) So I keep a U.S. passport card in my pocket (similar size to a driver's license) and then the U.S. blue book for international travel. Let's just say, the passport card will get me into Canada, Mexico and a couple of other countries. The big blue book gets me to go internationally. Since my passport is brand new, I do not yet have any stamps. But thanks to your advice, I will take my old passport book and have a stamp for treasure! (By the way, when renewing your passport, they will return all of your documents, including your old passport! Win, Win! Plan ahead and get that passport early and your renewal early. It took 10 weeks for my new passport to arrive in the U.S. mail.)
As an airport employee, the thing we look at the most when we check and swipe your passport is the damages and that is is signed, especially for US and Canadian passports. If the month validity isn’t correct, the computer will tell us right away 😂 Otherwise, you were spot on!
@@lylez00 We humans are a strange group with people exhibiting all sorts of behaviors. Some do gravitate to positions of power just for the pleasure of having AND USING that power over others. Some people do not like to find themselves on the receiving end of such an encounter. Best advice is to understand the rules before finding oneself in such an occasion and understanding on which side you fall during the encounter. Some enjoy bending or breaking the rules just to prove to the world how smart they are. When they do get caught, they are surprised and often fall back on blaming the official who is just doing their job. I don't pretend to know where you fall on this vast spectrum of people-types. You eloquently presented your view. When a problem is rules-based, correction is seldom done on a whim. The whim, or judgemental, part of the encounter might have gone negative depending on how you presented yourself and acted as you learned of your meaculpa. No great leap; most of us have found ourselves in such a situation a least once before. You can simply say thank you or you can continue to dig yourself deeper with each brilliant word-salad that comes out of your mouth in defense of the indefensible. In the end, you still don't win. But, you arrogantly tried your best. Some officials are triggered by that kind of arrogant response. It, and you, irritate them for doubling down in a situation where you cannot win. It becomes personal for both parties and only ONE will come out a winner. Likely it wasn't you. Likely you took that kind of leap and missed the perfect landing (usually only obtained in the Olympics). Still mad years later. By expressing your view, that really gets you even or even ahead of such over-zealous officials. Think again. They read these comment sections, too. They will find you again and again until you change your attitude. I know, free advice that you will not take. That's OK, I tried. That cleanses my soul. No great leap needed on my part.
My name has caused me issues several times. My work contracts tend to have it shown differently (omitting the second "first name", kind of a middle name), even my car documents have been issued to a wrong name once, and a state ID had a different name once. These things can cause a lot of issues.
One problem with the bringing of an old passport for unofficial stamps is that when you are renewing the passport most countries require the old one be returned to the issuing country government
Depends; in my country you can ask to keep the old passport; ESPECIALLY if you have a valid visa that is good for more years in the old one! Example; i renwed my passport but my usa visa still was valud for 8 extra years so i was allowed to keep it.
Here in the UK passports are always returned after renewal. I still have my old passports going back several decades. The description pages are stamped 'cancelled' and the top right hand corner of the front cover is cut off.
No clue which country doesn't "cancel" and return the old passport to you. 99% of "western" countries, even the ones that were behind the Iron Curtain return the "cancelled" passport when they send you your new one. Honestly I've never heard of a country keeping and destroying old passports.
Paris Hilton signed my passport in a club in vegas, right next to the photo page. When I returned to UK I got pulled up as apparently I had defaced government property! The immigration guy was miserable it was 6am, not a great welcome home! 😂 before egates!
The last point about having several blank pages at the back of the passport is a BIG DEAL. My daughter’s trip to Africa was almost ruined over this problem.
A friend of mine left Canada to go to Jamaica with her passport being expired for 2 years. She was flagged in Jamaica on her way out but they let her board the plane. Can't make this stuff up.
I renewed my passport recently even though it had 7 months left and that’s because it turned 10 years old and a lot of places don’t accept passports that are more than 10 years old even if it has more than 6 months left
This is a problem specific to UK passport holders travelling to the EU Schengen area post-Brexit. To encourage people to renew their passports early and not leave it to the last minute, for a number of years the UK used to add the remaining validity of the old passport, up to a certain maximum number of months, to the validity of the new passport. Following Brexit this EU rule about the passport having to have been issued within the last 10 years, which I strongly suspect was just a badly written rule on the assumption that all passports have a maximum validity of 10 years as this practice was not common and probably not taken into account, was discovered and used as an excuse by, usually low cost, airlines to deny boarding. I don't believe that there has ever actually been an instance of an individual who managed to board a flight actually being refused entry by the EU immigration authorities for this reason and if you don't fly but present yourself to French immigration at their pre-clearance facility at the port of Dover, they won't deny you entry because of this.
@@Ben-xe8ps Thanks for the follow-on information. Guess I need to learn patience and go through all the previous posts to the one puzzling me for possible answers. What a nightmare and confusion it must have created. Done with the best intentions I'm sure but still too quirky for purists in Europe and other places.
I must be traveling to all the wrong spots because my passport is bare. With electronic passports now everything is pretty much swiped. They run your passport and have an electronic identification of when and where you travel and soon you will have to prearrange travel to most countries anyway. Now my older passports are filled with stamps
Some places still stamp it. I just got back from Japan and they did not stamp it, but pasted a sticker with a barcode and some information in English. No stamp on return though. India stamps both ways, and so does Chile. So there are places that still stamp. Heck, last year I had my US passport physically stamped by a US agent upon arrival to the US.
Europeans traveling in Europe can travel with a valid ID, but we always bring our passports. I should stress that a passport is the most personal document we have, so taking good care of it is important.
I know a German family went on holiday in West Germany and went on a train into East Germany. The East German security stopped entire train just because teenage son had something on Passport and not on all documents . It was a nickname !!! .
