Singapore Expats

Do you get your passport stamped when you leave London?

Discuss travel and holidays tips and advice here.
Post Reply
User avatar
beedao
Regular
Regular
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 7:59 pm
Location: VN-Singabore

Do you get your passport stamped when you leave London?

Post by beedao » Fri, 23 May 2014 10:44 am

Hi All,

As above, my passport wasn’t stamped when i left London. I took Eurostar from Paris to London and I got my Schengen visa stamped by the French border guard, the stamp showing the date I departed. Then, the UK border guard did inspect my passport and my UK visa, she scanned it and stamped on my visa the date I arrived. When i left London, one of the airport staff just asked me to scan my boarding pass (not passport) at the airport in order to get into the gate. I was too tired to think about it that my passport wasn’t stamped. I only noticed that my passport doesn’t have a departure custom stamp like the French when i was home. So I’m wondering if anyone else faces the same issue. Is it a norm that UK custom only scans our passports instead of custom stamps?

Thanks in advance for any input.

B
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be; Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!

User avatar
BillyB
Manager
Manager
Posts: 1807
Joined: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:01 pm
Location: My laptop

Post by BillyB » Fri, 23 May 2014 11:57 am

Stamping of passports isn't mandatory, but you can ask for it to be stamped if you so desire! I'd guess all the information is stored electronically these days.

Australia doesn't stamp on exit, too.

Steve1960
Editor
Editor
Posts: 1106
Joined: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:58 am
Location: Singapore

Post by Steve1960 » Fri, 23 May 2014 12:41 pm

Several countries don't stamp on exit now and Israel no longer stamp on entry or exit.

It is a pain when trying to recall exact dates of travel though especially when applying for a Chinese visa when they want to know the ins and outs of everything!

I should keep a list I know, never quite seem to get around to it......

User avatar
JR8
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 16522
Joined: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:43 pm
Location: K. Puki Manis

Post by JR8 » Fri, 23 May 2014 1:43 pm

Steve1960 wrote:Several countries don't stamp on exit now and Israel no longer stamp on entry or exit.

It is a pain when trying to recall exact dates of travel though especially when applying for a Chinese visa when they want to know the ins and outs of everything!

I should keep a list I know, never quite seem to get around to it......
I just keep a simple list, on a back tab in my Excel 'Accounts spreadsheet'. But there's no reason not to simply note it on a Post-It stuck in the middle of your passport.

For example:
Date Dep Date Return Place #days
23/4/14 30/4/14 KL 7

If you're running close to the tax residency thresholds, then you can consider carefully rules like, 'Were you within a foreign jurisdiction at midnight on the day or arrival, or departure?'

It can make a (big) difference if you're pushing limits on staying within, or outside your home country.

For example, stay in the UK for an average of 90 days per year, measured over 3 years, and that can make you tax resident.

Move to SG 300 days into a tax year, spend the next two tax years in SG, then move back in say August, spending the next 210 days there until the end of the tax year... and you are UK resident.

Big ramifications if you happily sell a UK property during those intervening years in SG.... without realising the consequences.

It's much easier to keep a running note of this as and when, than have Mr Customs Man in your face 5+ years later demanding to know precisely what days you spent in and out of the country.

singapore eagle
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 190
Joined: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 9:57 pm

Re: Do you get your passport stamped when you leave London?

Post by singapore eagle » Fri, 23 May 2014 1:57 pm

beedao wrote:Hi All,

As above, my passport wasn’t stamped when i left London. I took Eurostar from Paris to London and I got my Schengen visa stamped by the French border guard, the stamp showing the date I departed. Then, the UK border guard did inspect my passport and my UK visa, she scanned it and stamped on my visa the date I arrived. When i left London, one of the airport staff just asked me to scan my boarding pass (not passport) at the airport in order to get into the gate. I was too tired to think about it that my passport wasn’t stamped. I only noticed that my passport doesn’t have a departure custom stamp like the French when i was home. So I’m wondering if anyone else faces the same issue. Is it a norm that UK custom only scans our passports instead of custom stamps?

