My passport arrived with a mistake that won't prevent my traveling but probably should be fixed. There isn't time to do it before I leave the country, however. They got my birth state wrong by putting my state of residence instead. I was advised to travel with my birth certificate, ask for my passport not to be stamped, and return the passport after my trip to the UK for correction. Does it cause problems to ask for your passport NOT to be stamped? Would it be better to live with the insignificant mistake for the next ten years than to take a chance of being pulled out of a customs line?

I don't understand why they asked you not to have it stamped; if you return it for correction they will make the change and send it back to you (like when a person changes their last name on the passport due to marriage). I see the value of the birth certificate in your case and I certainly would take it.

I must not be seeing something, but wouldn't carrying a birth certificate that has information contrary to one's passport make more problems than it solves? I'm assuming you're from the U.S. ... Unless you're a naturalized citizen, it wouldn't be obvious in which of the 50 states you were born. What am I not seeing?

I just happened to be on the State Dept yesterday. I think you should check the FAQ about passport errors. I believe it said you only have a limited number of days to get the error fixed for free.

Could anyone tell me what a birth certificate would prove - apart from the fact that Bentleycj has a dodgy looking passport.

How would anyone outside of the US know that the certificate is genuine & how many people would even notice a wrong detail like that.

Good point. I don't know - maybe they told him to take the birth certificate because it is identification that has a date on it - not a state abbrivation in place of numbers? But I'm not sure what that would prove . . . it's not like you have to be a certain age to enter the UK

I know it's not much comfort, but the past 3 times I have been to the UK and France my passport was barely glanced at.

I can see no reason for you to even raise this issue, let along confuse anyone else by presenting them with a birth certificate.
Fix the passport, if you want to, when you return home. No one will check your place of birth; for travel purposes, the passport IS the official record.

What actually shows up on their screen when they swipe the passport in the little machine? They always narrow their eyes and look at me accusingly after they swipe my passport.

I have trouble imagining that anyone would care. The important thing with respect to birth place on a passport is what country you were born in. Canadian passports no longer identify the province of birth.

In my experience UK imigration officers have been interested only in my current travels (specifically when I am leaving the UK) and not where I was born.

I think asking them NOT to stamp your passport would raise eyebrows and cause delays. Why bother with it? I'd take the trip, use the passport as is, and deal with getting it changed when you return, if then. Authorities in other countries probably couldn't care less if your birth state is wrong. Just my opinion.

Don't say anything. Pretend you never noticed. "Oh, I never noticed that. Where are my glasses?????"

what did I read?? Somehow I thought the OP said their birthdate had their state abbreviation instead of 2 digits. Apparently the heat has got to me - sorry!

I wouldn't worry about it, no one will notice. Have a great trip & fix it when you get back.

My hunch is the "don't stamp it" instruction is because for them to replace the passport for free due to their error - it needs to be "clean".

If it is used (stamped) the replacement is probably on your dime. That is just my guess - and the only thing I can think of that makes any sense (though it doesn't make all that much sense).

I'd just go w/ whatever the immigration officer in the UK does or doesn't do to your passport. If it does get stamped - then you may have to pay for the replacement . . . .

I certainly wouldn't ask them to not stamp it - but that is just me.

My question is; who told you to travel with your incorrect passport and your birth certificate and to request not to have your passport stamped Bentleycj?

Was it the US Passport office, a Travel Agent, the airline you are flying with, a friend?

When are you due to leave, Bentleyci?

There are expedited services available, please see this link:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...#passportchart

As above have stated, I would not raise the red flag and make the request to not have your passport stamped.

I would use the above link and have it fixed quickly with an expedited service or not say a thing.

I can't even begin to understand why anyone cares what state you were born in, or any of this stuff about birth certificates.

But I've probably dealt with UK immigration officers more often than most people here. And I'm even more puzzled (to be honest, simply gobsmacked) at all this "don't ask them anything" woosery.

There are lots of legitimate reasons for not wanting your passport stamped (didn't any of these people travel to South Africa in the apartheid era?). And what on earth do you think a UK immigration officer's going to do? Throw you into a holding pen, shackled?

Most immigration control's boring. Anything out of the ordinary improves the quality of the officer's day.

When you explain why you want it unstamped, you'll not only have broken the monotony. You'll have given him an example of US bureaucratic inefficiency, and American citizens' obsession with trivia, that'll go down great in the pub that night. Nothing pleases a bureaucrat more than stories discrediting foreign bureaucrats.

"Don't speak up because you might get picked on!" Really!!

What are you? Man or mouse? Just ask politely: the worst he can possibly do is say no.

flanneruk, are you saying that it is every person's right to not allow their passport to be stamped?

I am not trying in any way to stir up trouble, my question is sincere and genuine. I wasn't aware a person could make this request.

Half the time my exerience is that they don't stamp it anyway, but I didn't know you could (or should) refuse.

Strangely, we flew into Paris through London from the US, and then coming home we went through customs at LAX, coming from Rome. No one ever stamped our passports anywhere!!

The same thing happened to our friends who returned from France last Monday. No one stamped their passports.

Has this happened to anyone else?
I'm so curious!
Dina

Happens all the time. In my experience, the only time your passport gets stamped is if you ask.

I was wondering if whatever appears on their screen after they swipe your passport has to match what is written on the passport in their hands.