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I have a question about having not been stamped in my passport at the US border. I am a non US citizen and arrived to JFK airport last year with a B1/B2 type visa. A woman officer standing at the lines asked me where I was from and then told me to use the APC machine.

So after filling all the steps at the APC machine a white little paper with my photo and info was printed which I gave to the officer who was standing thereby. He did not even look at my passport or the paper I gave to him and just let me in to the baggage claim.

I was so confused cause I knew for sure I needed a stamp in my passport, that's why I returned back to the same officer and re-asked if I needed a stamp. On this he started kidding me like "GO GO HOME GIRL" and smiling (meaning that I did not need tge stamp). So what else should I have done? I collected my baggage. After that I'm still confused and nervous about the fact that I don't have an entry stamp. How do you think will I have any problems when I travel to US again while entering

nknk
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    I already have been in US and my passport was not stamped. I have been there after this and I never had issue – Marcel P. Jan 27 '20 at 12:53
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    Assume that an electronic entry was noted and when leaving the same will happen. Therefore there should be no problem. In the future this will become more commonplace in the world. – Mark Johnson Jan 27 '20 at 13:13
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    Why do you think you need a stamp? – phoog Jan 27 '20 at 13:14
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    @phoog It used to be at least the way things were done, if not a requirement, for quite a long time... Things have now changed, but not so long ago it would indeed have been weird not to have a stamp... – jcaron Jan 27 '20 at 14:19
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    @jcaron perhaps, but in the face of an officer saying that a stamp is not necessary, statements like "I knew for sure I needed a stamp in my passport" and "that was concretely the fault of the officers" could use some justification. – phoog Jan 27 '20 at 14:42
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    IIRC there are some countries (france springs to mind) where the border control are known for being lax about stamping passports, then blaming the passenger for their own laxness later. So I think it's reasonable for a passenger to be concerned when they were expecting a stamp and the border gaurd refused to provide one. – Peter Green Jan 27 '20 at 23:56
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    @phoog: From the OP's viewpoint, the question is not whether they believe the border control officers, it's whether any US police etc. officers they may encounter during their trip (or the new border officers they'll encounter on their next trip) will believe them when they say that they were told they didn't need a stamp. If the OP wasn't aware of digital entry records, it would be perfectly reasonable for them to assume that they most likely wouldn't. – Ilmari Karonen Jan 28 '20 at 00:14
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    @IlmariKaronen while the latter point is an important consideration, the OP explicitly raised the first point by (incorrectly) saying "I knew for sure I needed a stamp in my passport" and "that was concretely the fault of the officers." Given that officers charged with enforcing the law say something inconsistent with my understanding of the law, my first reaction would be to ask whether they were correct rather than what I could have done to convince them that they were incorrect. So it seemed reasonable to wonder whether OP had some additional reason to think that, which is why I asked. – phoog Jan 28 '20 at 00:15
  • @jcaron Weird, but in the 70s we entered West Germany without a stamp--nobody cared on exit. In the 80s we both entered and exited Singapore without our passports even being opened. – Loren Pechtel Jan 28 '20 at 02:55
  • Fascinating, because when I've used APC (admittedly my last visit was in 2016) I've still been interviewed about the purpose of my trip, what I do at home etc. They've then stamped my passport and the APC receipt. So the only differences in practice were shorter queues, not having to fill out the blue customs form, and doing the fingerprinting+photo at the kiosk rather than at the booth. – Crazydre Jan 28 '20 at 03:26
  • @PeterGreen That used to happen in Yugoslavia as well, many, many years ago. There was a period when border officers mistakenly thought you didn't need a stamp, while you did. Lots of trouble was possible if you didn't insist on a stamp anyway. – Mast Jan 28 '20 at 07:05

3 Answers3

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The USA (as well as many other countries) are moving away from passport stamps to digital entry records.

You can look up your USA entry record here: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/

It will tell you when you entered, how long you were granted entry until, what status, and when you left. It’s good to occasionally check to ensure it’s correct.

For other countries, you can usually find the government database by googling “countryname entry record”. For Canada such a search yields: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/thr-rav-eng.html

Sometimes you need a physical entry stamp even when its become optional at the airport. For example, Japan has moved to electronic passport entry but visitors still need the visitors passport stamp for JR Rail Passes and duty free. There’s a secondary station at immigration in japan where you can request a stamp but it’s an extra step. For Canada, for example, I’ve had to ask for a stamp even at a manned booth. If you really need a stamp, then ask the officer when he or she still has the passport in his hands as it becomes difficult for them once they clear the screen for the next visitor.

T.J.L.
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RoboKaren
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So what else should I have done?

Trusted that the officers were correct, or asked to speak to a supervisor who might have been able to explain the system in more detail and with more seriousness than you seem to have gotten from the officer.

How do you think will I have any problems when I travel to US again while entering[?]

As amply explained elsewhere, you will not.

phoog
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Given that the entry stamp has some value to landlords and small shops who do not pay staff to keep up on immigration changes, I would have asked them to do the formality of the stamp, framing it as a souvenir of your travels. Entry officers may do this as a courtesy if asked.

If you happen to live near a land border with Canada, the border is festooned with sleepy little border crossings where a state highway meets a provincial road. An officer there might be more inclined to indulge a vanity request for a paper stamp. Just don't go too small, or you may face a TV camera instead of an officer.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • You definitely won't get a stamp when you enter the Northwest Angle. Offhand I can't think of anywhere else along the US-Canada land border that the crossing isn't simply closed when unstaffed. – Michael Hampton Jan 29 '20 at 00:04