This must have been at least 35 years ago. I am curious though as to how he came to have a nickname in his passport and what these 'other documents' that they were inspecting were. 'Security' is a strange term to use to refer to East German Immigration (no doubt the police).
They won't deny you board the plane, they may deny to to entey the country. Which is probably exaggerated but yes it's best not to put anything that's not offcial in there
I forgot my passport at home when I went on vacation, and that was during COVID. A passport control officer told me to never do that again because I could be detained until they ascertain my identity.
In the US, you can no longer do this, but you can request the extra pages on the application. I always get them, though I've never needed them, because why not?
The UK has never done this but in the past for an additional fee you could obtain a massive 94 page passport. I think the number of pages in these more expensive passports has now been reduced.
The US has an embargo against Cuba and many Americans bypass the problem by flying to Canada( which does not have an embargo on Cuba) and flying to Cuba from there. This could cause problems returning to the US. At one time if you ask at the border the Cuban Customs will not stamp your passport if you are American.
Watching this with my Syrian passport and laughing. My biggest mistake is being a holder of such a document 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭 new or old I’m not even boarding the plain 😂😭
You did not need to show your passport, when you said "about" that was it... it's funny that you say your passport like having 1 is normal. I have 4 and I think it's normal to have a least 2
Question, I will call Passport Canada when they open because I noticed that the Croatia-Montenegro crossing stamped my passport on the page where I signed! Isn't that weird.
I never heard of a souvenir stamp. A passport is an official legal document. I would never get anything stamped in it other than entering and leaving a country.
People often forget that a passport doesn't actual "belong" to them, it's a government-owned ID issued to the identified person. Only the govt or officials of other countries can make any changes to a passport.
I don't have a passport. I've never needed to get one, and I can travel abroad with just my ID provided it's within EU. However, I might consider getting my hands on a passport one day, if I decide it's time to kick off and visit some foreign country outside EU.
Your name “exactly” as it is on your passport. Some people, like me, have an apostrophe in their nam-and many websites’ softwares don’t accept apostrophes. And sometimes that difference cause problems. I pesonally have yet to be tackled on this-but the worry is constant. I wish companies and authorities would sort this out.
Check the entry requirements of the country, and check if through an official source, such as an embassy or consulate. The expiration date and blank pages are a good starting point though, but it's more complex than that. Some examples: 1. Visa requirements - make 100% sure whether you need a visa for the country as it's not always straightforward. Make sure the visa is in the same passport, if the country requires it (most of the world does, the US does not and there's a few other exceptions). 2. Blank pages - not that straightforward: Mexico requires 1 blank page, 2 if you need a visa. South Africa requires 2 blank pages facing each other. There are many other odd ones to consider. 3. Passport validity - could be anything from 0 days to about 6 months. The US has different times for different nationalities. Most countries have a fixed amount though. 4. ICVP - easy one to forget because it's so seldomly needed. Forgetting this one could allow you to travel but not come back home.
@@madchatteress International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Needed when traveling to some countries, sometimes only to return. Commonly it’s for yellow fever, but could also be polio or meningitis. Just one of those things you don’t always think about.
So annoyed at the Vietnamese Immigration officer, she randomly stamped my entry 2 pages after the majority of my country stamps. Now it is no longer in chronological order and I have less blank pages. What a waste. I didn't know I could ask immigration officers to stamp in a particular position. I thought it was standard practise/common sense to follow the order of use and stamp on 1/2 a page.
What she did was not uncommon and, especially as passports start to fill up, stamps rarely remain in chronological order. I have never requested an immigration officer to stamp in a particular place and am unsure as to how they would react to such as request; probably humour you but you never know.
Could you possibly chime in on stamps for places like San Marino? San Marino actually is a real country, and their stamps are issued by low-level government (such as a post office or tourism office). They are not mandatory to have; you can visit San Marino without getting a stamp at all. Officially, they are "tourist visas," but they are absolutely not an indication of entry or exit. Reddit has argued endlessly over whether these stamps are okay to have or not.
In 98 % of the cases you won't have any problem, but some countries (the ones in south-east asia like Thailand, Vietnam etc are well known for being particularly picky) might argue that they are fake stamps, as they are purely touristic and not for a matter of immigration control or custom procedures. That's actually the reason Monaco's tourism office stopped stamping real passports, unless they're expired, and now sells fake eight pages souvenir Monaco passports with pictures, drawings and the Principality stamp in them. That's also why even upon request to the immigration officers, you won't be able to get a stamp from a Schengen state if you're an EU citizen or a foreign visitor who already has an entry stamp from a country in the Schengen area
San Marino & Monaco legally CAN stamp passports. The problem, as was mentioned is in the 3rd world and Asia where the people aren't as knowledgeable about countries, don't realize they're legally real countries and are too "up-themselves" to check the official ICAO list; the same officials will also claim that Grenada, St Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, and, St Kitts & Nevis aren't real for the same reason. You can get a Monaco stamp from the town hall (the official border office) but you have to directly enter Monaco, not from within the EU - i.e. go there by boat directly from outside the EU and you will be stamped in, and subsequently stamped out when leaving (the stamp is required along with the vessels port exit clearance which is required at the next port). Some people have simply gone to the town hall in Monaco and politely asked for the official stamp and had their passport stamped. The "fantasy" Monaco stamp which is now in the pretend passport is available from the tourist office.
@@KimJongStin When I entered Thailand (last year) and Vietnam (this year) the Immigration officers barely glanced at the passport, just swiped it, checked my picture to my face, stamped it and we were in. They didn't check the passport for all the stamps in it.
Hey Aly, before you use that animation with the globe and flags of countries in your video, you should have made sure that the borders of countries, especially Ukraine, were shown correctly, according to internationally recognized borders.
Who in their right mind would allow an unofficial stamp be put in their passport? That is so naive! Would you put stickers on a loan application? Grow up, people!
