Hi ira!

I guess IAD is really different than most of the other airports...any idea why they make everyone pick up the bags before going to passport check / immigration?

(I know this is the Europe forum but this has raised my eyebrows a bit about why IAD does this)

craisin wrote: "Besides, don't they scan everyone's passports these days?"

I don't think they scan all passports, but I don't pay a lot of attention to what immigration officers do. I think they often glance at it and nod me through.

I am sure, however, that my passport is not checked when I travel from Ireland to France by Ferry. The immigration kiosks are usually unmanned, and on the rare occasions when there is anybody there, it suffices that I have a passport in my hand.

They might be a bit more relaxed about movement between one EU state and another, even though Ireland is not a party to Schengen.

This info is very disheartening as I want as many
stamps as possible too. I think they are cool.
I enjoy looking at my passport when I am weary.

I have many photos and trinkets to remind me of my trips.
Yet there is nothing like an offical stamp on my passport.

Just my opinion.
People seem testy today.

I can see how one would like all the stamps on their passports as a memoir of having been to the country. :-)

A funny thought...I wonder how annoyed the immigration officer would be if I insisted that s/he stamp all of my passports just so I could collect all the stamps on every passport. heehee!!

Because of the 90-in-180 Schengen rule for U.S. citizens, it would be misleading to collect stamps for each border crossing within Schengen. The 90 days begins at the first entry, so additional stamps would confuse the beggining date.

Two summers ago we were in Europe. My husband and son flew into Italy (Rome) while my daughter and I came in by train from Vienna (we had flown to Vienna from the U.S.) When we were flying from Lisbon to London the immigrations officials in Lisbon asked my son and my husband why they had no stamps. When they explained that their passports were not stamped in Italy, the reaction was pretty much "Oh well, that's Italy for you."

beginning

I must learn to type, and pause to proofread.

I too am bummed about not getting passport stamps anymore. You get them in Asia and Africa, where you have to get special visas, but not in Europe anymore, which is a shame, because it was really cool to have a passport with a gazillion stamps in it. I think you can ask to get a stamp, and if you get a compliant Customs person might get one, but otherwise I think you're SOUL. Sorry. I know it hurts. I LOVE my old passports with a bazillion stamps on them, including the one with all the Czech and East Germany traffic stops on them. Definitely historical documents.

When we arrived in Rome, some lines at immigration got stamps, while mine didn't, just scanned. Don't know if the guy was out of ink or just lazy-- I heard loud stamping sounds from the next line over. All the lines were short, and Mom was behind me, so I motioned for her to move over to the next line, so she got a stamp. Before the return flight out of Milan, I made sure I stood in a line where they were stamping, so at least now I have one stamp from Italy. (This passport, renewed two years ago, is sad-looking with so few stamps).

Last time at CDG, the man scanned my passport and was about to wave me through, but I asked for a stamp and he was nice enough to do it (unlike the one in Rome).

StCirq :-)

hey i got this off of travel.state.gov

"As of May 2007, under Italian law (http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/07068l.htm), all non-residents are required to complete a dichiarazione di presenza (declaration of presence). Tourists arriving from a non-Schengen-country (e.g. the United States) should obtain a stamp in their passport at the airport on the day of arrival. This stamp is considered the equivalent of the declaration of presence. Tourists arriving from a Schengen-country (e.g. France) must request the declaration of presence form from a local police office (commissariato di zona), police headquarters (questura) or their place of stay (e.g hotel, hostel, campgrounds) and submit the form to the police or to their place of stay within eight business days of arrival. It is important that applicants keep a copy of the receipt issued by the Italian authorities. Failure to complete a declaration of presence is punishable by expulsion from Italy. Additional information may be obtained (in Italian only) from the Portale Immigrazione at http://www.portaleimmigrazione.it and the Polizia di Stato at http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/ps/immigrazione/soggiorno.htm."


it this only for Italy? would this mean I have to get a separate stamp when I arrive at the Malpensa airport? (I'm arriving in Madrid before, as a connecting flight)

Our son travels on business (all over the world) and he ended up with so many stamps in his passport that he had to order an additional passport in the form of extra pages(at a cost). He now has to carry the whole works with him whenever he travels and heaven help him if he loses one of the parts when he's going through immigration.