Thanks in advance for any input.

B
There tends not to be a formal passport check on departure from UK ports and airports. You sometimes see UKBA staff conducting spot checks, but more often than not the only people to look at your passport are the airline staff.

User avatar
beedao
Regular
Regular
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 7:59 pm
Location: VN-Singabore

-

Post by beedao » Fri, 23 May 2014 2:46 pm

BillB: i did have my passport stamped at the Australian custom on arrival and departure in 2011. It's just weird that the UK stamped the arrival date on my passport but not the departure date. Actually, we couldn’t see a custom counter for the passport check at Heathrow airport. There were just some machines for the boarding pass scanning. We didn’t really look around for the custom though :D
BillyB wrote:Stamping of passports isn't mandatory, but you can ask for it to be stamped if you so desire! I'd guess all the information is stored electronically these days.

Australia doesn't stamp on exit, too.
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be; Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!

User avatar
JR8
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 16522
Joined: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:43 pm
Location: K. Puki Manis

Re: -

Post by JR8 » Fri, 23 May 2014 2:51 pm

beedao wrote: We didn’t really look around for the custom though :D
Immigration deal with passports, visas etc, not Customs (as I'm sure you know).

User avatar
beedao
Regular
Regular
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 7:59 pm
Location: VN-Singabore

Re: -

Post by beedao » Fri, 23 May 2014 3:00 pm

Well, they are different. The reason people use the terms interchangeably is that at many border crossings (especially at airports) one set of people handle both. This is not an English debate and English is not my first language anyway. So, more inputs on the mentioned question will be much more appreciated. Thank you so much.
JR8 wrote:
beedao wrote: We didn’t really look around for the custom though :D
Immigration deal with passports, visas etc, not Customs (as I'm sure you know).
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be; Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!

User avatar
beedao
Regular
Regular
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 7:59 pm
Location: VN-Singabore

Post by beedao » Fri, 23 May 2014 4:21 pm

Ok, I’m not collecting stamps on my passport. I just want to make sure everything is right so i wont get into trouble. Anyway, I’ve got the reply from the British High Commission Singapore
Thank you for your email regarding UK Immigration stamps. On departure from the UK, passports are no longer stamped with an exit stamp. The process you have described for your departure is correct and the lack of a stamp will not affect any future trips to the UK
Anyway, while searching for the answers, i found something interesting from the UK border control website, the airlines have to send our info to the Border Force. Just sharing.
Before you board
Your ‘carrier’ (eg airline or transport provider) will check your passport and other travel documents. They’ll send this information electronically to Border Force.
You can ask to see the information about you that’s been sent by carriers. You’ll have to pay a £10 fee. (souce: https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/be ... for-the-uk
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be; Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!

User avatar
zzm9980
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6869
Joined: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 1:35 pm
Location: Once more unto the breach

Post by zzm9980 » Sat, 24 May 2014 6:06 am

beedao wrote:Ok, I’m not collecting stamps on my passport. I just want to make sure everything is right so i wont get into trouble. Anyway, I’ve got the reply from the British High Commission Singapore
Thank you for your email regarding UK Immigration stamps. On departure from the UK, passports are no longer stamped with an exit stamp. The process you have described for your departure is correct and the lack of a stamp will not affect any future trips to the UK
Anyway, while searching for the answers, i found something interesting from the UK border control website, the airlines have to send our info to the Border Force. Just sharing.
Before you board
Your ‘carrier’ (eg airline or transport provider) will check your passport and other travel documents. They’ll send this information electronically to Border Force.
You can ask to see the information about you that’s been sent by carriers. You’ll have to pay a £10 fee. (souce: https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/be ... for-the-uk
US is the same way. Immigration checks only on entering. Many international flights even depart from domestic terminals without immigration facilities.