My passport was mailed to me with the incorrect place of birth 😢 am i able to travel with this still or should i go thru the annoying process of getting it redone?
You started your comment with an incomplete sentence and improper punctuation. Followed by a run-on sentence you failed to capitalize. You're retired, and it's the internet. Put the red pen away.
@@Mobius1_ I hate to burst your little bubble, but it's not a run-on sentence. The punctuation is there to prevent a run-on sentence. I only commented on the title and I did it politely. I do hope I did not upset you. I am retired, as you reminded me. Old habits die hard. As you also pointed out- it is the internet so who cares.
Hi! I damaged my information page and changed my passport, in the old passport I have USA visa that is not damaged, can I travel to USA with my old and new passports?
I suggest that you take both passports to a US consulate and ask them to transfer the valid visa. Although I understand that the US will accept a visa in a different passport, the fact that you state that the information page is damaged could cause you problems.
In this day and age of turmoil, best advice is to just travel within your country. No passport needed, no hassle, no foreign issues and best of all, support your own country with $$$
I travel to Mexico every two or three weeks, and never have any problems. (Pues, sí hablo español perfectamente, pero...Well, yes, I speak Spanish perfectly, but...).
No, souvenir stamps do not invalidate passports. There is absolutely no such law or regulation in any country. You don't know the first thing you're talking about.
@@daylightdaylight6612 Liechtenstein does not have a CBP desk at their international airport (cuz they don’t have one). The stamp…while official…is purely for souvenir purpose.
@@1960mikey I did not say they have an entry stamp. I did not talked about a stamp. They have their OWN passport! They are under the regulations of Switserland but Liechtenstein is a country like Andorra, Monaco.
The Vatican entry stamps are NOT souvenir stamps if stamped at their border station - the "fantasy" stamps aren't done by the border station. The Vatican IS on the official ICAO list as a country that can legally stamp passports. They also have their own passports used by members of the church who live in the Vatican. Sounds like some officials failed to check the official list and the individual didn't politely ask them to verify with the official list. I've had the official entry and exit stamps in an old passport. The only time you'll get the genuine stamps in your passport are if you're there to learn things like "restoration & preservation" of collections, research in the archives, or for work.
Even if you have an outdated marriage license!…. And have a divorce…. You can still be offered citizenship into another county in which an outdated paperwork would be easily accepted!…. Duel citizenship is easy!…. 🤫
I can guarantee you…an airline employee will not deny you boarding for a souvenir stamp in your passport. You might encounter being denied into or out of a country by their boarder guards tho.
@@rivenoak hyperbole: I wrote that you might not get admitted into another country and that the airline employee could not deny you boarding. Even the US Department of State uses the language writes, “could potentially consider novelty stamps as ‘damage’ to a passport”. I’m commenting on life as an airline staff… I’m not going out on a limb to deny a passenger travel cuz in case they might be detained, and the language in the countries rules state nothing about souvenir stamps. I personally asked passengers to open their passports to the page with the “current visa” to the country they are going to. Inspecting each page of a 20+ page passport doesn’t happen at an airline check-in desk. If it did, 853 passengers on a high density A380 would take more than the recommended 3 hours before checkin suggestion.
@@1960mikeyYou still cannot speak for all check-in agents......that's preposterous! They may have different instructions! This souvenir stamps are silly and shouldn't be in any passport....
@@1960mikey How idiotic is this? As if you or I would know about all transactions at all check-in counters of all airlines and airports on this planet! Fact is: nothing should be in your passport except official stamps/visa. For anything else buy yourself one of these fun fake passports. I've worked for the Foreign Office and held a diplomatic passport for some years.
I was detained at Amsterdam Schiphol for extensive questioning 20 years ago because a security agent insisted that my novelty passport from the Dorason train station in the Korean DMZ was a stamp from North Korea. During the conversation, I was able to give a remedial geography lesson and convince her superiors that I had never entered North Korea.
@@Michael-iw3ek And many are still there. Like it or not.
@@Michael-iw3ekwhen you come back from anywhere, you have to declare the countries you’ve been.
@@M_SC Only in the US.
I assume you mean an Immigration Officer rather than a security agent. But I don't see the problem even if it was a North Korean stamp. The Netherlands is not the USA . But how could anybody mistake a novelty PASSPORT for a stamp?
Passport went through the laundry one week before travelling to Ireland. Wife went through first, spent 5 minutes chatting with the agent, then my turn. Took one look at my freshly laundered passport and just went off on me, saying no way he could let me in the country with my mashed document. Noticed me looking towards the wife, turned to her and asked "Are you travelling with this man?" Wife gives a sweet smile and replied "I never met the man". Agent saw the look on my face, and could barely stop laughing long enough to wave me through. Keep the passport in a safe place weeks, if not months before you go, unless you're travelling with my smart aleck wife. Thanks for the tips Aly.
Insist on a stamp when leaving any country. I was detained in France for over staying a work visa. I didn’t overstay, just forgot to get a stamp when I last left.
I don't quite understand how you 'forgot' to get a stamp when leaving France/the Schengen area as, assuming you are not an EU/EEA citizen which you can't be if you needed a work visa, then the passport would have been stamped automatically by immigration when you left. If it was not stamped that was their error. I assume that this detention occurred when you returned to France? Obviously, they would have only been interested in an overstay in France/the Schengen area and not elsewhere.
The advice to insist on a stamp when leaving ANY country is all very well, but don't forget that countries such as Canada, the UK, the US and others have no immigration control on departure and therefore no departure stamps exist.
@@Ben-xe8ps Some countries or airports do not stamp your passport even if you are exiting the EU/Schengen area with a residence permit. For example, Berlin Airport refused to stamp my passport despite my inquiring three times with the officer. This happened a few years ago, and I have heard similar experiences from others as well.
