Hi...

My son just called me from Rome. He flew into FCO yesterday morning and says that they never stamped his passport upon entry.

Mine has always been stamped entering at FCO.

Does he have a major problem?

Will he be hassled leaving next week?

If so, what can he do to solve it?

Thanks.
SS

Did he flip through all the pages in his passport? They usually just stamp a random page and sometimes the ink is quite light/faded.

We are a little bit beyond looking for a stamp in a passport to determine when someone entered a country.

f they want to know you are in the country, your passport will get scanned. When you leave, same process.

My passport was not stamped when I entered France the last two times, never was stamped when entering Switzerland from the US, was stamped 50% of the time when entering the EU through FRA. Never had a problem with when leaving anytime. Don't worry too much and believe me, the customs people know what they're doing.

Hi ss,

They rarely stamp passports in Europe these days.

Often, one has to ask for stamp in as a souvenir.

Actually my passport was stamped in Italy last month when I arrived and again when I departed. I think they are stamping more often now than they were in past years.

While I think my passport is nearly always stamped on arrival by plane in Europe, I don't think anyone has taken the time on departure to really search for the arrival stamp. My last passport, just expired, is so filled with many stamps that are so light they are even impossible to read, is usually just glanced at when I leave, so clearly the agents are not looking to match up an arrival stamp.

Passports are not stamped, they are scanned. The information goes to Schengen database.

I just got a machine readable passport, but even with my old passport, it wasn't always stamped upon arrival in the EU. I guess most EU countries don't really care if Americans overstay or at least they know that most Americans leave within a couple of weeks at the most.

Thanks to one and all for the rapid responses.

I have emailed him with the comforting news that he need not be worried.

Having just recently renewed his passport, it is certainly the scannable kind.

Thanks again.
SS

Mine has always been stamped. However, last year while traveling to Italy with a connection in CDG, mine was stamped, but a friend I was with hers was not. She did not realized this until we arrived at our gate and was very upset b/c she would not be able to prove to her family that she was in Paris and actually went back to Immigrations so they could stamp it for her (without me). I guess she got lost going back, because she came back without her stamp. Didn't know what the big deal was.

jdc

'Passports are not stamped, they are scanned. The information goes to Schengen database.'

Partly true.
Yes, passports are routinely scanned when entering the Schengen area, but it's to check details against Schengen database (SIS) of undersirables, immigration offenders, those wanted by member countries and forged or stolen documents etc. Your arrival isn't electronically recorded (maybe for the national detabase, but not Schengen-wide). Ditto when leaving Schengen.

FWIW - My passport was just renewed before I flew into Rome FCO last month and was one that could be scanned. As I said above, it was stamped entering and leaving.

It's just like US citizens coming back to the US. Sometimes they stamp, sometimes they don't. Simple as that.

Last year when we flew into FCO, they never stamped either of our passports. They were stamped on the way out. It wasn't a problem.

My new passport wasn't stamped flying into Paris this spring; when flying out of Berlin ten days later, I was politely asked how I got into Europe. I'm sure the guard had all the necessary information on the screen but just wanted to check. In any case, it wasn't a big deal.

We found when crossing the borders by train, our passports were hardly checked let alone stamped. They were checked on the trip from France to Switzerland but from Switzerland into Italy nothing.

I haven't had my passport stamped for at least 8 years.

Mine is stamped at random, and there were several times when mine was stamped and DH's wasn't, or vice versa. I guess it depends on their moods.

For what it's worth, I did get mine stamped on all three visits to FCO.

Tracy