eastave

Anyone else experience this? We came into Europe in Rome and the immigration guy did not stamp our passports. We spent a little over a week in Italy and then flew from Florence to Frankfurt to come back to Canada. The immigration woman in Frankfurt was quite unpleasant to us about not having entry stamps. She wanted our boarding passes from our flight into Rome, which we couldn't seem to find. I usually save them, but this was pure vacation, with no one covering the airfare, so I wasn't so careful. In the end, after chastising us multiple times and telling us to make sure to get one next time, she let us go.

I imagine the fear is that we might have over stayed our 90 days? Otherwise, I can't imagine why they would care, since we were actually leaving.

ekc

Yes, other travelers have reported having the same problem. It is a good reminder to ensure your passport is stamped upon arrival.

Kathie

I had that happen to me almost 20 years ago. I flew in and out of Frankfort, and upon entry, the man at passport control did not stamp my passport. My experience was that in Europe, passports often were not stamped. But when it came time to leave, the immigration official went over every page of my (very thick) passport and asked why I had been in each country. I finally said, "They didn't stamp my passport on the way in." "I know" he said "and I don't like that!"

MmePerdu

"It is a good reminder to ensure your passport is stamped upon arrival."

Or a reason to not fly out of Frankfurt.

bvlenci

I've heard of people having the same exit problem in Amsterdam.

Jean

I wouldn't blame Frankfurt or Amsterdam airport officials for wanting things the way they're supposed to be. Isn't that the point of regulations?

I always carry a printed copy of my airline reservations showing the ticket confirmation number and seat assignments. It's not evidence like a boarding pass, but it makes it pretty obvious when and where you arrived in Europe.

hetismij2

>> "It is a good reminder to ensure your passport is stamped upon arrival."

Or a reason to not fly out of Frankfurt.

yorkshire

I am so jetlagged upon arrival, this is not something that I would ever concern myself with. Guess I better next time, because nothing is worse than being bitched at by a German official.

Fra_Diavolo

Hmm, I would have thought our scanned, chip-encoded, nuclear powered, laser-guided passports would have been scanned in and out of some vast Schengen Immigration Control super computer network. Guess I was just paranoid.

macanimals

Thanks for letting us all know of the issue. Its been a long time since we were routinely stamped upon entry even when we were examined and if the europeans are going to hold us to official stamps, its easy enough to request or demand them. I'm all in favor of complying with such rules--just let me know and for gosh sakes lets hope the other countries follow them as well! You know the germans will.

suec1

OP - are you a troll? - all I can say is that this example makes me think "stereotypes exist for a reason"

hetismij2

Fra_Diavolo your passport is scanned and checked against SIS, to see that it is not a reported lost or stolen passport, that yo have no outstanding arrest warrants, and are not banned from entering Schengen for any reason. It dies not register your entering Schengen.
Immigration officials at a good number of European airports and ports are paying more attention to entry stamps or the lack thereof to find over-stayers.

flpab

I have often wonder why we didn't get a stamp flying into Edinburgh from Dublin? We followed the crowd but didn't see where we were to go. Was that normal? Never cause any problems when leaving Edi and flying back to Dublin. I think maybe the guy in Rome stamps so many he just forgot, he did look at your passport?

lincasanova

A stamp from Edinburgh to Dublin?

joan

I've gone many times to the Caribbean and my passport is almost never stamped. I did not realize that (as hetismij2 says) it does not register entry by scanning. I assumed the scan was the "new" way to register entry. I have also heard there are kiosks in some large airports, where you never speak to an official, just have your passport scanned.

I don't feel comfortable asking the immigration official to stamp my passport (going for the first time to Europe)...but I guess I will (meekly) try after reading this.

Suec1, why do you think the OP is a troll? What sort of stereotype are you referring to?

uhoh_busted

I have to report we had a similar situation occur in 2011, when we had been in Italy for a month, then flew from Milan to Praque to meet up with some friends for 4 nights. We'd flown in to Rome and our tickets home were from Prague. My husband was in one line and got through without a blink. I was in another and the women on that line kept paging and paging through my passport. Her supervisor came over and eventually just let me through. But for that matter, there was also no stamping of passports when we flew in from Milan TO Prague.

eastave

I'm not a troll, just curious if this has happened more broadly. My recollection is getting my passport stamped on every arrival and exit, but I am not positive.

I doubt they would really hold someone up over this, but it is a good idea to have your arrival boarding passes handy if you don't get stamped for some reason. Unpacking at home last night I found them at the bottom of my backpack.

AJPeabody

The last time I flew into Rome, they stamped my passport. Since the stamper had no ink, there was no proof of stamping except for my memory of the sound of the stamping!

sartoric

Don't you get stamped out of Canada ?
Seems like the woman at immigration in Frankfurt could have looked at the date on the Canadian exit stamp to me.
Bet she was just having a bad day.

flpab

linacasanova. I am a US citizen, was in Dublin and then went to EDI for several days and then went back to Dublin, Ireland. Last year I went from France to the UK and my passport was stamped as it was when I have gone from the UK to Ireland before.