If you were stamped in, ensure you get stamped out. The reality these days is most countries in the "west" are now only electronically recording entry and exits of nationals and visa/residence permit holders. Its only some 3rd country nationals (tourists) who still get stamps. None of my passports have had a stamp from ANY "western" country in the last 15yrs, only from small island nations and overseas territories that are semi-autonomous and legally permitted to stamp passports (parts of the former British and French empires).
Surprising because the US has moved past stamps - when crossing through airports, it automatically registers the dates of arrival and departure and provides the information online
@@matthewnirenberg Moreover, EU citizens don’t need to have a passport for traveling inside Schengen and within EU countries . A national ID card suffices.
I didn’t know about the souvenir stamps, I have one from Antarctica and a couple other places. Hope no one notices. Like your videos - thanks.
I have the one from Port Lochroy in Antarctica and Ushuaia as well.
An acquaintance got a new passport before a cruise vacation. Everything looked OK, so she put it in the safe until it was needed. The day before the trip, as she gathered her documents and tickets, she saw that the passport had her down as a male and she had not noticed previously. There was nothing she could do correct the error in the less than one day before she was due to start her cruise, so she hoped that it would not be noticed and it wasn't. 😅
Many countries don't have a gender marker on passports, so it's not commonly checked. Plus, those that do often let you write whatever you want there. Australia is an exception that I know about - it has a gender field, and you need to prove it if it's not the same as that recorded in their systems. But honestly, as a holder of a passport that does not have a gender field, I don't see why all countries don't do it this way - the gender of a traveller is irrelevant because it's not something you can use to identify someone on the spot (assuming the gender is different than what's apparent from the photo).
I got a souvenir stamp for East Germany in 2007, never had any issue with it.
About passport validity after your travel dates, I learned that two weeks before I was due to leave for Rome and my passport was going to expire two months after my trip. No good. I had to get a new one in a hurry.
I heard someone else at the passport office say that where she was going, her passport needed to be good for a year after her travels.
I was at Stockholm Airport and was detained because I had a temporary passport as mine had been stolen on train in Germany. It took several Airline Employees and much anxiety on my part before they realized it was valid. My daughter was freaking out because she didn’t want to leave me in Sweden. Keep hold of passport at all times and if something feels off DO Not let anyone touch it!
Detained by who? An airline employee may have been unsure of what this temporary document was but an airline employee would have no authority to detain you. If you were detained by Swedish immigration then I don't see how any airline employees would have been involved in their verification of your document.
@@Ben-xe8psAirlines, before they issue a ticket often verify that you have the proper document for the flight, otherwise they have to return you at their expense!
@@Reed-2big Do you actually mean a ticket or are you referring to checking you in and issuing a boarding card? I appreciate that, but I am discussing the claim that they were DETAINED which no airline employee has any legal right to do. The airline staff may well have been uncertain about this document but they could not have detained the passenger.
@@Ben-xe8ps Agreed at JFK when I showed up with a one way ticket as I was going to a job, I was question and not really detained in the normal sense but they almost didn’t let me on as I had no return ticket. I had to call my new employer to get some of it straightened out! I was traveling as a tourist until my green card could be issued. Not fun.
@@Reed-2big Your reply confuses me. You say that you arrived at JFK intending to board a flight to a destination for which you were required to hold a return ticket and the airline refused to board you as you only held a one-way ticket. That seems a correct decision to me. Quite how your employer assisted you or got the airline to change it's mind, other than buying a return ticket for you, I can't imagine.
But you mention a 'green card' which is a US specific thing?
Which country was this which would allow a change of status from tourist to foreign worker after arrival? I appreciate some countries may be more relaxed about this than others, but if you had travelled here to the UK as a tourist, such a change of status would not have been allowed. At best, you would have had to leave the UK and obtain an employment visa before returning. At worst, if it was discovered that you had not been truthful about the purpose of your visit to the immigration officer on arrival, you would have been classified as an illegal entrant and removed from the UK, your passport marked accordingly and you would have had great difficulty in returning.
Thanks for the useful advice!
The last couple of flights I took to another country, no one stamped my passport. I thought it wasn't a thing anymore.
That would depend on your nationality and where you were travelling to. Please be more specific.
You got me with the Art Vandelay
🤭😊
I just got a new passport however until a year ago i was an international flight attendant and i asked some hard to get into countries for a souvinier stamp. Yet i am glad i saw ur video.
Who exactly in these 'hard to get into' countries did you ask for these souvenir stamps?
Very informative and, as someone who has traveled to over 80 countries in my career, spot on. I would add a sixth - Make sure you sign your passport in the appropriate place in ink and your signature matches your name as it appears on the passport. I personally witnessed a US citizen denied entry into the UK because his passport wasn't signed. They wouldn't just let him sign it there. In the end he may have been allowed into the country, but I would guess it was a hassle that he didn't need after a long flight.
I had a brand new passport when I went to Germany for a trade show many years ago. When I arrived in Munich, the extremely polite immigration agent asked me how long I would be in the country. When I said one week, he suggested that I would have plenty of time to sign my passport before my next flight. He was so deadpan, I thought I was in trouble, but then he smiled and said something like, "Have a nice visit in Germany."
The Swedish police (issuing passports) won’t let you walk away with an us-signed passport. You are given a pen and have to sign the passport when picking it up in front of the policeman handing out passports.
Wait your passports aren't officially stamped with your signature that you give the agent when applying for it?
My country ingrains the signature on the bio page so no worry's about forgetting to sign passport.
@@m3redgt it depends on the country. In some places you have to actually get out a pen and sign your passport
Good information. I definitely learned something.
US immigration is the worst I've experienced for burning through pages with single stamps on fresh pages. Happens so often I just assume it's deliberate.