The US does sometimes have kiosks though that foreigners are supposed to "sign out" at. I've never seen anyone use one, and I've never heard of anyone being penalized of denied future entry for not using it.

User avatar
JR8
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 16522
Joined: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:43 pm
Location: K. Puki Manis

Post by JR8 » Sat, 24 May 2014 2:08 pm

zzm9980 wrote:US is the same way. Immigration checks only on entering. Many international flights even depart from domestic terminals without immigration facilities.

The US does sometimes have kiosks though that foreigners are supposed to "sign out" at. I've never seen anyone use one, and I've never heard of anyone being penalized of denied future entry for not using it.
Well you have now :) Very nearly*

If you have an option of getting an exit stamp I'd take it. I also keep all of my boarding cards... which as in the above linked topic, saved my skin re: US immigration.



* Please refer to my post in this topic ...
http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra449047.html

User avatar
zzm9980
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6869
Joined: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 1:35 pm
Location: Once more unto the breach

Post by zzm9980 » Sat, 24 May 2014 11:40 pm

JR8 wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:US is the same way. Immigration checks only on entering. Many international flights even depart from domestic terminals without immigration facilities.

The US does sometimes have kiosks though that foreigners are supposed to "sign out" at. I've never seen anyone use one, and I've never heard of anyone being penalized of denied future entry for not using it.
Well you have now :) Very nearly*

If you have an option of getting an exit stamp I'd take it. I also keep all of my boarding cards... which as in the above linked topic, saved my skin re: US immigration.



* Please refer to my post in this topic ...
http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra449047.html
Strange since they're not even in every Airport, and the ones that have them have so few. SFO has maybe 3 or 4 of them (and in random non-obvious spots) for their entire international terminal. That's ~20-30 departure gates.

User avatar
JR8
Immortal
Immortal
Posts: 16522
Joined: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:43 pm
Location: K. Puki Manis

Post by JR8 » Sun, 25 May 2014 9:33 am

zzm9980 wrote:Strange since they're not even in every Airport, and the ones that have them have so few. SFO has maybe 3 or 4 of them (and in random non-obvious spots) for their entire international terminal. That's ~20-30 departure gates.
Oops ... to clarify.

I wasn't talking about 'stamping kiosks', or having used them.

I was referring to having had my passport manually stamped at immigration, but, USCB+P then losing the stub of my D/E-Visa Waiver card, after my departure. Hence them having no record of me having left on 4-5 occasions (late 90s IIRC, they much have had a systemic problem with record-keeping, in fact I know they did as plenty of others were being similarly impacted).

As a result I was getting pulled into 2ndary each time at Arrivals, given the 1.01 'shake-down interrogation', and so on, until it got to a point I had to go and get a visa (cost about £200), just to wipe their slate clean.


p.s. so now as said, I keep copies of al boarding cards, keep an excel list of all travel abroad, and scan-copy my passport pages when I remember, maybe annually.

Once inside the EU you don't get national entry/exit stamps. People lose passports. It's all about maintaining a provable record of where you've been should you lose your passport etc...

Steve1960
Editor
Editor
Posts: 1106
Joined: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:58 am
Location: Singapore

Post by Steve1960 » Sun, 25 May 2014 9:55 am

I have been really lazy and you are right it makes good sense to keep travel records.

I don't get anywhere near the thresholds for tax issues, tends to be a lot of short trips.

Think I will use some quiet time in a hotel room this trip to start building the records, I have two passports to go through!

User avatar
sundaymorningstaple
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 40376
Joined: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 1:26 pm
Answers: 21
Location: Retired on the Little Red Dot

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sun, 25 May 2014 1:08 pm

That's one habit American have from year one as an expatriate as our income earned abroad exclusion has to list all dates entered & departed the US for arriving at the applicable percentage of income deduction. It's not a flat amount but a percentage dependent on the time spent in the US and abroad.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Travel & Holidays”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests