The secrets of your passport stamp
A passport stamp is a rubber stamp inked impression received in one’s passport upon entering or exiting a country.
I know what you are thinking. Due to the global pandemic traveling is limited, and we can not fill up our passports with this evidence and memories of our journeys. Now you have more time to read about these mysterious stamps we all want to get desperately as soon as possible again.
Recently I was asked by a book author, via my website, how passport entry/exit stamps are designed and responsible for their design — actually a great question, which I couldn’t answer instantly. I asked some colleagues, from designer to immigration director, and found there seem to be no standard rules in the design for such stamps. Interesting, right?
One feedback was that the immigration department makes the design. Another was stating it was never an issue in the several projects a security printing expert had participated in.
What most stamps seem to have in common is the following:
- Data on Check Points and entry/exit day
- Officer code of the immigration department
- Unique verification code for each stamp
- Different shapes of stamps for entry and exit
- A different color scheme (e.g., in Hong Kong, red for land passengers, green for air passengers, blue for sea passengers
- National or territorial emblem to show the authority
- Only Schengen entry/exit stamps seem to have a universal EU design
Most countries issue exit stamps in addition to entry stamps. A few countries issue only entry stamps, including Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and El Salvador. Hong Kong, Macau, and Israel do not stamp passports on entry or exit but issue landing slips instead.
The above have been changing as technology progresses. The adoption of Automated Border Control systems is only one example.
Gallery of passport stamps by country or territory
More on passports and their history at passport-collector.com