Turkey, Serbia and Northern Cyprus do the same. Thanks to them, I have at least 4 pages with only one stamp right in the middle. I didn't know you could ask them to gently stamp an already stamped page, usually considering the way they looked at me I wouldn't consider even trying to say a word
US Exceptionalism, entitlement or ignorance.... call it what you want..... Yet, had an incredible Immigration officer at Chicago Airport. Longhaul flight, Flight attendants gave me the wrong form and I had problems with my eyes.... He filled in the form for me and I just signed it....he was under surveillance, too...
@@KimJongStinYou can. Verbally non verbally... most will oblige happily... I have done it for the past couple of years.... It's also about communication skills, how your approach and attitude is.....
@@KimJongStin I think in North Cyprus you can even ask to have your stamp on a separate paper.... because of the NC status. I am an EU citizen. I will fly into ECN this February and will see and try....
My passport pages are all blank. All I do is cross the US Canada border and as y’all know they don’t stamp. That’s all I can afford. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Wow... Didnt realise that. I have one... Amongst many others mind you, from Ecuadors Del Mundo Equator centre..... Never been pulled up on it..., yet!
With the first 1: there’s a place in the Florida keys known as the conch republic. They offer a passport for it. You could get that and get the souvenir stamps in that.
It is Key West. They started this when the Border Patrol set up a checkpoint between Key West and the rest of Florida.
Great and cheerful presentation. I found my way here as I have a crease on my information page.
I wish I would have found you a month ago. Got married last October and we booked our honeymoon prior in my maiden name. I had my passport done after the wedding in my married name and I had to pay $200 at the airport for name change to match my passport. I was soooo bummed as that kind of ruined the initial excitement of our honeymoon, but it was better than being denied.
You forgot to mention one thing: at the check-in, they sometimes stick the baggage tag on the back cover of your passport (instead of the boarding pass) and when removing it, the glue leaves some marks there and in some cases also damages the cover. So you have a damaged passport and it's not your fault. Has anybody have problems because of that?
I always ask the agent to give me the baggage claim stickers before s/he has the opportunity to attach them to either the passport or the boarding pass, which is much more common. I also take a picture of the stickers with my camera phone (as well as taking pics of my checked bags at home before going to the airport).
That could create a sticky situation 😂 but I don't think it's a real issue if the ID part of your passport is in good shape.
I have heard of people being denied due to this occasionally. Ultimately it's your passport your responsibility if it's damaged
I have never seen a baggage sticker stuck to a passport. I have seen the small stickers that indicate you have gone through with the internal airport security screening put on the back of a passport,
@@johnschmit998 Agents - more than one - have done that to mine. Or the boarding pass, which is harder to peel off. I ask them to hand them to me and I stick them back-to-back and put them in my wallet.
Mine expires June 4. I guess I'd better get the renewal started. Just did get mu Real ID (Virginia) using it.
I'm looking forward to traveling back to Japan someday
Thanks for the reminders in your video, A.
I recommend to use a ziplock back to secure your passport at all times. Bring spares in your carry on bag.
Spot on! I am a U.S. citizen (native born, which only means anything for this comment). My neurologist took away my driver's license (for good reason--I would not wish vertigo on even my worst enemy!) So I keep a U.S. passport card in my pocket (similar size to a driver's license) and then the U.S. blue book for international travel. Let's just say, the passport card will get me into Canada, Mexico and a couple of other countries. The big blue book gets me to go internationally. Since my passport is brand new, I do not yet have any stamps. But thanks to your advice, I will take my old passport book and have a stamp for treasure! (By the way, when renewing your passport, they will return all of your documents, including your old passport! Win, Win! Plan ahead and get that passport early and your renewal early. It took 10 weeks for my new passport to arrive in the U.S. mail.)
Tip number 3 is extremely important
As an airport employee, the thing we look at the most when we check and swipe your passport is the damages and that is is signed, especially for US and Canadian passports. If the month validity isn’t correct, the computer will tell us right away 😂 Otherwise, you were spot on!
Very informative video!
Never heard of souvenir stamps till this video.
Was that a Seinfeld Easter egg, Ms. Vandalay? Nice video!
😎
Art Vandelay - nice touch.
They offer souvenir stamps in Llanfair PG, Wales, just because of the length of the name of it.
Keep passports in Zip Lock bags and inside a watertight container, simple.
One can also request a passport book with about twice as many pages when getting either the first one or renewing it, at no extra charge.
Which country is this? In the UK such passports cost extra.
@@Ben-xe8ps This is in the US.
As an airline ground handling it is not easy to handle the passenger to deny boarding 😢
@@adlihaikal4587 SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 😭 breaks my heart every time i have to
I want to explore 🇨🇦 with you!!
Good to know this.
This happened to me I travelled beginning of December and my passport expired in February and I missed my flight
Yea
Some customs people are egomaniacs, and take perverse pleasure in ruining someone's vacation on a whim.
Yeah, it is never your fault. Just over-zealous officials complying with the rules. Horrible people.
@@WilliamMurphy-uv9pm That's quite a leep.
