The EU switched off passport stamping in April 2026, but Japan, Thailand, India and most of Africa still ink every arrival.

Entry & Exit Stamp Practice — 44 Countries & Territories

Click a column header to sort; hover a header for what it means. Scroll right for the system, notes and source.

Who Still Stamps, By Region

Each bar is the sampled countries in that region, split into three buckets. The accent segment is countries that still ink a stamp by default; grey is e-gate or on-request; light grey is no stamp at all. Hover a segment for its count.

Sources

1. Entry/Exit System (EES) overviewEuropean Commission“As of 10 April 2026, the EES replaces the stamping of passports”, operating across 29 European countries; Cyprus and Ireland excluded. Covers Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Netherlands and Cyprus rows.
2. EES fully operational (10 April 2026)European Commission“Passport stamps are being replaced with digital records of entries and exits of non-EU nationals”
3. EES goes live on 10 April 2026France DiplomatieConfirms EES replaces manual stamping with a facial image and fingerprints (except under-12s)
4. Entry/Exit System guidance for UK travellersGOV.UK“EES registration is replacing the current system of manually stamping passports when visitors arrive in the EU”
5. Ireland entry requirementsThings To Do In IrelandIreland is outside Schengen and EES; non-EU visitors are stamped, EU/EEA use e-gates. Official irishimmigration.ie blocked automated fetch.
6. Faster travel through the UK borderGOV.UKe-Gate users get no stamp; see a Border Force officer for one
7. Going digital: CBP eliminates passport entry stampsLewis Rice (citing CBP)CBP phasing out ink entry stamps; entry recorded on electronic I-94. cbp.gov blocked automated fetch.
8. Primary Inspection KiosksCBSAEntry recorded electronically at kiosks; stamp is discretionary
9. Mexico phasing out paper FMM permitsMexperienceDigital FMM at major airports; officer still stamps entry and writes permitted days
10. SmartGate (Australia)WikipediaAustralia no longer stamps as a matter of course; ask an officer for evidence. abf.gov.au blocked automated fetch.
11. Removal of passport stamps for NZ/AU residentsImmigration New ZealandSince 2018 no stamp for residents; temporary-visa holders still stamped at the counter
12. Use of automated gatesJapan Ministry of JusticeFace gates skip the landing-permission stamp; travellers may ask an officer for one
13. Korea Smart Entry Service explainedChasing the ChungsSES gates and counters leave no ink mark by default; no reachable hikorea.go.kr page
14. China e-Channel eligibilityGlobal From AsiaOrdinary visitors get inked stamps; e-Channel limited to residents and permit holders
15. Non-stamping immigration clearanceHK Immigration DepartmentPaper landing slip instead of a stamp since 2013
16. Immigration clearance FAQsMacao SAR GovernmentPrinted stay-authorisation slip since 2013; no stamp
17. Automated e-Gate serviceTaiwan National Immigration AgencyCounters stamp by default; e-Gate skips it, a stamp can be requested
18. ICA ceased ink endorsements, rolls out e-PassICA SingaporeInk endorsements ended at all checkpoints March 2022; electronic e-Pass issued
19. Thailand visa & entryThailand HighlightsInk entry stamp shows the leave-by date; TDAC digital card is a separate pre-arrival form
20. Vietnam passport stamp on arrivalVietnam-EvisaPhysical stamp applied on arrival even with an e-visa
21. Cambodia e-Arrival cardASEAN Angkor GuideDigital arrival card does not replace the physical entry stamp
22. Indonesia autogate open to foreignersBali Business ConsultingBali autogates (2024) issue a digital stay permit and no stamp; counters still stamp
23. Malaysia entry requirements 2026HiPower VenturesAutogate for 10 nationalities gives no stamp; first use needs a manual-counter check
24. PH Immigration discontinues stickers for e-gate usersBureau of Immigration PhilippinesArrival sticker replaced by emailed e-pass (2024); stamp available on request
25. India e-Visa arrival procedureGovernment of Indiae-Visa is stamped onto the passport at the Immigration Check Post
26. Dubai activates 122 biometric smart gatesVisaHQSmart gates clear travellers in about five seconds with no stamp
27. Qatar expands biometric e-gates at Hamad AirportTravel And Tour WorldPassport scan plus facial verification, no officer stamp
28. Electronic passport gates at Saudi airportsSaudi Press Agency152 e-gates skip the stamp; visa-on-arrival visitors still get a counter stamp
29. Israel entry requirementsGOV.UK“Visitors entering via Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport get an entry card instead of an entry stamp”
30. Turkey entry requirementsUS Passport Service GuideEntry and exit stamps still applied at manned desks, even with an e-visa
31. Jordan visa requirements 2026Amman Airport TransferEntry stamp at Queen Alia airport, including for Jordan Pass holders
32. Egypt pilots digital visa-on-arrivalTravel Market ReportDigital QR visa from Aug 2026, but the paper sticker and entry stamp remain during the pilot
33. Navigating Morocco airport customsMyVisitMoroccoEntry and exit stamps applied; first entry adds a CIN ID number
34. South Africa introduces new entry/exit stampsBlack Pen ImmigrationNew BMA Big Five ink stamps at all ports of entry from 1 Aug 2025
35. Kenya eTA general informationGovernment of KenyaVisa-free eTA since 2024; passport must hold blank pages for entry and exit stamps
36. Argentina stops placing entry/exit stampsBuenos Aires ExpatsMigraciones records entries digitally with a photo and fingerprint; no rubber stamp. No reachable official Migraciones page.
37. Brazil entry requirementsThings To Do In BrazilPolicia Federal stamps every passport at international gates
38. Peru eliminates passport stampingInbound PeruAirport stamping ended May 2023 (Resolution 00119-2023); virtual TAM record instead
39. What is the PDI tourist card in ChileThe Way Away TravelerPassport stamp plus a paper PDI Tarjeta de Turismo at entry
40. BioMig Colombia explainedColombia CheckMigTourist stamp at counters; BioMig autogate (Bogota, exit-only for visitors) skips the stamp
41. Arriving at SJO airport in Costa RicaTwo Weeks in Costa RicaEntry stamp with permitted days written in pen; sometimes omitted, request it

