No entry stamp in Sydney?

Hi all,

I recently entered Sydney on a student e-visa using a non-biometric Indian passport. I was not stamped by the immigration officer, upon my asking she said that there is no need. Can I get a departure stamp when I leave Australia? I may need proof of travel for the future.

Secondly, maybe I'm being paranoid, but when I was clearing customs and was directed by the customs agent to a certain counter, I thought I was following the path to the counter but happened to just exit the customs zone to the outside. He didn't call me or anything - could this be an issue? The officer took my arrival card. I never meant to evade any checks...

Thanks,
Ansh

Last month when I left the UK for Oz, no-one wanted to see my passport. Neither at check-in or anywhere else...........

Weird....

Working bacwards they took your card and allowed you to exit without checking so no issues - when you entered they recorded this on computer system no need for stamp - this will not effect any future visits - when you leave this too will be recorded electronically. --- this is more and more the way of travel world wide

Notwithstanding all the clever e-wizardry, I still wish every Immigration officer in the world still had a little Mickey-Mouse stamp, saying :Landed in Ulaanbaatar, or whatever. And I also wish they were a bit more pleasant.

When are you going back to fess up to all that hashish you brought through?

Thanks for all your replies.

Is it possible though to request an exit stamp at Sydney airport while not using the egates?

Thanks.

If you don't ask, you won't know what they will do. You can request a record of your movements into and out of Australia. No guarantees this will be correct. One of my children had multiple entries into Australia but nothing leaving in between. And another had something similar but in reverse.

there seems to be some hidden agenda here - why are you obsessed with stamps in your passport? It is not the usual to have stamps anymore - the computer entries tracks your movements.

Some people just like to see all those stamps to remind them of where they have been, especially if they have a poor memory, a bit like collecting mail stamps and postcards which are becoming more and more a rarity.

Call it part of the romance of travelling if you like.

when I was clearing customs and was directed by the customs agent to a certain counter, I thought I was following the path to the counter but happened to just exit the customs zone to the outside.

This happens when you have indicated nothing on your landing card to warrant an inspection -- no foodstuffs, no plant material, no visits to yellow fever territories, no freshwater fishing/diving/skiing. The customs officials will direct you to the most efficient exit.

As the others have said, immigration stamps (and paper visas) are of little and declining importance at Australia borders and elsewhere. Computer records are easily checked and are less subject to tampering. A lack of entry or exit stamps will not affect your future travel.

Thanks for all your replies.

The reason I would like an exit stamp is to prove my stay in Australia to foreign governments, for example, when I apply for a visa for another country (such as a Schengen visa). I doubt they would be able to see my history of travel to Australia.

cheers,
Ansh

Big brother is not just a TV show ansh and it is for sure that even Vladimir will know when you are travelling to Europe, they likely to have noticed how easily you sauntered into Australia unnoticed so do not be too surprised if you find a nice looking blonde who strikes up a conversation with you which gets around to how beautiful St. Petersburg is.

mmm dont see how its relevant eg going to Schengen area they wouldnt care if you have been somewhere else in the world. I think you are worrying over nothing - dont stress just enjoy your travel :-)

gcn, unlike ainsh, we do not live on the planet where there might be closer scrutiny of where people might be travelling to, ie. it is only this month that Indians can apply for a visitor visa to here online ( possibly just due to to the huge increase in numbers applying and substantial time frames - maybe it'll be OK but then if overstays suddenly rise, something else could be happening other than a lot of Indians thinking the Chinese are about to invade ) , so ainsh's thinking is " see Euro border force, the Aussies let me in and I'm a good guy " , something us Aussies never really have to think about even if we have had some rowdy riff raff being poor ambasadors for us.

My most memorable stamps are my Thailand overstay ones. And they mean squiddly to anyone else.

My most memorable was a SH stamp from Malaysia in my first passport - SH stood for Suspected Hippie

Thanks for all the replies - travoyageur basically sums it up - travelling to first-world countries looks good for visas to other first-world countries.

#16, what a load of rubbish.Being granted a visa from one country is no guarantee you will get one for another.

Just as with MMR, looking good is quite different to a guarantee but it doesn't have too bad side effects.

The reason I would like an exit stamp is to prove my stay in Australia to foreign governments, for example, when I apply for a visa for another country (such as a Schengen visa). I doubt they would be able to see my history of travel to Australia.

If you have an e-passport (and probably even if not), basically Immigration Officer in most parts of the world can see you travel history - it is all stored electronically - and i provided by Immigration in other countries, or airlines, or cruise ships.

While it i true that having certain stamps in your passport can result in a very negative experience (on terrorism, health, or political grounds), having certain "respectable" countries in your passport will never amount to much in a positive way.

As noted above - Immigration official have the rules they go by - they are not going to be impressed by a stamp from Australia, or any other high-wealth Western country.

