How full does a passport have to be before they will not stamp it anymore?

[Flock1]

As suggested by the title of this post, my passport is getting full. In fact I've only got 3 blank pages left. I have got other spaces on other pages but they would have to be squeezed in, or perhaps stamped partly on top of other stamps.

This wouldn't be much of a problem except that during July and August I'm going to be collecting another 22 stamps.

So do I bite the bullet and get a new jumbo UK passport, or can my current one squeeze them all in. (The countries involved are Ukraine, Moldova, Japan, USA (x2), Canada, Taiwan, Philipinnes, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Jordan. So no massive full page visas.)

Regards

Flock1

[Capetonian]

Some countries require an entirely blank page, others (South Africa is one of them) require 2 blank pages, although I've only once heard of it being enforced. This seems totally over the top as the green sticker only takes up half a page, and if the immigration officials want to be helpful, they often stick new ones on top of old ones, or other stamps.

If they want to be difficult, as happened to me once going into Peru, they can refuse to stamp a blank page because ink from an overinked pad on the other side has seeped through.

Unfortunately it is often down to the goodwill or otherwise of the immigration official. It sounds to me as if you should get a new passport now rather than delaying it, as from your description I can almost guarantee that somewhere you will have a problem.

By the way I seem to remember that an Indonesian entry stamp is fairly big, but I last went there over 10 years ago so could be wrong.

[ZFT]

The Indonesian visa is still a full page size stick on visa.

[MR7958]

Get a new passport. 100% definitely get a new passport. As others have said, you are bound to run into problems if you do not.

[PAXboy]

Not worth waiting to find out:
"We will not stamp that passport - it is full."
"What do I do now?"
"That is your problem and, by the way, you have not entered the country."

[MPN11]

Concur with all the above - simply NOT worth the risk.

It would, of course, help if some countries didn't stamp randomly and untidily all over the place, instead of starting at page 1. Why DO they do that?

I'm not a philatelist, before you ask! ;)

[Anansis]

It would, of course, help if some countries didn't stamp randomly and untidily all over the place, instead of starting at page 1. Why DO they do that?

So true- US customs particularly bad for doing that! Handing your passport over with your landing card folded inside the last blank page is usually a good way of gently reminding an immigration officer of where (s)he should stamp it...

[Griff]

Well you could get a new passport before your travels or...
keep your old and rather full passport for your forthcoming trips, attempt to collect the 22 stamps in july and august and report back here in september.

by then you will know exactly how full a passport needs to be before they will not stamp it anymore!

P

[smala01]

I find 9 times out of 10 if you have the page open were you would like them to stamp then they make the print in that place. (Humans are inherently lazy creatures)

This is especially the case if you are entering and exiting the same country many times. They see the existing stamps and will use the empty space on that page rather than a new sheet.

Smala01

[PAXboy]

So many times though, you have to pass it through the slot and it will not stay open and flat at the right page. Further, they first want the back page to swipe it and that loses the place of the next usable page.

[boredcounter]

Bite the bullet as you say,

Better than a refusal?

[Rush2112]

No choice, get a new one. Indonesia as ZFT says is a full page and they will not let you in if you have less than 2 fully blank pages left when you rock up at Cengkareng. In fact, it is possible that the airline check in desk will refuse to let you on their plane.

[11277m]

I was annoyed at the wasteful way some immigration officers stamped in the middle of blank pages, and so I wrote "RESERVED FOR VISA" in pencil on all the blank pages, forcing them to use up the smaller spaces left on other pages.

Apart from a few mutterings from immigration officers it's worked well so far. Another ploy is to check the stuck-in visas. Some can be carefully peeled off, revealing yet more space!

[Capetonian]

I wrote "RESERVED FOR VISA" in pencil on all the blank pages, forcing them to use up the smaller spaces left on other pages

I pencilled a neat cross over the blank pages, erasing it as they needed to be used. That worked for a while until some jobsworth, with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, at Gatwick told me that it was 'illegal to deface Her Majesty's Government's property'. I suppose her comment was technically valid but her attitude was deplorable. However I ignored her and never had a problem again.

[oldpax]

I tried that,unsticking carefully some Cambodian visas.Indian embassy would not give me a work permit until I got a new passport!Also the Cambodians were not amused and I was turned back while on a visa run from Thailand.
I thought(!!)that as I had purchased the visa and it had been cancelled it was of no further use,but then they like to see where you have been I suppose!!!

[Flock1]

Fair enough. I'll start filling in the forms...

[Pontius Navigator]

You didn't say, IIRC, how long your passport has to run. If less than a few months then it will be valid to 10 years plus the remainder. Don't know if it is a couple of years though.

[Final 3 Greens]

If you are travelling on business, you might wish to get a second passport.

Then you can use your 'full' passport for EU/EEA countries and your other for visas and you don't have to worry about quick trips that arise whilst visas are being processed.

PM me if you don't know how to get one.

[Flock1]

My passport has another 8 years on it! I've filled it up rapidly. When I applied for it, I asked for the 48 page one but I was told (by the woman behind the counter in the post office) that they no longer issued them.) She lied!

[Capetonian]

I think she was right, but wrong ..... you can't apply at the PO for a 'jumbo' passport, you have to do it direct with the UKPA.

[Bushfiva]

I hand my passport over open at the data page, but have a very small post-it tag on the preferred page for stamping. A lot of people seem to take the hint (and possibly appreciate it on the exit part of the journey), some don't, and some deliberately don't. I figure I'm standing opposite someone with a very boring day ahead of them, so it's a general win for me anyway.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

i don't care, actually. They can sort it out for themselves! I just make sure that there's enough space, and when it looks a bit full I get a new one. Life gets a bit short to worry about these things eventually :cool: