Sunday I reentered America at LAX and US Immigration "entry stamped" my US Passport.

"PTRAVEL" schreef in bericht
...

"Paul O" wrote in message
u...
And, unlike the U.S., they know every
hotel I've stayed in, as my passport is taken from me and the
information
recorded and forwarded to the local police department. I don't fear the
procedure, or resent it.


What twaddle - very few European countries take passport information and
forward it to the Police Station.

Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, and the Czech
Republic are all countries in which hotels have taken my passport and
recorded the information.

In most of these countries, they do that to make sure that you will pay your
bill. None of this information is forwarded to the Police Station, as you
falsely claim. (except in Italy)

Sjoerd

"Steve" schreef in bericht
news:iJbzb.205839$Dw6.754282@attbi_s02...
FWIW, as many times as I've entered Schengen Europe via AMS (or physically
entered The Netherlands prior to Schengen), I had never been stamped in
AMS.
On a recent trip I did get stamped at Schiphol (AMS) as I entered the
Schengen area to make a connection to another EU (Schengen) country, which
came as a surprise to me. Why, I don't know -- but it's nice to finally
have an Amsterdam stamp in my passport as many times as I've been there

The official Schengen rules are clear: non-EEA citizens should always get an
entry stamp. Everyone who needs a Schengen visa should get an entry and an
exit stamp. But in practice if you have a passport from a "rich" country
(US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and a few others), they often
don't bother. And when you take the ferry from the UK to France there is in
practice no passport control, so even Iraqis won't get a Schengen entry
stamp when they take that route.

Sjoerd

"Sjoerd" wrote in message
...

"PTRAVEL" schreef in bericht
...

"Paul O" wrote in message
u...
And, unlike the U.S., they know every
hotel I've stayed in, as my passport is taken from me and the
information
recorded and forwarded to the local police department. I don't fear
the
procedure, or resent it.


What twaddle - very few European countries take passport information
and
forward it to the Police Station.

Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, and the Czech
Republic are all countries in which hotels have taken my passport and
recorded the information.

In most of these countries, they do that to make sure that you will pay
your
bill. None of this information is forwarded to the Police Station, as you
falsely claim. (except in Italy)

How does recording my passport information ensure that I'll pay my bill?
Particularly, when (1) they have an imprint of my credit card, and (2) I've
guaranteed the first night in advance on the same card.


Sjoerd

PTRAVEL wrote:
How does recording my passport information ensure that I'll pay my bill?

I never understand this either. I once got into a discussion with a desk
clerk in Senegal about it - I asked him whether he thought they would be
able to march into the US Embassy and get a cash payout for the bill I
hypothetically skipped out on or something... which he did not. Basically it
seemed to come down to instilling a vague sense of accountability in the
guest, because he was "known".

miguel
--
See the world from your web browser: http://travel.u.nu/

@X. wrote:
So Sunday I returned from Asia through LAX. Despite the holiday weekend I
got through Customs and Immigration very quickly. The funny part was the
immigration agent put an entry stamp in my US Passport. They have never
done this in the past and it seemed a little odd to me. Is this some sort
of new policy?

They've been doing this as long as I can remember. However it's not at all
predictable; seems to depend on the airport and individual inspector.

Perhaps of mild interest, I noticed that the wording on the stamp has
changed recently - before, it said "US Immigration" but now it reads
"Customs and Border Protection".

miguel
--
See the world from your web browser: http://travel.u.nu/

passports held in european hotels.

I was once told that because passports are extremely valuable, hotels were
required to hold them in a secured place to ensure they don't get stolen while
the guest is inside the hotel. (this was in switzerland, the only place I was
asked to hand my passport during a stay - and that was at a youth hostel in
Luzern. At smaller gasthous in the countryside as well as a large business
hotel in Zürich, I was not asked to hand over the passport.

However, in many countries I was asked to enter my passport number on the
hotel registration form.

Deirdre Saoirse Moen schrieb:


I have a British friend who once overstayed her 90 days by 4 days. She is
now required to get an exit stamp.

these days this is enough to not allow entry to the US anymore. That
happened to a couple of EU citizens who are now forbidden to travel to
the US

Miguel Cruz muttered....

PTRAVEL wrote:
How does recording my passport information ensure that I'll pay my
bill?

I never understand this either. I once got into a discussion with a
desk clerk in Senegal about it - I asked him whether he thought they
would be able to march into the US Embassy and get a cash payout for
the bill I hypothetically skipped out on or something... which he did
not. Basically it seemed to come down to instilling a vague sense of
accountability in the guest, because he was "known".

No, it's a leftover from WWII, so the the local gendarmerie can tell the
resident Gestapo agents about strangers in the town's hotels. Used to be
in all the better movies (along with leather overcoats).
:-P

you might get your passport reported when you leave BY AIR, but WALK out of
a country and nobody cares.

"PTRAVEL" wrote in message
...

"nobody" wrote in message
...
Simple business decision. If the government makes money re-issuing
passports,
then it stands to gain by stamping US passports with as much useless
stuff
as
possible so that you run out of space and need to request (and pay !)
for
a
new passport.

:-)

I'm glad you included the smilely.


Consider the treatment the current USA regime gives to visitors to the
USA
who
have overstayed a visa in the past.

What treatment does the USA give visitors who have previously violated
immigration laws? The law is clear, as are the penalties for its
violation.
Who goes to another country and believes they can violate the law with
impunity?

Since the USA has every reason to fear
that other countries might treat USA citizens the same way USA treats
their
citizens,

"Fear"? Have you travelled much internationally? US immigration
procedures
for _visitors_ are not particularly onerous, and considerably easier than
those of a number of countries I've visited, many of which profess to be
democracies.

then that stamp would help you get out of prison since it
implicitely proves you have left their country by entering the USA on a
specific date and thus hadn't overstayed your visa there.

Oh, please . . what nonsense! My passport is scanned whenever I depart a
Schengen country (which has the most liberal . . . and reciprocal . . .
entry requirements with respect to the US) and, I suppose, if I wanted to
get an exit stamp I could. I am, however, in the computer -- they know
when
I entered, and they know when I left. And, unlike the U.S., they know
every
hotel I've stayed in, as my passport is taken from me and the information
recorded and forwarded to the local police department. I don't fear the
procedure, or resent it.

There's an awful lot about the U.S. that is very wrong just now.
Immigration procedures for visitors isn't one of them.


Come to think of it, any visitor to the USA should have their passport
stamped
when they enter another country after leaving the USA. Since the USA
doesn't
have exit controls and thus is incapable of really tracking who has and
hasn't overstayed their visas, having a stamp from another country
proving
you
had left the USA on such and such a date might be your ticket to prevent
a
visit to a USA prison.

On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 08:21:44 GMT, (Miguel Cruz) wrote:


They've been doing this as long as I can remember. However it's not at all
predictable; seems to depend on the airport and individual inspector.

Perhaps of mild interest, I noticed that the wording on the stamp has
changed recently - before, it said "US Immigration" but now it reads
"Customs and Border Protection".


Mine still said "US Immigration" as of Sunday so I guess they aren't
consistent on that either.