Exactly, I never said it's a guarantee. It may be surprising to some but it is common knowledge to millions of visa applicants, consular officials etc worldwide. Again, citizens of poor countries can understand better...

A wealthy country like France for example is concerned with illegal immigration of people from India and so on when they apply for a visa. So if a French consular official sees that I, an Indian, have travel history from, say, Australia and the U.S. and have not overstayed my visas in those countries, he can be a little more confident that I won't overstay in France. The US and Australia also have strict visa conditions so just having been issued a visa from these countries says something - which is why many countries exempt visas if you hold a visa from another country.

I defer to your experience - coming from a "respectable" Western nation, I have no knowledge of being suspected or rejected, or even looked at sideways.

Although for my first couple of passports (1973 onwards), we were not allowed to visit North Vietnam ... we were at war, so I guess that's quite understandable.

Even little old tin pot NZ is concerned about visa applications from Indians. And you can bet that visas from other countries won't hold much sway with our Immigration service.

Not sure who would drive all the taxis in Melbourne if we didn't let the Punjabi in ... they certainly dominate that demographic. Which is neat because we can talk about cricket.

Me personally still find it suss OP wants stamps - never heard its relevant to have an Oz stamp some how helps getting into somewhere else. Sure probably having a Libian or Syrian stamp as examples may be in certain places a negative.

Me personally still find it suss OP wants stamps

I think that's rather an insult of one of our well-known brethren (and who has clearly explained his reasons) ... I would like a stamp too ... am I suss?

This is clearly a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted. Why not just ask at time of entry you would like a stamp. But it won't open doors. I am with gcnxxxx.

No need to heap poop on a regular though ... take it easy.

I entered two visa exempt countries in the last five weeks and got stamps both times. Without even asking. And one of those countries has done away with Arrival cards.

The plural of anecdote however is not data.

" This is clearly a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted. "

Seems as though I kind of missed the afternoon Calgary Stampede, lots of stamping there possible too.

Like a few double Wows and even more wows!

My grandfather was a Stamp. Came from Gympie.

Gympie is the redneck, flat-earther capital of the country. This explains rather a lot.

Aha, so you're a stampergrandie eh!, kind of got stamped from woods to the west?

Aha, so you're a stampergrandie eh!, kind of got stamped from woods to the west?

I think I give up.

Yup - should have asked for it on entry - I didn't expect not to be stamped and was caught off-guard when the immigration officer just quickly looked at her screen and my passport front cover and handed it back almost immediately. I will try to have a greater presence of mind on departure...

Anyways just to be clearer - I study in the U.S. and when applying for a Schengen visa for example from there, the consulates care nearly as much as the U.S. government that I am a law-abiding student there. So if they see from my passport that I didn't return for a semester, and cannot see from my passport that I actually spent that semester in Australia, I would have some explaining to do.

If indeed they share some sort of information, that's great. If not, well, I am not doing anything illegal and happy to explain if asked but would like to avoid that situation.

You may think I'm being paranoid. That's fair. But I try to avoid visa rejections to keep my slate clean. When I applied for a Schengen visa from the U.S. last year, I carried 4 folders stuffed with documents. If that's the price of peace of mind, so be it.

#34, my maidn name was just plain Wes. But I'll tell you something not quite strange. My sisters married name is the same as the last bit of mine. Mine just has three more letters. She wasc married more than 15 years before me.

#36,just reread what you originally wrote. You said you asked and were told " no need for stamp". No one here works for Immigration and can tell you different.

#16, what a load of rubbish.Being granted a visa from one country is no guarantee you will get one for another.

Stick to your knitting, @westwood. A number of Balkan countries, especially those that have recent EU status but are not yet part of the Schengen scheme, have made a point of accepting a current Schengen visa in lieu of a specific country visa. In other situations, visa applicants from countries regarded as 'high risk' can bolster their likelihood of success if they can demontrate travel and return according to the terms specified in visas already held.

If indeed they share some sort of information, that's great. If not, well, I am not doing anything illegal and happy to explain if asked but would like to avoid that situation.

Apart from Schengen countries, which of necessity use a common tracking system, the immigration authorities across other countries do not routinely share information about entries and exits. Why would they?

In this thread there is a lot of nonsensical speculation asserted as fact. Most posters in this branch do not have knowledge of the visa and immigration processes beyond the narrow and predictable range of destinations they favour.

@ansh_jain_97 -- given your ambition for global conquest you were correct to be concerned about the lack of a stamp upon arrival. Certainly ask for one when you exit, but be ready to explain why. If you want something more substantial you can ask for a copy of your movement records, but this will take some time. Finding someone qualified to certify copies of documents can also be a chore.

• https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1359.pdf

Sod off.

Apart from Schengen countries, which of necessity use a common tracking system, the immigration authorities across other countries do not routinely share information about entries and exits. Why would they?

This may be rather under-estimating the degree to which today's immigration and border security | anti-terrorist authorities share information, and can access common databases. Some years ago I printed out my travel history just for fun, and it was remarkably detailed (if not quite complete).