@@lylez00 We humans are a strange group with people exhibiting all sorts of behaviors. Some do gravitate to positions of power just for the pleasure of having AND USING that power over others. Some people do not like to find themselves on the receiving end of such an encounter. Best advice is to understand the rules before finding oneself in such an occasion and understanding on which side you fall during the encounter. Some enjoy bending or breaking the rules just to prove to the world how smart they are. When they do get caught, they are surprised and often fall back on blaming the official who is just doing their job. I don't pretend to know where you fall on this vast spectrum of people-types. You eloquently presented your view. When a problem is rules-based, correction is seldom done on a whim. The whim, or judgemental, part of the encounter might have gone negative depending on how you presented yourself and acted as you learned of your meaculpa. No great leap; most of us have found ourselves in such a situation a least once before. You can simply say thank you or you can continue to dig yourself deeper with each brilliant word-salad that comes out of your mouth in defense of the indefensible. In the end, you still don't win. But, you arrogantly tried your best. Some officials are triggered by that kind of arrogant response. It, and you, irritate them for doubling down in a situation where you cannot win. It becomes personal for both parties and only ONE will come out a winner. Likely it wasn't you. Likely you took that kind of leap and missed the perfect landing (usually only obtained in the Olympics). Still mad years later. By expressing your view, that really gets you even or even ahead of such over-zealous officials. Think again. They read these comment sections, too. They will find you again and again until you change your attitude. I know, free advice that you will not take. That's OK, I tried. That cleanses my soul. No great leap needed on my part.
My name has caused me issues several times. My work contracts tend to have it shown differently (omitting the second "first name", kind of a middle name), even my car documents have been issued to a wrong name once, and a state ID had a different name once. These things can cause a lot of issues.
like uzupis in Vilnius,lithuania
One problem with the bringing of an old passport for unofficial stamps is that when you are renewing the passport most countries require the old one be returned to the issuing country government
Depends; in my country you can ask to keep the old passport; ESPECIALLY if you have a valid visa that is good for more years in the old one! Example; i renwed my passport but my usa visa still was valud for 8 extra years so i was allowed to keep it.
Here in the UK passports are always returned after renewal. I still have my old passports going back several decades. The description pages are stamped 'cancelled' and the top right hand corner of the front cover is cut off.
No clue which country doesn't "cancel" and return the old passport to you. 99% of "western" countries, even the ones that were behind the Iron Curtain return the "cancelled" passport when they send you your new one. Honestly I've never heard of a country keeping and destroying old passports.
In India, they just punch a hole in the old passport and return it
In Greece they just add holes on the covers to indicate they are cancelled.
Paris Hilton signed my passport in a club in vegas, right next to the photo page. When I returned to UK I got pulled up as apparently I had defaced government property! The immigration guy was miserable it was 6am, not a great welcome home! 😂 before egates!
Nice reference to “Art Vandelay” in your video! 😂
😁
Very good information 👍
The last point about having several blank pages at the back of the passport is a BIG DEAL. My daughter’s trip to Africa was almost ruined over this problem.
There should be a special book or a booklet that you can buy to put those souvenir stamps in so that they will have a place to put them.
A friend of mine left Canada to go to Jamaica with her passport being expired for 2 years. She was flagged in Jamaica on her way out but they let her board the plane. Can't make this stuff up.
I renewed my passport recently even though it had 7 months left and that’s because it turned 10 years old and a lot of places don’t accept passports that are more than 10 years old even if it has more than 6 months left
This is a problem specific to UK passport holders travelling to the EU Schengen area post-Brexit. To encourage people to renew their passports early and not leave it to the last minute, for a number of years the UK used to add the remaining validity of the old passport, up to a certain maximum number of months, to the validity of the new passport. Following Brexit this EU rule about the passport having to have been issued within the last 10 years, which I strongly suspect was just a badly written rule on the assumption that all passports have a maximum validity of 10 years as this practice was not common and probably not taken into account, was discovered and used as an excuse by, usually low cost, airlines to deny boarding. I don't believe that there has ever actually been an instance of an individual who managed to board a flight actually being refused entry by the EU immigration authorities for this reason and if you don't fly but present yourself to French immigration at their pre-clearance facility at the port of Dover, they won't deny you entry because of this.
More than ten years and six month old passport? A 10 year passport expires in 10 years. There is no grace period.
@@WilliamMurphy-uv9pm Read my reply to the original comment above for explanation of how this could occur in the UK.
@@Ben-xe8ps Thanks for the follow-on information. Guess I need to learn patience and go through all the previous posts to the one puzzling me for possible answers. What a nightmare and confusion it must have created. Done with the best intentions I'm sure but still too quirky for purists in Europe and other places.
I must be traveling to all the wrong spots because my passport is bare. With electronic passports now everything is pretty much swiped. They run your passport and have an electronic identification of when and where you travel and soon you will have to prearrange travel to most countries anyway. Now my older passports are filled with stamps
Some places still stamp it. I just got back from Japan and they did not stamp it, but pasted a sticker with a barcode and some information in English. No stamp on return though. India stamps both ways, and so does Chile. So there are places that still stamp. Heck, last year I had my US passport physically stamped by a US agent upon arrival to the US.
Im good to go Aly thanks
I’m thinking about my life choices and why I clicked on this video to create unnecessary anxiety 😂
Thank you for the info.
I have a flight tomorrow sadly my passport received a stain but not that serious all the pages are still in tact and no damage
Update?
Europeans traveling in Europe can travel with a valid ID, but we always bring our passports.
I should stress that a passport is the most personal document we have, so taking good care of it is important.
I know a German family went on holiday in West Germany and went on a train into East Germany. The East German security stopped entire train just because teenage son had something on Passport and not on all documents . It was a nickname !!! .
This must have been at least 35 years ago. I am curious though as to how he came to have a nickname in his passport and what these 'other documents' that they were inspecting were. 'Security' is a strange term to use to refer to East German Immigration (no doubt the police).
They won't deny you board the plane, they may deny to to entey the country. Which is probably exaggerated but yes it's best not to put anything that's not offcial in there
What is souvuneer stamp?
I forgot my passport at home when I went on vacation, and that was during COVID. A passport control officer told me to never do that again because I could be detained until they ascertain my identity.
I don't know if it still done, but I have had additional pages added by the passport authority when my stamps section was getting too full.
In the US, you can no longer do this, but you can request the extra pages on the application. I always get them, though I've never needed them, because why not?
