"Rogue state" stamps and entry to US.

Hey there.

I wonder if any Europeans have experiences with travelling to the USA on a passport with several stamps from Iran and Syria. Could it pose any problems?

I'm Canadian and have a passport full of Arabic stamps. I drive down to the US often and have no problems. I did have a little trouble when I flew from Venezuela to Miami but on that route you almost expect it. I doubt very much you will be questioned at all.

As #1 indicates it may have more to do with what airport you arrive at than with what stamps you have. The only time I got questioned about Syria was coming in to Dallas (my usual port of arrival is JFK). The guy wouldn't believe that someone would go to Syria for tourism.

CK

I have Iranian stamps on my passport(Turkish) and I have never experienced any difficulties while entering the US.

I was quizzed pretty hard in Miami about my (at the time, unused) Syrian visa. With the odd exception, most American immigration officials seem to have a pretty hard time understanding the whole concept of travelling outside Europe and N. America, let alone to anywhere that might be considered more adventurous. A couple of times I've been asked some fairly probing questions about stamps from places as seemingly innocuous as Brazil and South Africa. Looking forward to explaining my Istanbul to Khartoum stamps in a month or so...

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Hi,

I am not a European but I have seen and read many postings by European passport holders on LP Iran Forum (and also the Middle East Forum in general) over the last year, asking the same question that you have above. I do not remember even one person (reply) mentioning the fact that he or she had been denied entry to the US just for having visited Iran or Syria. So DO NOT be concerned. Take care. Good luck.

I ntered JFK with Iranian and Pakistani stamps last year - the guy I was dealing with was of Pakistani origin, and spent about 1 minutes asking me about all the places I'd been to, purely out of interest...

I have a UK passport, issued in Dubai and almost entirely filled with middle east / north african stamps. On my last visit to the US, flying into Miami, the ones I was particularly worried about were the multiple Libyan visas which are written entirely in arabic. I filled in the entry form, stating my full time address and residency in the UAE, and the pasport / immigration officer verbally announced that she assumed that the arabic visa stamps (Libyan) were my residency stamps. I smiled, nodded, and moved on through.

In Amsterdam everybody on the plane to the US (Washington DC) got interviewed and I got extra questions because of the stamps in my passport (West Africa and Syria / Lebanon). In the US nobody cared about the stamps in my passport.

Dear all,

Thank you for good, and reassuring, comments.