Hi
I am a (confused) US citizen who will be traveling from London to Amsterdam on the Eurostar, and I am wondering how passport stamps are handled. We will be taking Eurostar which goes through France, with a change of trains in Brussels, arriving at Amsterdam's Central Station. I realize that the EU is basically borderless, and since we are just transferring through France and Belgium, it probably isn't an issue. But surely a US passport has to be stamped, at least for the Netherlands? And would we be free to walk around in Brussels since we have a two hour layover between trains? Any advice/help is greatly coveted.

Your passport will be checked but probably not stamped at St Pancras in London

NOWHERE ELSE

Your passport will be checked before you board in London, by French officials: if you pass them, you're into any country in the Schengen agreement (including Belgium and the Netherlands).

You'd be free to leave the station in Brussels if there's time. From memory. the area immediately around the station is nothing much, but it looks as though it wouldn't be too difficult to see something of the city centre if you have time (but you'd have to play it by ear):

http://tinyurl.com/yr3mqr

So, once it is stamped by the French officials it is valid for the Schengen countries...and that will be good enough for US Customs etc when I return to the US and declare where I have been?

I have found the French to be very lax at times and often just look but do not stamp passports before getting on Eurostar...often they do not stamp passports on arrival at CDG...US immigration inspectors hardly look at the stamps to verify what countries one has been in..incidentally although not part of either the eu or Schengen and not apropos of this particular post, Swiss officials never stamp passports when entering Switzerland say from France or leaving Switzerland nor do the German or Italian immigration inspectors at the Swiss borders with these countries.

The only ones who continue to be very meticulous about stamping passports are the British immigration inspectors.

HI jw,

It is unlikely that anyone will stamp your passport, nor will US immigration much care.

Your passport is machine readable. You go into the database.

ira..

I assure you the British will stamp the passport when entering the UK...

very likely to be stamped by british authorities when leaving britain and 50% chance it will be stamped by the french when leaving britain.

What possible business is it of the US authorities where you've been?

Do you really allow public servants to waste your time (and your money) enquiring into aspects of your personal life that's nothing to do with them?

I thought you had this fantasy you believed in liberty. Or is the poster just confused?

Flan: sometimes the immigration official makes conversation by asking where you've been. It is illegal for a U.S. citizen to make an overnight visit to Cuba, so I suppose he might check for Cuban entry stamps, but otherwise they don't care. I shall continue to cling to my fantasy.

In times of Mad Cow worries, immigration (or customs?) will ask citizens to declare whether they have been on a farm.

When we arrived at CDG from the US, the French barely looked at my passport, and when we arrived in the US from London, it was the same.

However, when we boarded the Eurostar from Paris to London, not only did they stamp our passports, but they asked several questions about why we were in Paris and why we were going to London.

So I guess I am coming away with the understanding that if I get a stamp in any country that is in the Schengen agreement, I am in good shape?

Just to clarify Shelly's post who uses the word they...

When you board Eurostar at gare du nord bound for London, first you go through a French passport control agent who usually does stamp your passport exiting France and then British immigration (meaning when you arrive at St. Pancreas, there is no passport ocntrol)....as at any other UK border control, non Europeans have to fill out a landing card and present it with their passport to an immigration inspector...usually they ask me how long will I be in the UK and sometimes make a little small talk (like when I list my profession as a Professor, they ask me what I am a professor of and where do I profess...) and then they stamp my passport giving me leave to enter the UK for 90 days without having the right to work...and that's it. Nothing harsh or at least never have I been treated harshly there.

<<< So I guess I am coming away with the understanding that if I get a stamp in any country that is in the Schengen agreement, I am in good shape? >>>

Why this mania about passport stamps?

Even if you DON'T get a stamp you should be OK

No passport stamps are necessary. If they scan you passport, they know where and when you entered the Schengen zone and probably the US authorities do, too.

<<< However, when we boarded the Eurostar from Paris to London, not only did they stamp our passports, but they asked several questions about why we were in Paris and why we were going to London. >>>

It's a popular route for economic migrants who get on the Eurostar, flush their documents down the loo then claim Asylum when they reach the UK - with no documents they can't be sent back to their home country as the authorities don't know where it is

Four years ago, taking the Eurostar from London to Paris, they stamped my passport in London before leaving. One of my favorite stamps...it's a train.

Once you're in Schengen territory you don't need to show a passport. Traveling from France to Belgium to Netherlands is like going from New York to New Jersey - there's no place to stop even if you wanted to.

I've never flown into UK, but have entered UK twice - once on Eurostar from Paris, and once on ferry from Cherbourg to Southampton.

On neither occasion did the Brits stamp my passport, although they did look at it.

...they do now (at least all non European passports)