The UK has never done this but in the past for an additional fee you could obtain a massive 94 page passport. I think the number of pages in these more expensive passports has now been reduced.
The US has an embargo against Cuba and many Americans bypass the problem by flying to Canada( which does not have an embargo on Cuba) and flying to Cuba from there. This could cause problems returning to the US. At one time if you ask at the border the Cuban Customs will not stamp your passport if you are American.
Can employer mark bad?
Watching this with my Syrian passport and laughing. My biggest mistake is being a holder of such a document 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭 new or old I’m not even boarding the plain 😂😭
You did not need to show your passport, when you said "about" that was it... it's funny that you say your passport like having 1 is normal. I have 4 and I think it's normal to have a least 2
I have 2 and am working on #3.
If you need to brag about something so trivial you have a big problem. Nobody cares if you have 4 or 400 passports.
Question, I will call Passport Canada when they open because I noticed that the Croatia-Montenegro crossing stamped my passport on the page where I signed! Isn't that weird.
I never heard of a souvenir stamp. A passport is an official legal document. I would never get anything stamped in it other than entering and leaving a country.
People often forget that a passport doesn't actual "belong" to them, it's a government-owned ID issued to the identified person. Only the govt or officials of other countries can make any changes to a passport.
I don’t have passport. If, I did have a past port. I’ll keep it, in my fireproof box. When not in used.
Heh, I haven't left the EU in so long that both of my passports expired already 15 years ago.
What if 10 of my back oahes have an orange stain? Xxxx❤❤❤
I don't have a passport. I've never needed to get one, and I can travel abroad with just my ID provided it's within EU. However, I might consider getting my hands on a passport one day, if I decide it's time to kick off and visit some foreign country outside EU.
Churchill, Manitoba gives stamps?
A good video would have listed the 6 month countries so you know which ones have this requirement..
Your name “exactly” as it is on your passport. Some people, like me, have an apostrophe in their nam-and many websites’ softwares don’t accept apostrophes. And sometimes that difference cause problems. I pesonally have yet to be tackled on this-but the worry is constant.
I wish companies and authorities would sort this out.
Check the entry requirements of the country, and check if through an official source, such as an embassy or consulate. The expiration date and blank pages are a good starting point though, but it's more complex than that. Some examples:
1. Visa requirements - make 100% sure whether you need a visa for the country as it's not always straightforward. Make sure the visa is in the same passport, if the country requires it (most of the world does, the US does not and there's a few other exceptions).
2. Blank pages - not that straightforward: Mexico requires 1 blank page, 2 if you need a visa. South Africa requires 2 blank pages facing each other. There are many other odd ones to consider.
3. Passport validity - could be anything from 0 days to about 6 months. The US has different times for different nationalities. Most countries have a fixed amount though.
4. ICVP - easy one to forget because it's so seldomly needed. Forgetting this one could allow you to travel but not come back home.
What is ICVP? Thanks
@@madchatteress International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Needed when traveling to some countries, sometimes only to return. Commonly it’s for yellow fever, but could also be polio or meningitis. Just one of those things you don’t always think about.
It’s criminal how negligent people are with their passport. They will forget it everywhere on an aircraft , seat, table , airport bench .
So annoyed at the Vietnamese Immigration officer, she randomly stamped my entry 2 pages after the majority of my country stamps. Now it is no longer in chronological order and I have less blank pages. What a waste. I didn't know I could ask immigration officers to stamp in a particular position. I thought it was standard practise/common sense to follow the order of use and stamp on 1/2 a page.
What she did was not uncommon and, especially as passports start to fill up, stamps rarely remain in chronological order. I have never requested an immigration officer to stamp in a particular place and am unsure as to how they would react to such as request; probably humour you but you never know.
I'm sorry officer, my dog ate my passport.
Could you possibly chime in on stamps for places like San Marino? San Marino actually is a real country, and their stamps are issued by low-level government (such as a post office or tourism office). They are not mandatory to have; you can visit San Marino without getting a stamp at all. Officially, they are "tourist visas," but they are absolutely not an indication of entry or exit. Reddit has argued endlessly over whether these stamps are okay to have or not.
In 98 % of the cases you won't have any problem, but some countries (the ones in south-east asia like Thailand, Vietnam etc are well known for being particularly picky) might argue that they are fake stamps, as they are purely touristic and not for a matter of immigration control or custom procedures.
That's actually the reason Monaco's tourism office stopped stamping real passports, unless they're expired, and now sells fake eight pages souvenir Monaco passports with pictures, drawings and the Principality stamp in them.
That's also why even upon request to the immigration officers, you won't be able to get a stamp from a Schengen state if you're an EU citizen or a foreign visitor who already has an entry stamp from a country in the Schengen area
San Marino & Monaco legally CAN stamp passports. The problem, as was mentioned is in the 3rd world and Asia where the people aren't as knowledgeable about countries, don't realize they're legally real countries and are too "up-themselves" to check the official ICAO list; the same officials will also claim that Grenada, St Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, and, St Kitts & Nevis aren't real for the same reason.
You can get a Monaco stamp from the town hall (the official border office) but you have to directly enter Monaco, not from within the EU - i.e. go there by boat directly from outside the EU and you will be stamped in, and subsequently stamped out when leaving (the stamp is required along with the vessels port exit clearance which is required at the next port).
Some people have simply gone to the town hall in Monaco and politely asked for the official stamp and had their passport stamped. The "fantasy" Monaco stamp which is now in the pretend passport is available from the tourist office.
@@KimJongStin When I entered Thailand (last year) and Vietnam (this year) the Immigration officers barely glanced at the passport, just swiped it, checked my picture to my face, stamped it and we were in. They didn't check the passport for all the stamps in it.
My passport has a crease on the photo page will this be okay?
