Question about having a photocopy of your passport/visa page

My experience is that upon arrival in a country, as you go through immigration, you will need your original passport, not a photocopy, to present to the official.

What hotel would your passport be in on arrival?
No, you need to show authorities your actual passport.

If you mean stamp both real and photocopy, I doubt it, but I keep my passport on my person.

Sorry for being unclear everyone. I meant stamp your photocopy IN ADDITION TO stamping your passport visa page.

This was recommended on Wikitravel:

"If you don't like carrying your actual passport on you, make sure you have a copy of your passport AND a copy of the stamp showing the date you entered"

I believe that your quoted statement refers to MAKING a photocopy (in the business center of your hotel ???) of the entry stamp. There is NO CHANCE that the airport official will make a second stamp for you on some scrap of paper. It's an obvious invitation to fraud (from his point of view. Not slamming you, the OP.) However, I have never had anyone show the least interest in that aspect of my passport - except at the airport upon departure. And some EU countries know about the most likely countries to have poorly inked entry stamps! So they aren't always fussy about reading every detail of the entry stamp.

If you use the Search box, you can find plenty of people here who don't recommend carrying a photocopy instead of the original passport. But I've been to Europe at least 50 times, and I normally only carry around a photocopy that I made at home before leaving. I might carry the actual passport in an authoritarian country, or a country where I think I might meet very unsophisticated officials with little command of "tourist English."

I think it is way overkill to carry around a photo of your entry stamp anywhere in Europe. The chances of the average tourist ending up in the middle of some border force immigration raid are almost 0%.

The rules might be different in Russia or Belarus.

Actually the rules, if anyone cares, are different in Belgium and I believe every country of the old Eastern Bloc. In these places the rule is you must carry your passport on you at all times. Will they haul you off to a KGB prison if you dont? Doubt it. But you asked what the rule was.

In over 20 years of traveling to Europe I have had my passport checked once within the EU and at every non-EU border crossing. I also needed it once to change some old bills for new ones at a bank. So twice in all this time. Still, i follow the rules and carry my passport about 90% of the time.

AND I have a copy on my phone and a printed copy in the luggage as well as a reasonable facsimile tattooed on my left uu

No, they will not stamp anything other than your actual passport.

A copy of the stamp proves nothing other than you have copied someone's stamp. The only official document is your passport.

If someone official needs to see your passport, only your passport will do.

@Tim

I believe that your quoted statement refers to MAKING a photocopy (in
the business center of your hotel ???) of the entry stamp.

Right, I was unclear about what the statement was recommending; to make a copy before entry or after?

I normally only carry around a photocopy that I made at home before
leaving.

This is what I was assuming. So, you carry around a photo copy of just the information page?

After I have entered a country (or the EU), and checked into my hotel, I only carry around a photocopy of the photo page of my passport that I made at home before I left. As I said, in an authoritarian country, I might carry my real passport. I took my real passport to the Bundestag in Berlin last year because I knew I could not get into the tour without it. You have to pay attention!

I have received Senior discounts with the photocopy, and I have left the photocopy as security for audioguides. (I offered plastic cards, but the counter people much preferred the photocopy, I guess so they couldn't be accused of copying my credit card number or something like that.)

Wikitravel and Wikipedia are only as good as the amateur editors who write there. They don't have some sort of divine Imprimatur! My Professor brother refers to the latter as "The Source Of All Wisdom." (Disclosure: I have edited Wikipedia articles.)

Some people carry photocopies of their passport so the original can’t get stolen. I carry the original and have a photocopy in case it does get stolen and I need proof to get a new one. Other than passport control upon arrival and departure, and the hotel when checking in, nobody should ask you for it.

I can think of two countries that stamp a piece of paper instead of the passport proper- Cuba (for USA citizens in some circumstances) and Israel- and the reasons for that there are not relevant in a European context.

Some peeps put their original passport in a money belt or a neck wallet. If you are traveling solo, it is a good idea to have your passport on you. What if you fall ill and are unable to communicate your identity or any health issues or allergies, etc?

