Passport running out of pages...size (physical) of various visa /entry stamps

[kpc]

I'm sure the collective wisdom and knowledge of AFFers can help me out here; not an unusual problem for AFFers, but my 4 yo standard size Australian passport is running out of pages. I have a few overseas trips this year and I was wondering how much space I need for the various countries' entry stamps / visas. I know the easiest solution would be to get a new passport but I still have a few pages left so hopefully can get a bit more use out of the "Old Blue Book" yet! These are the countries that I'll be visiting that I would like to know the size of the Visa / entry stamps:

1) South Africa - I gather you need 2 back to back blank pages per entry otherwise you willl be refused entry. As I have 2 entries (a week apart) means 4 pages gone, I think
2) Zimbabwe - double entry Visa required on arrival at Victorai Falls airport as we plan to cross to Zambia for the day, and then return back to Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls.
3) Zambia - how big is the visa stamp to cross into Zambia for the day?
4) 2 enties into Chile - how big are these ones? The 2nd entry will be within 2 weeks of the first entry if this makes a difference. I presume there will be no stamp between Santiago and Easter island? Is that correct?
5) Single entry into Peru

Your collective help will be much appreciated, and save me getting a new passport early if I don't really need to.

Thanks

 

[flyingfan]

The entry and exit stamps I have for Chile are 45 mm x 28 mm; their immigration officers stamped them so that one stamp took up a quarter of a page.

My Peruvian stamps are 40 mm x 23 mm.

I hope this helps - as we know what officers could fit on a page and what they actually do are two different things.

 

[zig]

Can't help too much, but I'm visiting South Africa this year and I believe you are correct in your estimation of the number of pages needed.

 

[bigjobs]

south africa stamps are about the size of a 20c piece. you get 2 on the way in, can't recall about going out. this was last year.

 

[Simo]

In Feb we went to HKG and then on to China in Aug went to NAN and they did all of my stamps on one page but one stamp but my daughter had a separate page for the trips.

 

[kpc]

1) South Africa - I gather you need 2 back to back blank pages per entry otherwise you willl be refused entry. As I have 2 entries (a week apart) means 4 pages gone, I think

Can't help too much, but I'm visiting South Africa this year and I believe you are correct in your estimation of the number of pages needed.

south africa stamps are about the size of a 20c piece. you get 2 on the way in, can't recall about going out. this was last year.

Not sure why I was told you need 2 back to back blank pages per entry into Sth Africa. I just checked Timatic which states the following, which is in keeping with what bigjobs states above:

Warning:
- Passports and passport replacing documents of all non-South
  African nationals must contain at least 1 unused visa page

  for entry/departure endorsements by South African
  Immigration Service. Please note that this does not include

  the page reserved for  Observations  or  Amendments and

  Endorsements".

If I only need one page per entry (rather than 2) into Sth Africa, this could be the deal breaker in terms of not needing a new passport sooner. Anyone else with very recent experience with Sth Africa?
Thanks for the info re Chile and Peru - that helps a lot!
Anyone know the sitaution re Zimbabwe and Zambia?

 

[casanovawa]

Here is my two pages from my August trip to Africa, this contains two entries into South Africa and two exits, two entries into Zambia and two exits (their stamps didn't come out very well unfortunately) as well as an entry and exit to Botswana, didn't go to Zimbabwe...Sorry can't really find a way to add words and arrows as to which is which, but if you want to ask me i can try to remember and clarify... But yes my 4 year old passport is quickly running out of pages, the worst country i have found is Indonesia who has a visa which takes up a whole page...

 

[kpc]

Here is my two pages from my August trip to Africa, this contains two entries into South Africa and two exits, two entries into Zambia and two exits (their stamps didn't come out very well unfortunately) as well as an entry and exit to Botswana, didn't go to Zimbabwe...Sorry can't really find a way to add words and arrows as to which is which, but if you want to ask me i can try to remember and clarify... But yes my 4 year old passport is quickly running out of pages, the worst country i have found is Indonesia who has a visa which takes up a whole page...