I had the name problem. Richard vs Rich
Hey Aly, before you use that animation with the globe and flags of countries in your video, you should have made sure that the borders of countries, especially Ukraine, were shown correctly, according to internationally recognized borders.
Who in their right mind would allow an unofficial stamp be put in their passport? That is so naive! Would you put stickers on a loan application? Grow up, people!
Peru no longer stamps passports.
"That country does'nt know anything about you?"Hilarious!!!!
Who noticed art vandelay
I have a Lego passport, so I can get any special stamp 😂
Me too 🤣
My passport was mailed to me with the incorrect place of birth 😢 am i able to travel with this still or should i go thru the annoying process of getting it redone?
Art Vandalay 😂😂😂
Retired ELA teacher here- please change the title to say "prevent" you, not deny you.
You started your comment with an incomplete sentence and improper punctuation. Followed by a run-on sentence you failed to capitalize. You're retired, and it's the internet. Put the red pen away.
@@Mobius1_ I hate to burst your little bubble, but it's not a run-on sentence. The punctuation is there to prevent a run-on sentence. I only commented on the title and I did it politely.
I do hope I did not upset you. I am retired, as you reminded me. Old habits die hard. As you also pointed out- it is the internet so who cares.
@@Mobius1_
P. S. We weren't allowed to edit student work with a red pen.
I kept my passport on my folder then after 2 years i checked it .that gold paints for country was remove it is problem or not?
Which country are you from?
A few clues indicate Canada. 🇨🇦
@@gerryz1839I think I know the city but I will not say for her privacy.
Her passport appears to be Canadian and how she says “about,” so I am guessing Canada.
@@gerryz1839Is it the pronunciation of "about" and "out"?
it's a dead giveaway. Among other things@@chronic2023
I'd never heard of novelty stamps - but surely you'd have to be insane to let some random person touch your passport??
Hi!
I damaged my information page and changed my passport,
in the old passport I have USA visa that is not damaged, can I travel to USA with my old and new passports?
I suggest that you take both passports to a US consulate and ask them to transfer the valid visa. Although I understand that the US will accept a visa in a different passport, the fact that you state that the information page is damaged could cause you problems.
In this day and age of turmoil, best advice is to just travel within your country. No passport needed, no hassle, no foreign issues and best of all, support your own country with $$$
I travel to Mexico every two or three weeks, and never have any problems. (Pues, sí hablo español perfectamente, pero...Well, yes, I speak Spanish perfectly, but...).
better to have a passport just in case though. You still need a form of ID to check in to hotels and travel within your country,
@@Canleaf08 I never go anywhere without my passport, and just in case, a copy of my passport.
Not when your country is quickly becoming a dictarship/communist sh1thole...you need to get out...im looking at you Chanada
@@Canleaf08a passport is a form of ID and can absolutely be used to check in to a hotel.
No, souvenir stamps do not invalidate passports. There is absolutely no such law or regulation in any country. You don't know the first thing you're talking about.
Got an official passport stamp for Liechtenstein once had no problems throughout Europe 😎
Liechtenstein is a official country.
They have also their own passport.
@@daylightdaylight6612 Liechtenstein does not have a CBP desk at their international airport (cuz they don’t have one). The stamp…while official…is purely for souvenir purpose.
@@1960mikey Liechtenstein has NO airport!
@@1960mikey I did not say they have an entry stamp. I did not talked about a stamp.
They have their OWN passport!
They are under the regulations of Switserland but Liechtenstein is a country like Andorra, Monaco.
@@1960mikey Liechtenstein has a monarch and the capital is Vaduz
Don’t be a passport nibbler❤😅
The Vatican has stopped giving out those souvenir stamps because of this issue.
They never had real proper immigration stamps.
The Vatican entry stamps are NOT souvenir stamps if stamped at their border station - the "fantasy" stamps aren't done by the border station. The Vatican IS on the official ICAO list as a country that can legally stamp passports. They also have their own passports used by members of the church who live in the Vatican. Sounds like some officials failed to check the official list and the individual didn't politely ask them to verify with the official list.
I've had the official entry and exit stamps in an old passport. The only time you'll get the genuine stamps in your passport are if you're there to learn things like "restoration & preservation" of collections, research in the archives, or for work.
Even if you have an outdated marriage license!…. And have a divorce…. You can still be offered citizenship into another county in which an outdated paperwork would be easily accepted!…. Duel citizenship is easy!…. 🤫
I can guarantee you…an airline employee will not deny you boarding for a souvenir stamp in your passport. You might encounter being denied into or out of a country by their boarder guards tho.
airline IS responsible for you and would be obliged to take you back to your point of departure if something goes awry. airline will thus take a look
@@rivenoak hyperbole: I wrote that you might not get admitted into another country and that the airline employee could not deny you boarding. Even the US Department of State uses the language writes, “could potentially consider novelty stamps as ‘damage’ to a passport”. I’m commenting on life as an airline staff… I’m not going out on a limb to deny a passenger travel cuz in case they might be detained, and the language in the countries rules state nothing about souvenir stamps. I personally asked passengers to open their passports to the page with the “current visa” to the country they are going to. Inspecting each page of a 20+ page passport doesn’t happen at an airline check-in desk. If it did, 853 passengers on a high density A380 would take more than the recommended 3 hours before checkin suggestion.
@@1960mikeyYou still cannot speak for all check-in agents......that's preposterous! They may have different instructions! This souvenir stamps are silly and shouldn't be in any passport....
@@classics39 you have insight about one person being denied by an airline employee over this issue, by all means - share it.
@@1960mikey How idiotic is this? As if you or I would know about all transactions at all check-in counters of all airlines and airports on this planet! Fact is: nothing should be in your passport except official stamps/visa.
For anything else buy yourself one of these fun fake passports. I've worked for the Foreign Office and held a diplomatic passport for some years.