Having your passport (or a copy if you really prefer) on your person is vital. I also have an index card within my passport with name of my doc and pertinent medical info for an emergency. If I need to have meds or surgery, I want them to act fast and not wonder.

Another important thing for me is: If there is some emergency in the city/town or country and there is an evac situation, it may not be possible to return to the hotel. I don't mind carrying it. I consider my Passport my lifeline just like my Driver's License.

I hand over my passport at immigration, but not the copy. Upon arrival, I keep my passport in the hotel and carry the copy on person. I only carry the passport with me when it is needed, such as when purchasing a SIM card in some countries.

If I should be asked by a local authority to identify myself, I would show them the copy. If they are unsatisfied, I would tell them my passport is at the hotel. In 30+ years of travel, I have never encounter such a situation.

I used to carry a hard copy made at home prior to departure. Now, in addition to a hard copy, I take a photo of the passport and keep it on my phone that I carry with me all the time. The hard copy stays with the passport at the hotel, as a backup.

..... nobody should ask you for it. ..... That is not completely accurate. Maybe the operative word is "should" but you can be ask to show your passport at random and without justification. US procedures and customs do not apply equally in Europe. In 20+ years of travel through out Europe and other areas we have been asked unexpectedly three times to show a passport. I doubt if a copy would have been acceptable. Once we were on a day trip in a small bus tour on a small country road and we hit a road block. The tour guide seemed perplexed, a little nervous, and after a brief discussion with the officers came back on board to announce that they want to see all passports. One heavily armed and stern faced officer came through the bus slowly checking each passport. As we pulled away, the guide shook her head and said she had no idea what that was about. Another time we were in transit on a bus when four squad cars with flashing lights directed the bus onto a small side road. It was double decked bus and we were on the lower level. The officers can through simply saying Passport, passport. Someone on the upper level was removed and we were on our way.

Give me a copy machine, handful of passport photos and one passport and I can produce a handful of authentic looking copies of a passport.

Just because you have never had a problem leaving your passport in a hotel safe or never been asked to show it, doesn't mean it cannot happen. My simple question ---- Better to have it and not need it or need it and not have it ? For me, the simple answer is that I always have it.

Frank, A question: in Belgium your are having a wonderful meal at a little sidewalk cafe and a bomb goes off a block away. The authorities start checking identification. In Belgium tourist are required to carry their passports but you tell them, here is my photo copy. Not good enough says the police officer, so you try the photo on your cell phone. There is chaos around you and the officer is getting pisssed. PASSPORT! You respond, just let me run back to my hotel and get the original. Where do you end up spending the night?

In most of Western Europe it is not a requirement that you carry it. Still, there could be situations where you had wished you had it with you. In most of Eastern Europe it IS a requirement that you carry it and depending on the situation you might really regret not having it.

Don't get me wrong. I spend a lot of time in one particular Eastern European city and I get lazy about half the time. But I'm not kidding myself, I know the potential result and I won't blame anyone but myself if there is an issue. I also have a support network there to bail me out if needed. In Western Europe I am better about carrying it because I don't trust hotel safes. I own a couple and just out of curiosity I try the keys on the safes where ever I stay. Out of maybe 30 tries one of my keys has only worked once. I also noticed a key ring carried by a maid in Paris one year had safe keys hanging on it. The safes are only as safe as the procedures of the hotel.

I wonder how accommodating US authorities would be if a foreign tourist was stopped and asked to show ID and all they produced was a crumpled photocopy of their passport?

Or a Bulgarian driver's license.

Bulgarian driver's license.

Not uncommon where I live because a lot of Bulgarian (and Russian and Serbian and Brazilian and Ukranian...) college kids spend summers here working on legit H-2B visas because it lets them earn more money than they would back home and really get their English language skills dialed in.

Of course Your Local Area May Vary

I've seen it recommended for some countries to carry a photocopy of
your passport and visa page while leaving your passport in your room.

We would never recommend leaving your passport in your hotel room. Always have it on you. Making photocopies is a smart idea both to leave at home with a friend or loved one as well as keep in your wallet or perhaps in your luggage with your underwear.

