The Simple Passport Mistake That Could Have Serious Consequences For Travelers

For many travelers, opening up their passports and seeing stamps from all around the world brings back incredible memories and hours of magical stories. As the world is becoming more digitized and more countries' passport stamps are coming to an end, many travelers are looking for ways to commemorate their journeys far and wide. Even though it may be incredibly tempting to put stamps from attractions such as Machu Picchu, or historical events such as the Conch Republic's Independence Day in Key West in your passport, it could prevent you from using it for onward travel. Adding unofficial novelty stamps can potentially cost you your dream trip, thousands of dollars, or leave you stranded abroad while you wait for an emergency passport to be issued from your consulate or embassy, due to a non-official stamp invalidating your passport.

Modern passport booklets first came into being in 1920, during the League of Nations' Paris Conference where nation states set and agreed to standards for an internationally valid travel booklet. Today, issued passports are official government documents verifying the bearer's citizenship status and identity. This can mean either a golden ticket to explore the world or a tremendous burden and hardship, as well as protection and aid if needed abroad.

Although wear and tear is common on passports, permanent alterations or markings can make the document invalid. And for Americans, this is technically a violation of Federal law. Page five of a U.S. passport warns the holder that it "must not be altered or mutilated in any way," and "only authorized officials of the United States or of foreign countries may place stamps or make notations or additions in this passport."

Travelers on Quora and Reddit note that they've never had a problem with novelty stamps in their passports. However, your mileage will vary based on the immigration and consular officers who process your arrival and visa, as well as airline staff who can deny you boarding for having invalid documentation. A few stamps from obscure destinations officials may not know of may cause a few raised eyebrows and smiles at best, or at worst can lead to being rejected for a visa or denied entry and detained. 

Today, eGates are being added across the United States and in countries ranging from the U.K. to Singapore to Bangladesh. This may mean that travelers may not even need to hand their passports to an immigration official upon arrival. However, when applying for long-term visas, (study abroad, work) many countries require visa applicants to list their travel history. Having novelty stamps in your passport takes up space for real visas and entry stamps, can confuse the consular officer about where you've been, and gives them easy grounds to refuse a visa due to your passport being invalid for travel. You'd then have to wait weeks to get a new passport and may lose your opportunity to study or work abroad. 

On several occasions, airline staff have also denied boarding to travelers due to novelty stamps in their passports and will check passports and visas before boarding, and airlines are often responsible for paying the costs to send someone home if they are inadmissible. This happened in Thailand, where a British woman was rejected by two airlines for having a Machu Picchu stamp, despite the British government vouching for her passport, and another woman was denied boarding on a flight to Taiwan due to a Hello Kitty stamp.

Instead of risking future travel opportunities, there are tons of options to remember your trip besides photos and souvenir stamps. You can do most of these methods while waiting out a rainy day on the road, or after you get home to personalize the best parts of your trip. At the simplest level, write and address a postcard to yourself or someone you love from your far-flung destination or even from Santa's workshop. If you have the Shazam app, capture all of the songs that you hear from cafes, bars, or on the street and make a playlist. You may even hear a new song you can't get enough of, or a song before it goes completely viral like Gangnam Style did.

Since you do not know who you will encounter at an airport or in a foreign consulate or embassy, it's always better to err on the side of caution. Government officials and those responsible for letting you cross foreign borders may not see the joy in defacing an official document. If you do collect those stamps, consider a travel journal. It can be much more personalized than a passport, giving you the freedom to design as you dream up your next adventure. You can also add other mementos, including postcards, ticket stubs, or a few photos to commemorate your trip that you could never add to your official passport.

Moreover, before going abroad, be sure to check the number of blank pages in your passport as well as your passport's expiration date. You'll never need more than a few blank ones, but many countries require at least six months of validity for entry. If you're getting down to the wire on either one, here's when to apply for a new passport.