Thank you, casanovawa! This puts my mind at ease. I should have enough pages then for my travel this year without getting a new passport but South Africa still states the following (albeit for US citizens), hence my confusion and concern.

PLEASE NOTE: South African law requires travelers to have one (1) blank (unstamped) visa page in their passport to enter the country. In practice, however, travelers may need more than one page as there have been instances in the past of South African immigration officers requiring travelers to have two (2) blank pages. You are advised to have at least two blank pages; one for the South African temporary residence permit sticker that is issued upon entry to the country, and an additional page to allow for entry and exit stamps for South Africa and other countries to be visited en route to South Africa or elsewhere in the region. Travelers without the requisite blank visa pages in their passports may be refused entry into South Africa, fined, and returned to their point of origin at their own expense. South African authorities have denied diplomatic missions access to assist in these cases.

If the South African immigration do indeed take up 2 pages per entry (which seems very unlikely) as their requirement, I may have to get a new passport between the South Africa and South American trips for which i have a window of about 2.5 weeks:shock:

 

[casanovawa]

Yeah i guess every situation can be different and not every border control person might be as officious as required or go by the book...

From that page i think the only entry stamps for S Af are the two on the top right and there are two square exit stamps, one when i left to go to Zambia on the 29/7 and one when i left for Australia on the 7/8.... It might have had something to do with the first entry i was coming from Europe and got two entry stamps and the second time i was coming in from an African country, but from memory i think she just opened up and then let me through, so maybe she saw that i still had plenty of time left on my visitor permit and so didn't bother stamping it again??? If so i don't know if this is the correct procedure or not or if the African country thing had anything to do with it???

Ideally it might be best to have extra pages, but i guess this shows its not a necessity...

Edit: Sorry got this wrong, the lady did give me a second entry stamp on my re-entry from Zambia on the 4/8, but she just stamped page 7 (so way before the pages in the picture above) so again she seemed happy to stamp an earlier page with previous stamps on it rather than needing a new page...

 

[casanovawa]

For interest sake here is the page from June showing an exit stamp from Chile (the entry stamp is on another page and is exactly the same size/shape etc except for slight change of letters) and there is an entry and exit stamp from Peru on the page (the exit one was annulled as the flight was cancelled and the exit stamp for the flight next day was stamped on the page before in the passport), so yes stamps could easily fit 4 on a page but they seemed happy to stamp on other pages with stamps already on them...

Looks like you will probably need an exit and entry stamp every time you arrive and leave Peru and Chile as they seem pretty basic type stamps, but imagine your probably right about not needing a stamp for Easter Island but may be worth checking, i didn't go there so can't help you...

 

[kpc]

For interest sake here is the page from June showing an exit stamp from Chile (the entry stamp is on another page and is exactly the same size/shape etc except for slight change of letters) and there is an entry and exit stamp from Peru on the page (the exit one was annulled as the flight was cancelled and the exit stamp for the flight next day was stamped on the page before in the passport), so yes stamps could easily fit 4 on a page but they seemed happy to stamp on other pages with stamps already on them...Looks like you will probably need an exit and entry stamp every time you arrive and leave Peru and Chile as they seem pretty basic type stamps, but imagine your probably right about not needing a stamp for Easter Island but may be worth checking, i didn't go there so can't help you...

Thanks again....the fact that both the Chile and Peru entry & exit stamps are relatively small means that even if the South African immigration used 4 pages (2 per entry), my current passport will have enough blank pages for both the South Africa & South America trips. Need to make sure the UK & Malaysian immigration officers don't touch any of my blank pages, 2 trips that predate the above. I will definitely get the frequent traveller passport early next year when I renew, which only costs $118 more, with about 30+ pages more :idea:...so hopefully I won't have this issue again:shock::mrgreen:

 

[simongr]

the worst country i have found is Indonesia who has a visa which takes up a whole page...

Business visas for Thailand, India and Saudi are all 1 page - India required 4 blank pages in the passport...

Personally I would be getting a new passport - you are going to need one soon any way and why risk it?

 

[MadFairlane]

Personally I would be getting a new passport - you are going to need one soon any way and why risk it?

This!!

