That fun novelty stamp that proves you’ve been to a particular Disney resort, or is a cute little memento from a fantasy trip to Hogwarts, could land you in an immigration detention cell and end up with you being deported from a country before you’ve even exited the airport, the U.S. State Department has warned.
In a new PSA to anyone considering decorating the inside of their official U.S. passport with a novelty stamp, the State Department has warned: “Unofficial novelty or souvenir stamps may seem fun, but they are NOT allowed in your U.S. passport and may cause problems when you travel.”
Passport PSA: Unofficial novelty or souvenir stamps may seem fun, but they are NOT allowed in your U.S. passport and may cause problems when you travel. Stamp them in a notebook or journal instead!
— TravelGov (@TravelGov) June 8, 2026
Do not write or add markings to any passport pages other than your signature or… pic.twitter.com/WxffKm6Hh6
One can only imagine that State Department consular officials have witnessed a rise in U.S. citizens requesting overseas assistance for exactly this reason, prompting the department to issue this public service announcement.
It’s easy to see why some travelers are tempted to decorate their passports with unofficial stamps, given that the past time of collecting real stamps from countries you’ve visited around the world is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
With the rise of e-gates becoming available to a wider pool of people, there’s no need to stamp a passport, as the biometric data is stored on computer systems that can track whether someone has the right to enter a country and whether or not they’ve overstayed a visa.
Perhaps the biggest change where this is happening is in the European Union, where the new ‘Entry/Exit System’ ESS has been rolled out. Many third-country nationals, like U.S. citizens, are allowed to stay in the EU for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period.
In the past, the various immigration computer systems of each member state weren’t linked, so the only way that immigration officers had to check whether a traveler wasn’t breaching this rule was to physically check their entry and exit stamps in their passport.
With the introduction of ESS, however, this information is automatically recorded and shared between member states, removing the need for passport stamps.
That’s not to say that you can’t get a passport stamp from a country where they have been all but eliminated. In fact, some countries in Europe are still stamping passports because EES has proven to be so disastrous that relying on the automated system would lead to hours-long lines to clear immigration.
In many countries, you can politely ask the immigration officer if they are willing to stamp your passport, and in many cases, they are more than happy to oblige.
Obviously, this does depend on the individual immigration officer, and I wouldn’t advise pushing the matter if they refuse your request. In any case, only managing to get a few official passport stamps is far better than being denied entry to a country because you chose to decorate your passport with a novelty stamp.
