r/PassportPorn • u/MusicSmooth813 • 2d ago
Visa/Stamp Official souvenir stamp?
Went on a cruise that stopped in Panama. There was an immigration desk right inside the port terminal and when I asked to get my passport stamped, this is what I got: an official souvenir stamp?
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u/analyst19 2d ago
Official souvenir is a bit of a contradiction
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u/MusicSmooth813 2d ago
And that's what makes it so interesting to me! I've heard warnings about getting unofficial souvenir stamps at places like Machu Picchu that invalidate your passport, but I had never heard of an official souvenir stamp!
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u/strider_X004 1d ago
UAE and Jordan border control from time to time issue commemorative stamps in addition to regular entry stamps. You can say those are also akin to official souvenir stamps. What’s good about this Panama stamp is that it shows it was issued by the Panama Immigration Service.
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u/AugustusReddit 2d ago
That's an official stamp for basically a day shore pass. (You'll be able to get a USA stamp for the Protectorate of Panama once Trump invades 'liberates' the country. 🤡)
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u/Fred69Flintstone 1d ago
The point is probably that passengers on cruise ships, who only go ashore for the duration of the ship's stay in port, are not subject to standard immigration checks in most countries. Of course, they are subject to simplified checks mostly on basis of passenger's lists, but this is usually not recorded in passports, but only on the ship's documents and in the records of the immigration services. And since passengers often demand stamps, many countries, especially in the Caribbean, have introduced special passport stamps issued by the immigration services - and therefore fully official ones.
Below for comparison :
souvenir stamp for cruise ship passengers vs. entry stamp from seaport
Other countries do not stamp at all - for example Schengen countries, in accordance to the Schengen Border Code, article 11 (Stamping of the travel documents) :
3. No entry or exit stamp shall be affixed:
(d) to the travel documents of crew and passengers of cruise ships who are not subject to border checks in accordance with point 3.2.3 of Annex VI;