Is it worth getting stuck somewhere for the sake of a hundred odd dollars

 

[sweens]

South Africa is two entry and 2 exit stamps as per previosly mentioned, these are just over the size of a 20c piece for entry and small squares for exit. These would fit on about 2/3 of one page in total.

The Zimbabwe visa I was issued (on arrival at Vic Falls) a couple of years back took one whole page for the visa plus and one entry and and one exit stamp, so a least a page and a half for Zim. A tip for Zimbabwe is to pre pay as much as you can (hotel and excursions) outside of the country and take USD or ZAR (Rand) cash in as Cr Cards are difficult to use there.

I agree with others why not just get a new passport.

 

[kpc]

Personally I would be getting a new passport - you are going to need one soon any way and why risk it?

This!!

Is it worth getting stuck somewhere for the sake of a hundred odd dollars

I agree with others why not just get a new passport.

The collective wisdom of AFFers.... I have 5 double blank pages, 2-3 blank single pages, and 2-3 pages which just have one small stamp on each remaining, hence my dilemma. Getting a new passport, however, may be the way to go!

 

[dajop]

The collective wisdom of AFFers.... I have 5 double blank pages, 2-3 blank single pages, and 2-3 pages which just have one small stamp on each remaining, hence my dilemma. Getting a new passport, however, may be the way to go!

Do you plan on going back to Chile at some later point? IIRC, they used to have a one off reciprocity fee, the receipt for which is stapled into the back of you passport, that is valid for the life of your passport. Not sure if that is still in place, but if it is and you do get a new passport, that may be one bonus, you will still have that Chilean fee paid for the life of your new passport.

Otherwise you just need to temporarily glue some of those double blank pages together until the single ones are all used up

 

[Pablo]

PLEASE NOTE: South African law requires travelers to have one (1) blank (unstamped) visa page in their passport to enter the country. In practice, however, travelers may need more than one page as there have been instances in the past of South African immigration officers requiring travelers to have two (2) blank pages. You are advised to have at least two blank pages; one for the South African temporary residence permit sticker that is issued upon entry to the country, and an additional page to allow for entry and exit stamps for South Africa and other countries to be visited en route to South Africa or elsewhere in the region. Travelers without the requisite blank visa pages in their passports may be refused entry into South Africa, fined, and returned to their point of origin at their own expense. South African authorities have denied diplomatic missions access to assist in these cases.

I think this is an old website/information as RSA no longer issue the Temporary residence sticker - that went out over a year ago - or maybe even around the World Cup. I've never found them too fussy in RSA - they just stamp wherever. And I'm confused why people are saying they have had 2 entry and 2 exit stamps from RSA - I've only ever had one in and one out - at least since they got rid of the sticker they used to put in there.

For Zimbabwe however, the last time I was there (New Years 07/08) I have a full page sticker. I don't have a recent sticker for Zambia but from memory (but this is over 5 years ago) the entry to Zambia from Zimbabwe was just a 20c stamp - so not a huge issue.

The collective wisdom of AFFers.... I have 5 double blank pages, 2-3 blank single pages, and 2-3 pages which just have one small stamp on each remaining, hence my dilemma. Getting a new passport, however, may be the way to go!

Based on this - you are saying in effect you have 13 pages that are blank - is that correct - you have plenty of space. I wouldn't get another one just yet.

 

[kpc]

Based on this - you are saying in effect you have 13 pages that are blank - is that correct - you have plenty of space. I wouldn't get another one just yet.

That's correct - just counted the blank pages in my passport again, and have 5 double blank pages and 3 single blank pages.

 

[Pablo]

That's correct - just counted the blank pages in my passport again, and have 5 double blank pages and 3 single blank pages.

Thats heaps - you shouldnt have any worries. I just came back from Kenya and Rwanda with only 4 pages when I went and I was fine. Just got my new passport now as only had 2 blank pages left.

 

[flmyngo]

I've only been to Peru on your list, but if you're visiting Machu Picchu there's a pretty cool passport stamp there that you can get that takes up about a 1/3 of a page (but it's not mandatory).

Other countries that take up a whole page are Mongolia, India, Egypt, Thailand and Laos.