When I visited France recently, my passport was not stamped upon my
arrival.  The line of passengers entering customs passed by a booth
where a young man just glanced at passports and waved us on.  I did
not figure that he was the passport stamper because he wasn't stamping
them, so I didn't ask.  But it turned out that that was all there was
by way of official check.  I was very disappointed because I wanted my
passport stamped.  I don't have very many stamps in it, and each one
is like a small trophy.

My questions:

1.  Why didn't my passport have to be stamped?

2.  If I had been stopped for some reason while traveling, such as for a traffic
violation, how could I have proved that I was in the country legally? 
Isn't a visa required, and isn't that what the stamp signifies?

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

Hiya, Tryx! 

I have always looked forward to traveling abroad someday, and I'd
hoped to acquire a passport filled with evidence that I had been to
exotic places. I am disappointed to learn that the stamping of
passports is a procedure that is on its way out, particularly at
airports. Electronic recordkeeping by airlines now enables the
efficient tracking of persons from nation to nation. If you are asked
for your passport during your visit, no one will expect it to have
been stamped with your arrival date.

If you want a stamp on your passport, you'll need to specifically
request it (and you may be met with a surly response for the perceived
nuisance).

"For reasons ranging from economic dependence upon migrant labor
(hello Rio Grande!) to religion and politics, numerous nations fail to
document the movement of foreign nationals through their territory.
Sometimes, for reasons no one asks and nobody tells, border guards
don't bother to stamp a passport upon entry from abroad. It's happened
several times to me at JFK in New York.

Failing to stamp passports is commonplace."

uExpress: Bush Floats War Against Iran
http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/?uc_full_date=20040727 

"With the lax borders that now exist within Europe, border guards
rarely stamp passports. If you want to collect stamps on your passport
as momentos [sic], you should ask for them."

Moto Europa: Documents & Money
http://www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa/documents/chapter/

"How come they don't stamp passports anymore?
- Luke Kania, Wallkill, New York

Well, 'they' still do, depending on your destination, but generally
speaking the practice is being phased out. And someday, alas, the
officious bureaucrat pounding passports with busybodyish glee may be a
thing of the past, the Bartleby the Scrivener of international travel.
While there seems to be no hard and fast rule about stamping
passports, the trend is definitely away from the time-consuming
flourish - thanks largely to the sheer volume of international travel,
the end of the Cold War, and innovations on the intelligence front.
Border checks in European Union countries are becoming increasingly
rare; advanced technology identifies airline passengers long before
their flights land."

Outside Online: The Wild File
http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/0198/9801wild.html

"Citizens of the United States must have a valid passport good for six
months after your expected departure date, to enter European
countries. You will probably only be asked to show your passport when
arriving by plane or when using a rail pass on a train. Don?t be
disappointed if border patrols do not stamp your passport."

Travels with Friends: Passports for Europe
http://www.travelswithfriends.com/Travel_Tips-Passports.htm 

"Most countries no longer stamp passports unless you ask. When I asked
a young German customs officer to stamp ours, he stamped 3 of the 5
and gave them all back to me and said (with a gruff voice) 'My only
job isn't to stamp your passports.' Mom had the guy next to him stamp
hers and Tim didn't notice his hadn't been stamped until we were past
the customs booth. He attracted QUITE A BIT of official attention when
he went out the IN ONLY door to get his stamped."

European Journal: Day 2
http://task.icompute4u.com/europe/journal.htm 

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "stamp passports"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22stamp+passports

Google Web Search: "stamp * passport"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22stamp+*+passport

Google Web Search: "no longer stamp" OR "do not stamp" passport OR passports
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22no+longer+stamp%22+OR+%22do+not+stamp%22+passport+OR+passports

Best,
Pink

---

Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 28 Aug 2004 14:52 PDT

Hi, Pink!!

My first reaction is "awww."  But not to your good answer--rather, to
the disappearance of a custom that I never realized was quaint.  At
least they could have given me a souvenir sticker or a little molded
plastic action figure.

But how about the second question?  Are you saying that when I entered
the country, my presence became part of some electronic record, and
that if anyone had questioned my visa status, they would have just
checked and found me in some database?  If it's "awww" to the first,
the sound effect for the second is more like "yuck."  Please let me
know if I have interpreted your response correctly.

Thanks,
Tryx

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 28 Aug 2004 15:03 PDT

>> But how about the second question?  Are you saying that when I 
>> entered the country, my presence became part of some electronic 
>> record, and that if anyone had questioned my visa status, they 
>> would have just checked and found me in some database? 

Yes. I emailed a friend who is a world traveler, and she assured me
that this is the case. When you travel by air, information on your
identity arrives at your destination before you land. If you were to
have a run-in with the law, the authorities could easily verify your
date of arrival by computer. Since passports (and stamps thereon) are
easily forged, electronic data is considered more reliable.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 28 Aug 2004 15:28 PDT

Well, pooh.  AND ugh.  But I am grateful for your thorough and assured
response, as always.  Doesn't it seem sometimes, though, as if that
handbasket were getting awfully full?

Tryx

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 28 Aug 2004 15:32 PDT

Tryx,

Thankya for the five stars & the tip! I shall apply the funds toward
the purchase of a new handbasket. The old one has really gone to hell.
;-)

~Pink

---

Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 29 Aug 2004 11:27 PDT

Right!  So how long do you think it will be before my "passport" is a
subcutaneous read/write microchip--embedded in, let's say, my left
forearm?

You don't have to answer that, of course.  It's really another
question.  And I *think* it's facetious--isn't it?

Tryx

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 29 Aug 2004 12:33 PDT

>> So how long do you think it will be before my "passport" is a
>> subcutaneous read/write microchip--embedded in, let's say, my 
>> left forearm?

Uh-oh. We're getting into "Number of the Beast" territory here.

Nothing less than the best from PinkFreud, as usual.  Thanks, lady.

Archae0pteryx