How do you print out your travel history?

A month ago I rang up Centrelink to ask them something and I said I arrived back in Oz on xxx. They said it was the day before xxx, which was correct. It frightens you a bit, how much info the govt has on you..........

How do you print out your travel history?

I have no idea ... in the sense that I have quite forgotten. In fact I can't even recall whether it was via the US Government of the Australian. US perhaps.

Limited to the last five years I think.

If they want to check your bag, they would take hold of your passport.
They would not let you keep hold of it.
I just came back from NZ yesterday via MEL, and also they didn't want to have a look at my stuff.
Mind you, I have been asked aside before, and the will take your passport off you, if they want to do that.
If they just point you to an exit, than your lucky stars.
You can ask for an exit stamp, they will probably make a bit of a fuss, they would probably do it, but they might not.
All the groups you deal with, ie, banks etc, have access to a thing called VEVO, and if you want to work in Aust for 20 hours a week, or more during longer holidays, the people who pay you can check you via VEVO.
When you leave Aust, either for holidays back to India or NZ or anywhere, you don't fill in a OPC anymore, outgoing passenger card!
Call it progress, call it authorisation, call it magic, but its all electronic.
If you didn't use egate, and you went to a counter when you first entered Aust, your passport and data info is on computers. Each entry and departure is on computers.
You can as Westwood says, ask for a copy of it.

Raki me old chook mate, contact the ABF and ask.

My last blah, sorry OP, I was so shocked.
I came down the ramp at MEL int airport, from Auckland NZ, already used the Smartgate to print out that little receipt, and had filled in the IPC, and sheepishly asked which one they needed, thought I was going to get anal checked!
But nope, he just took the 2 pieces of paper from me and that was it.

It has been over 16 years since my daughter got her Australian passenger movements. She needed it for Centre link( though they weren't called it back then) to prove she had lived in Australia for 104 weeks. And of course, her record was missing the departure a week before she turned two. They had to accept the date I gave them as there was no proving otherwise. Maybe they are better at keeping movement records now.

All these kiwis pour into God's Best Little Country, and head straight to Centrelink to feed at our trough of human kindness ... how else can they acquire yet more tatts and recreational pharmaceuticals?

Don't worry about it, that's normal. And I am sure if you ask, they will stamp you on exit. My kids used to ask all around the world if they didn't get a stamp, and every security officer smiled and complied.

" Maybe they are better at keeping movement records now. "
Well, with scanners at all sorts of portals to get exit and entry data, so they should be and perhaps it could be used for health analysis.

Ah, but times are a changing and have been for quite some time - https://www.border.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/17nz

" I just came back from NZ yesterday via MEL, and also they didn't want to have a look at my stuff. "

Julie has her stare or more a glare to dare and I suppose a certain snarl would do something too!

Actually, they are Australian and always have been. Just as entitled to anything you are.

That's cool but things are different for kiwis with only kiwi citizenship now coming over and just in case they have kiwi citizenship and are thinking of politics at the federal level, just remind them not to do a Scotty!

Now in their 30s and both living in Australia, neither has or has had any interest in taking out NZ citizenship. But both are NZ residents by descent.

" Maybe they are better at keeping movement records now. "
Well, with scanners at all sorts of portals to get exit and entry data, so they should be and perhaps it could be used for health analysis.

After you turn 50 the government becomes interested in your movements. They send everybody a kit in the mail so they can analyse their exit data

Same here. I just came back from sydney and after having checked my passport I was quite surprised bcuz there was no entry/exit stamp on it. This was confusing bcuz the last time I traveled to melbourne i got stamped. Anyway, I think Aus government now has a new policy on immigration/tourism to boost the efficiency of the airport so they cut down the stamping process, but your traveling history will be recorded on computer and your data can be accessible if any foreign government has an intention to check the authenticity of your future visa applications. So don't worry.

And from my personal experience, having been able to fulfill the visa requirements of any commonwealth country in the past does stand you a higher chance of successfully applying for other countries' visas.

A month ago I rang up Centrelink to ask them something and I said I arrived back in Oz on xxx. They said it was the day before xxx, which was correct. It frightens you a bit, how much info the govt has on you..........

Raki - their computers talk to each other - have to keep a check on those who leave the country while receiving benefits and cancel payments if need be. The ATO's computers also talk with Centrelink for similar reasons.

If you have an e-passport (and probably even if not), basically Immigration Officer** in most parts of the world can see you travel history**

Most Schengen countries don't record this electronically, and certainly not in a Schengen-wide registry. Some member states do record entries and exits of non-EU/EFTA nationals, but only for their own use

Apart from Schengen countries, which of necessity use a common tracking System.

Sorry, but that is rubbish

So, just to report back - I managed to get an exit stamp. The officer didn't seem too pleased about it and just slammed the stamp while I held open my passport.

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