Yup Selkie, much different here. 90 days is the limit on a Bulgarian driver's license, then only if you an English language International permit. Most of our college kids take more than 90 days to finish a semester and very few of them are able to get around with out a car.

But somehow they get by without breaking the law. My little 29 person firm has 9 foreign nationals employed. They all carry US Identification papers.....

AND, I did a quick check. Foreign Nationals are required to carry their documents at all times in the US. For a tourist that means a Passport. For the students you mention that means their student visa and passport, or green card if they have one,

AND, I did a quick check. Foreign Nationals are required to carry their documents at all times in the US.

The ones that work at the water park often walk or bike to work in their uniform swimsuit, and are definitely not carrying the papers with them at that point.

Ahhhhh, now we are changing the subject to "if its inconvenient do i need to obey the law" and that ties well to the Tourists in parts of Europe who also choose convenience over legality.. Me too at times to be honest. But if i were ever caught, and i doubt that will happen, i would smile as I paid the penalty.

On cruises when we are in a port for a day, we only take our passports with us if the cruise line advises us to do so. Otherwise we take a photocopy of our passport.

In some European cities, pickpockets are a huge risk, even taking proper precautions. Cities that are high risk are BARCELONA, Madrid, Rome, Paris and Athens.

On lengthy land trips an on a bus tour or driving a rental car, of course, we have our passports with us, except once we get to a hotel or B&B, we lock them up in the room safe.

I normally carry my passport. One time I wasn't carrying my passport and stopped at a pharmacy for something for heartburn. They wanted my passport but ended up being happy with a photo on my phone. I don't know if a photo of your immigration stamp helps, because it's not necessarily tied to your passport (not sure how you could take a photo to document both together?).

If you want to buy a local SIM card (I'm speaking of Europe), the shop will (almost?) always ask you for your passport.

Can you let us know what countries you are traveling to? I am curious as to why it was recommended that for "some countries" to carry a photocopy and not others. Corrupt officials? Theft? I guess I do it a bit backwards in that I always carry my original passport on my body, and have a photocopy in my suitcase back at the hotel room. The photocopy is the one I made back home with just the identification/picture page. I prefer to have the original identifying documentation on my person not only because it is the requirement of that country, but also because I am a naturalized citizen and having the protection of my passport gives a sense of relief (perhaps irrational, but works for me).

@Maryam Yes, actually I'm going to Costa Rica (not "General Europe" but I figured I'd get more replies here). I've read that petty theft of belongings can be an issue. I'd like to be able to do things like swimming without worrying about my passport.

The only reason I have a copy of my passport is to make it easier if it needs to be replaced. It seems to me that if some authority wants to see a passport, he/she is not going to be satisfied with a copy. I typically do not carry the passport with me when I'm out sightseeing. I probably should, but I lose things. One exception is when in Switzerland, the train personnel require a passport when using a swiss pass. Another might be specific to a particular country. A few years back when I went to Hungary, I was told it might be best to carry it.

The last time i checked, carrying a passport was required in all the old soviet bloc countries and Belgium. You know, in a lot of countries carrying a state issued is a requirement. Don't know why less from a tourist would be an exception. And if something were to go boom! and you got caught up in it, i doubt a paper copy would suffice. Now that's the literal advice. In reality I don't always carry mine in Hungary. I also keep a paper copy in the luggage and a photo on my cell phone; just so i have the number to make it easier to replace if the need should occur. But the idea that any authority would accept a paper copy of the passport and a separate paper copy of a stamp I find to be a bit far fetched..

Thanks for the clarification, and yes, it seems reasonable that if you are engaging in an activity that would leave your passport vulnerable (e.g., swimming), then certainly consider leaving it behind in your hotel room for the duration of that activity. Otherwise, I would securely carry it with me in a money belt and leave a copy behind in my room in case a replacement is needed (if I'm needing to replace my passport while abroad, then that means my pants have been stolen off of me which I suppose can happen). I also carry a passport picture with me in my suitcase with the copy since you always get extras at CVS.

OOh! Great idea to carry the extra passport pic.

AND, always carry extra pants just in case they disappear with the passport.