European Passport Stamps
 

I'm planning to fly from New York/Newark to Frankfurt via a connection in Copenhagen next month. After a weeks time there, I plan to fly out of Frankfurt back to New York/Newark via a connection in London. I hold a US Passport. I think I understand the rules of Schengen. Should I expect to have my passport stamped in Copenhagen as my Schengen entry point instead of Frankfurt? And should I get my passport stamped again in London being the UK is not part of Schengen? Or does a connecting flight in London not qualify for a stamp? I have the choice on the return journey to connect in London, Zurich, Milan or Stockholm. I decided to connect in London for the stamp being the others are all part of Schengen and I did not think I would get any additional stamps there. I'm a bit of a passport stamp junkie so I'm curious to know what to expect! Any help from all of you seasoned travelers would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Assuming it is a connecting flight at LHR or LGW, you will not officially enter the country or go through passport control. Therefore no stamp. As you noted, you will get your passport stamped (probably) upon entering Schengen turf in Copenhagen and your passport will be stamped out of Schengen when you depart from Frankfurt and those will be the only stamps in your passport (well the US immigration official will stamp your passport when going through US passport control at EWR). Now I say probably. When I entered France via CDG this past June, the immigration official looked at my passport (US) waived me through and no stamp. (They did stamp my passport at Gare du Nord when I left for London on Eurostar and I was stamped into the UK at Gare du Nord.

I think they stamp just when ever they feel like it!

I have found only the French seem to be so lax in stamping into Schengen...the Germans, wouldn't you know, are very zealous about it as are the Dutch.

I agree with avalon! I have landed in connecting airports in Europe and have never received stamps. London and Amsterdam come to mind. When I landed in Paris (my first point of entry in Europe) I didn't get a stamp and I was staying there, although I did get one on return but my husband did not. It's a mystery to me as to why I sometimes get stamps and sometimes not. I think it depends on their moods!

Tracy

I've never seen a (West-) German immigration stamp in my life. How do they look like? Do entry and exit stamps look alike?

logos...schengen stamps are pretty much the same no matter which country you enter or leave from...if coming in by apr there is a picture of a plane in the lower left hand corner as I remember and at the top, a letter or two identifying the country of entry. (D for yuor beloved Germany, F for France); actually come to think of it it's not necessarily just Schengen as I went through several Eastern European countries recdently admitted to the eu and their stamps on my passport were the same (UK stamps are different, very different)....within Schengen when crossing national borders by auto, there's a sign on the highway but not formal border controls anymore (although they can be set up); it's like crossing a state line in the USA (which is what some eu bureaucrats seem to want).

Basically, when you first enter a Schengen country, if you are connecting to another Schengen country, you will go through passport control at the first landing area and usually get your passport stamped. So let's say you are flying to Rome via Amsterday. As Italy and Holland both are Schengen countries when you land at Amsterdam airport, you will go through passport control and usually have your passport stamped. You then go to another concourse to catch your flight to Rome but do not go through passport control in Rome (although you do go through customs, usually by going through a line nothing to declare as that is where you pick up your baggage).

OTOH if you are connecting in Amsterday to London, since the UK is not part of the Schengen immigration agreements, you will not go through passport control (this has caused all sorts of re-arrangements of European airports), and with no border controls catch your connecting flight to London. In London, you will go through passport control and if not from an eu country have to fill out a landing card and most assuredly your passport will be samped (you will be given leave to enter the UK for 6 monts if from the USA).

It works pretty much the same way on the return. Most of the Schengen countries stamp your passport when exiting Schengen turf but let's say you're flying from London to New York via Amsterdam. The British no longer stamp passports when leaving the UK, when landing hn Amsterday as you are onward bound to a non Schengen country, you will not go through passport control and no stamp. OTOH if flying from London to Rome via Frankfurt, yes you go through passport control in Frankfurt and get stamped.

Of course, now there's the problem of the UK to Ireland and all sorts of discussions are going on from what I've read of instituting stricter border controls between the UK (but not Northern Ireland) and the Republic.

See it's really simple3.

I'm aware of the vacated border checkpoints, how could I not? Been on the planet for a few decades ;-) I just have never seen a "Schengen stamp". Is there a current version on the internet and when have they been altered the last time? Thanks.

Is this the "Schengen stamp"?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...port_entry.jpg

That's it; actually I think it's an eu stamp as about 4 or 5 years ago I did a tour of Eastern Europe and countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic used the same stamp at border crossings (not being part of Schengen, they still had controls at the frontiers)...the stamp you show is an entrance (arrow from left to right) stamp into Germany (D) at an airport (the plane)...my stamps in Eastern Europe had a car (or was it a bus) and the exit stamp is the same except the arrow goes from right to left.....so if you're not carrying an eu identity card (which I don't think is stamped so that's why you haven't seen the stamo I suppose) and heading to London via Eurostar out of Gare du Nord, the French inspector would stamp your passport, the arrow would go the other way, there would be a picture of a train and it would have an F (for France)....

Before 1990, the east european "socilaist" countries stamped federal German passports. (If you were able to get a visa.) In the west it must have been in the 1960s when passports were stamped for the last time, if you ever used one to cross a border? UK?? Anyway, never had the chance to get my passport stamped in the EU. :-( Wonder what they'd say if I asked for a stamp?

Thanks to everyone for your information and sharing of information. :-)

But I don't think you're required to show a passport to enter an eu country not part of Schengen which has border controls (the UK)...you enter on an identity card, right. That's why you've never seen a Schengen/eu stamp.

They won't stamp my passport even if I use it to enter the UK... That's what German people usually show when coming from the US with a stop at Heathrow. Like they forget that they have an ID card.
They'll issue new chiped credit card size ID cards with rfid starting October... Maybe not so good at all.
First paper, then plastic, now electronic...

Retinal scans are next!

Interestng though the way it works and the "holes". You need a passport, a visa waiver form and pre-clearance to enter the USA and our very welcoming border control agents take your mug shot and fingerprints (we're so nice to our visitors, aren't we)....but while I know when departing the USA you show your passport (and they collect the I-94 document), if you fly say to Heathrow on AA you would come in to Terminal 3 at Heathrow and probably just have to show your eu identity card (even though you have a passport) to enter the UK. Like I say, retinal scans are coming next, I predict.

>retinal scans are coming next
You can bet on it! I'm still thinking to just say to them that I lost my ID and get the old plastic only one, valid for another 10 years, before it's too late. From October, the US want 15€ for the visa waiver application.

It's time to just say "NO"!

Anyway, they don't want all my fingerprints anymore, just one and no photo. I think I must change my outfit now and learn some arabic to look more like a terrorist! What if I'm the new Bin ... and they don't notice it.

I haven't read this whole thread, but I have found that if you go through passport control and you want your passport stamped, and they wouldn't ordinarily stamp it, if you ask, they will stamp it. They might roll their eyes and look at you thinking, OMG why do you want that, but they will stamp it. :-d
I, too, like to have my passport stamped. One of my favorites is the stamp I got when I took the Eurostar from London to Paris. They do the passport control in London, and the stamp is a train.

Hi A6.

>I'm a bit of a passport stamp junkie so I'm curious to know what to expect! <

Quite often they don;t stamp your passport unless you ask them to.

((I))