➶ Download PNG/SVG/JPEG
➶ 100% FREE
➶ No login required
Customize
Edit text, upload photos, change colors, fonts and more
Instant download
SVG PNG, JPG or Print PDF format
Share
Print or share digitally social media, link, what's app or email.
The passport stamp has provided evidence of travel for centuries, reminding travelers of their experiences and enabling governments to control the flow of people between borders. Passport stamps arose with passports in Europe during the 1800’s, but the modern system of passports and controls wasn’t developed until World War I, when hostilities and compulsory military service necessitated greater understanding of who was travelling where. Following the war, most countries kept the passport system and passport stamps became a common method of tracking human travel. Governments can determine where you’ve been by flipping through your passport, and can bar your entry; several nations (including Bangladesh, Iran, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia) will deny you entry if your passport contains a stamp from Israel. Depending on who your country is aligned with, your passport stamps could also raise some eyebrows when you go home and lead to questioning.
Passport stamp
is an inked impression in a passport typically made by rubber stamp upon entering or exiting a territory.
Passport stamps may occasionally take the form of sticker stamps, such as entry stamps from Japan and South Korea. Depending on nationality, a visitor may not receive a stamp at all (unless specifically requested), such as an EU or EFTA citizen travelling to an EU or EFTA country, Albania,[1] or North Macedonia.[2] Most countries issue exit stamps in addition to entry stamps. A few countries issue only entry stamps, including Canada, El Salvador, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Israel, Macau and Singapore do not stamp passports upon entry nor exit. These countries or regions issue landing slips instead, with the exception of Australia who do not issue any form of physical evidence of entry as a matter of course at the primary line. Argentina and Singapore send digital entry receipts containing conditions of entry via email. Visas may also take the form of passport stamps.
Because there is no national authority, Antarctica does not have a passport stamp. However, the various research stations there may provide souvenir ones on request.
Use[edit]
Border control officials often place stamps in passports as part of their immigration control or customs procedures. This endorsement can serve many different purposes. In the United Kingdom the immigration stamp in the passport includes the formal “leave to enter” granted on entry to the country to a person who is subject to immigration control. Alternatively, the stamps activate and/or acknowledge the continuing leave conferred by the individual’s entry clearance. Other authorities, such as those in Schengen member states, simply stamp a passport with a date stamp that does not indicate any duration and this stamp is taken to mean either that the person is deemed to have permission to remain for 90 days within a 180-day period or an alternative period as shown on their visa, whichever is shorter. In Japan, the passport entry sticker also contains a QR code that allows the immigration official to electronically collect information related to that entry.
Most countries have different stamps for arrivals and departures to make it easier for officers to quickly identify the movements of the person concerned. The colour of the ink or the style of stamp may also provide such information.
Depending on the immigration authority, such stamps are also affixed on other documents that a traveller has to present such as their landing card, boarding card, etc.
In many cases passengers on cruise ships do not receive passport stamps because the entire vessel has been cleared into port. It is often possible to get a souvenir stamp, although this requires finding the immigration office by the dock. In many cases officials are used to such requests and will cooperate.[3][4] Also, as noted below, some of the smallest European countries will give a stamp on request, either at their border or tourist office charging, at most, a nominal fee. cc