<i>If you're going through immigration, you're probably going to go through customs in the same process, even if it is just a walk past the officials sort of thing. Yes, they're different, but it really doesn't matter whatsoever for almost all discussions.</i>

At the risk of making too much of this, the delineation between immigration and customs is much more apparent when traveling in Europe as opposed to the US.

- In the US, you always clear both customs and immigration at your first port of entry.
- For travel to a Schengen country, you clear immigration at your first port of entry, but customs when you actually leave the airport.

If you are taking a connecting flight within the Schengen zone, this means that you might clear immigration in one country and customs in another. For example, if you fly Boston-Amsterdam-Copenhagen, you will go through passport control in Amsterdam. You will not see your luggage until Copenhagen, where you will clear customs, but no passport checks.

<i>it this only for Italy? would this mean I have to get a separate stamp when I arrive at the Malpensa airport? (I'm arriving in Madrid before, as a connecting flight)</i>

Yes, this is only for Italy. I suspect it is meant as a jobs program for those pushing the paper around. What it means is that, should you choose to bother with it, you will need to fill out a form at the police station. You will not go through passport control at Malpensa.

<i>Our son travels on business (all over the world) and he ended up with so many stamps in his passport that he had to order an additional passport in the form of extra pages(at a cost).</i>

What nationality? Extra pages for US passports are free, unless you require expedited processing. You used to be able to get a larger passport, but they no longer offer this option.

<i>I too am bummed about not getting passport stamps anymore. You get them in Asia and Africa, where you have to get special visas, but not in Europe anymore, which is a shame, because it was really cool to have a passport with a gazillion stamps in it.</i>

They still stamp American passports in most of the European airports I go through. I have over 50 Dutch and Danish stamps in my passport, as they stamp both coming and going at Schiphol and Copenhagen airports. I also have quite a few UK stamps, several Swiss stamps, a couple from Italy, and an Irish stamp. I am quickly running out of pages in my passport, and a recent trip to Asia cost me another two pages.

The only place I fly through frequently where I would say they consistently don't stamp, in my experience, is CDG. I also don't get stamped in Switzerland anymore, since I have a residency card, but they always stamped before I had it. For EU passport holders, though, I often see them being waved through without stamps - in Denmark, all they usually have to do is hold up the closed passport and walk right by.

When going through Immigration...
My new words will be......Please hand cancel.

I meant HAND STAMP..
Im not at the Post Office :)

We are usually going to France or Italy, but because we fly Lufthansa to Frankfurt or Munich, the stamp is done in Germany. That's the EU for you. It was more fun to get stamped in every country we visited.

Have a great time and don't worry about the passport....just don't lose it!

Hi Nan,

>I guess IAD is really different than most of the other airports...any idea why they make everyone pick up the bags before going to passport check / immigration?<

A: Because this is the US and we do things differently. :)

B: Many US airports (ATL is another) are ports of entry and transfer luggage to other airports.
At ATL, You collect all of your luggage. Anything that you have with you that is not permitted in carryon has to be rearranged into checked luggage.

Since you have your luggage, you might as well clear Customs. If you are going on to IAD, you have to go through passport Control as well (I think).

In Europe, you usually enter a Schengen Counry and go through passport control while your luggage goes onto your destination - another Schengen Country. Thus you don't usually bother with Customs until the end.

((I))

In my younger days, backpacking all over, I just smiled and asked nicely for a stamp...never was refused.

There used to also be customs and immigration offices in border train stations (long story - I was once pulled in and bags searched and held in Genoa for hours after arriving on a night train from Amsterdam!!) and you could ask for a passport stamp from the desk clerk...have no idea if you can still do that (this was maybe 15yrs ago) in the stations.

My son (age 8) has asked nicely at airport immigration before and they've always stamped it for him.

Ira, you are right about clearing customs in ATL, but the saving grace for us is that Delta has a check-in desk right there and that helps a lot as we have to fly home to Florida.
Then all we have to do is go to our gate....easy!


The few times we have been at IAD, we just get a hotel.

Picking up baggage is last!