Method

Each row was researched by pairing the country with terms like ‘passport stamp’, ‘entry stamp’, ‘e-gate’ and ‘immigration’ via web search, then fetching the actual page before recording anything. Official border-agency and government pages were preferred and were reachable for the EU EES (European Commission, France Diplomatie), the UK (GOV.UK), Canada (CBSA), New Zealand (Immigration NZ), Hong Kong (Immigration Department), Macau (SAR Government), Taiwan (National Immigration Agency), Singapore (ICA), the Philippines (Bureau of Immigration), India, Kenya, Saudi Arabia (Saudi Press Agency) and Israel (via GOV.UK travel advice). Where a government site blocked automated fetching — US CBP, Australia’s ABF, Ireland’s immigration service, Japan’s MOJ and several others returned 403/404 to the crawler — a reputable secondary source reporting the same practice was used instead, and those rows carry a leading ~ in the Notes. Status was classed into three buckets for the chart: still ink-stamps by default, e-gate or on-request (a stamp is skipped by the automated lane but available at a counter), and no stamp at all (fully electronic, a paper slip, or EES biometric registration). Countries with a split practice were placed by their default channel for a first-time foreign visitor.

Gaps

This is a 44-country sample chosen to cover the major storylines and every inhabited continent, not all of the world’s roughly 190 nations, so the chart’s regional totals reflect what was sampled rather than a census. Rows resting on a single reputable secondary source rather than a reachable official page — flagged with ~ — are Ireland, Cyprus, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, China, Thailand, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica; their broad practice is well established but a primary border-agency confirmation was not machine-retrievable. Exit-stamp practice is genuinely hard to confirm for Mexico and Costa Rica and is left as an em dash rather than guessed. The EU EES rows are all attributed to the pan-EU rules (European Commission / France Diplomatie); per-country e-gate hardware and biometric-kiosk specifics for Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands were not separately fetched, as the stamping rule is uniform across all 29 EES countries. Split-practice countries (the e-gate versus counter cases, and land versus airport differences noted for Israel, Peru and Argentina) are simplified to one status for the chart; the Notes column carries the caveat for each.