Passport stamps, love them or loath them?

[ajd]

The stamps are good for providing dates of entry/exit etc. I am now attempting to compile a spreadsheet of all my travel and flights, and I have a lot of the dates in my passports, but only entry/exit, not the internal flights etc, though I did manage to find a few old itineraries and tickets which helped fill in some gaps. Never been good at keeping a diary so can't fall back on that unfortunately.

They are also helpful for certain levels of security clearances...

Curious about the numbering, they must have repeated the initial letters at some point. Seems to be random. Mine are:
G - 1968
H - 1974
M - 1981
G - 1985
J - 1990
L - 1999
M - 2009

Just noticed my 1990 passport had the 5 last pages divided into 4 squares so the Immi Officers could neatly stamp!! Mind you, it didn't work that well. Some went over the lines!! I bet they were useless at colouring in as kids!

My 1994 passport is K, 1999 is L, 2004 is M, 2009 and 2014 are N. The current series is P - I assume O was skipped due to its similarity with the number 0. So it seems that at least for the past 24 years the lettering has changed sequentially.

 

[JohnK]

My 1994 passport is K, 1999 is L, 2004 is M, 2009 and 2014 are N. The current series is P - I assume O was skipped due to its similarity with the number 0. So it seems that at least for the past 24 years the lettering has changed sequentially.

You assume it has been sequential?

My May 2010 passport is an E series passport. It was issued in Brisbane though which is a few years behind the rest of Australia.

 

[aussiejohn]

They are also helpful for certain levels of security clearances...

Yes, many years ago I applied for an admin job which required a very high level of security clearance. Wasn't allowed to say who with then, and I guess that still applies today!

Didn't get the job, but having all my old passports, and lots of other stuff, enabled me to pretty much reconstruct most of my life, where I'd been, where I'd lived, every job, etc etc. Was hard work filling in all that paperwork, but an interesting exercise. I do genealogy, and I wish my ancestors had been thorough with paperwork!!

 

[Major]

For me

G - 1969
P - 1978
N - 1983
J - 1988
L - 1998
M - 2007

 

[leadman]

Certainly not sequential;

1984 T
1989 J
1994 E
1999 E
2003 E
2007 E
2010 E
2013 E

 

[feezable]

I love AFF, the wealth of knowledge on here helped in many ways on our recent trip to Thailand, including this thread. Yesterday, arriving back in Sydney my children were too young to use the e-gate (10 & 13yrs). I politely asked the immigration officer if he would mind stamping our passports. He did it with a smile and we now have an elusive Syd Imm arrival stamp in our passports.

 

[ajd]

You assume it has been sequential?

My May 2010 passport is an E series passport. It was issued in Brisbane though which is a few years behind the rest of Australia.

Certainly not sequential;

1984 T
1989 J
1994 E
1999 E
2003 E
2007 E
2010 E
2013 E

Interesting - I wonder whether issuing office does actually affect it? Australian Passport Numbers - Travel reports someone obtaining a passport through an embassy and getting an "E". Perhaps the Sydney and Newcastle passport offices follow a pattern and others don't? (Having never had a 64-page passport myself, maybe that has something to do with it?)

Also, according to https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1749/~/esta---australian-p-passports, all P-series passports begin with P and include an additional letter describing the type of passport (including "PF" for 64-page).

 

[JohnM]

I feel like an heretic here, but I never give them a second glance...

 

[get me outta here]

I have my grandmother's old suitcase from when she ran away to America and it is also covered with stamps and stickers and that is evocative for me, as well as my passport. I wish they had put the stamps on pages in order. I see the collection of old pp as a ready history.

 

[stoneman]

I have my grandmother's old suitcase from when she ran away to America and it is also covered with stamps and stickers and that is evocative for me, as well as my passport. I wish they had put the stamps on pages in order. I see the collection of old pp as a ready history.

Wow! How cool to have your nana's suitcase with stamps and stickers :mrgreen: Excellent!

 

[get me outta here]

I queued up for quite a while to get the Isle de Pines stamp.

My husband loves love loves the stamps and we have wasted time standing around while they find a stamp.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

My JQ10 dom pax on int flight (if it still will fly this arvo) is my closest to passport stamps, as Aust C&BP officer has to stamp my JQ boarding pass as departed Aust in SYDi and entered Aust in MELi airports.
Paws crossed I make it.
Last trip for me doing the dom pax on int flight thingo.

 

[harvyk]

Last trip for me doing the dom pax on int flight thingo.

Don't say that too hastily, ever heard of an FLounge run?

 

[AL1CE]

I adore stamps! I'm just sad they're no longer as pretty and symbolic of their country. I've tried to hustle a few stamps, only got one once. I purposely re arranged my Europe flights so I could get a few more Sad but true.

 

[JessicaTam]

Must. Get. Stamp.

That is all.

 

[Archphoto]

You assume it has been sequential?

My May 2010 passport is an E series passport. It was issued in Brisbane though which is a few years behind the rest of Australia.

My August 2010 is an E also, but that was issued in SYD.

I've filled up 2 64 pge passports in 6 years - those huge TH Business visas don't help either. Wish AU was like the USA - take it to your nearest consulate and they'll just add in another set of pages for you. I remember one of our clients needing to do this a couple of times over the 4 years we worked together; she was very surprised when we commented that we had to buy new ones every time we filled 64 pges!!!

Stamps are a bit of a double-edged sword when you travel for business frequently - great for the memories, but a PITA when you run out of space before those 10 years are finished. In the 20 years I've been shooting, I've gone through 5 passports - my only regret is that when we went to North Korea, they issued their own "passport" and took it back afterwards; what a great souvenir that would have made! :mrgreen:

 

[ajd]

My August 2010 is an E also, but that was issued in SYD.

I've filled up 2 64 pge passports in 6 years - those huge TH Business visas don't help either.

Seems to reinforce my suspicion that "E" means 67-page.

How exactly does adding pages work? Do they have a separate booklet of pages that gets stapled in or something?

 

[AL1CE]

My August 2010 is an E also, but that was issued in SYD.

I've filled up 2 64 pge passports in 6 years - those huge TH Business visas don't help either. Wish AU was like the USA - take it to your nearest consulate and they'll just add in another set of pages for you. I remember one of our clients needing to do this a couple of times over the 4 years we worked together; she was very surprised when we commented that we had to buy new ones every time we filled 64 pges!!!


Stamps are a bit of a double-edged sword when you travel for business frequently - great for the memories, but a PITA when you run out of space before those 10 years are finished. In the 20 years I've been shooting, I've gone through 5 passports - my only regret is that when we went to North Korea, they issued their own "passport" and took it back afterwards; what a great souvenir that would have made! :mrgreen:

THE VISAS!!!! Drive me crazy! Why so big??? Definitely a double edge sword. My passport photo is unusually awesome! and it would be nice to keep it for another few years.

 

[Archphoto]

Seems to reinforce my suspicion that "E" means 67-page.

How exactly does adding pages work? Do they have a separate booklet of pages that gets stapled in or something?

From memory, they added into the middle and it was stitched in. She did joke that it gets coughbersome, but at least they had a choice to add extra pages.

52 is their maximum, and if costs no extra to order this size, they can then add in lots of 24 pages.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/pages.html

She was also astounded that ours cost so much, and that we couldn't add considering the price we were paying.

 

[Joshua]

At this rate I'm filling a standard AU sized one in about 2 years.. I don't even get EU stamps anymore and a few other countries. I was in a rush last time so didn't order a larger one, might try for a concurrent one. So clearly not really a fan of the stamps but it's easy to say that when you have a filled passport. Others certainly like looking at it.