FCO Passport control

I’m not concerned. I went to Italy in October 2022 and did not get a passport stamp. I assumed the hotels I stayed in reported my presence to the police. I always carry my passport or a copy of it, plus I had proof of my hotel info available.

I went through immigration at FCO upon arrival 10-31-23 - passport was stamped right after using E-gates.

The stamp may now be a formality - an electronic record exists of you entering the country from the passport scan - that would hopefully serve as your declaration.

I wouldn't worry about it.

You do not need to be able to show proof this was done, just that it gets done. Your Hotel, and hopefully your AirBnB or other host, will do this, no need to worry.

It would be more of a concern if you were staying in a private home as a guest.

To my knowledge, the passport stamp never satisfied this requirement, your entry is recorded electronically now.

Markcw: That’s interesting that your passport was stamped after the electronic screening. Paul: the info on the State dept site did not make much sense to me either. I’ve decided not to worry about it. I’ll be staying at a hotel and have the hotel info with me.

I do think the old procedures need to catch up with the new electronic processing.

We entered Italy through FCO last month (May 12) and all of our passports were stamped by a person after we went through the electronic gates. (When I say all I mean everyone who was in the passport control line with us :)).

Carrie

@ Liz

My current experiences.

Left Melbourne, Aus 6th April 2024. Digital stamp only. New passport issued 5 months ago. No ink stamps at this point,

Transited Shanghai same day. Super modern airport. Digital stamp only. A son and family went through Shanghai 11th April and took the 72-hour visa free Transit option, tell me they received Digital only. Same thing for my BIL who two days before was there using the 144-hour visa free Transit option. My oldest son took a different route via Sri Lanka to meet us at CDG and is still going, currently in Japan. Do not know what ink stamps he got.

My passport was ink stamped 6th April 2024 on entry to CDG Paris and ink stamped next day exit via Eurostar to London. But not on entry to UK.

Exited UK through Gatwick, 12th April, no ink stamp. Into Italy FCO. Was ink stamped. Went into Slovenia, Austria, San Marino and Switzerland. Passport was checked a couple of times, but do not remember exactly. No ink stamps. In hindsight should have paid the small fee for the San Marino stamp.

Flew FCO to Frankfurt, 17th May, to transit to DTW. Ink stamped on exit at Frankfurt.

Arrived DTW 17th May, ink stamped with 14th Aug 2024 written in by hand. Been into and back from Canada a couple of times, no ink stamps but confidently think my passport was electronically stamped.

Have not had an ink stamp on exit or entry into Australia for, I think about 10 years, same for nearby NZ. I am typing near Harbour Springs/Petoskey, Michigan, so cannot physically check old passports.

Expect to get an exit ink stamp at ORD or LAX. But not at Sydney.

Maybe your State Department website is waiting to be updated?

Many countries grasp and embrace digital technology and other changes. My unscientific conclusion is that it depends on how old the political leadership and legislature of a country is. China being an exception.

Regards Ron

I'm going to Italy in October, so I did some research on this.

Coming from a non-Schengen country, you must get your passport stamped. (Request it if it's not done.) That serves as your declaration of presence.

aliens arriving from a non -Schengen country must report their presence to the border authorities and obtain a Schengen stamp in their travel document on the day of arrival. This stamp is considered the equivalent of the declaration of presence;

(This is from https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/entering-italy)

Non-EU visitors must obtain a stamp in their passport upon initial entry into a Schengen country. Many borders are unstaffed, so you may need to request a stamp at an official point of entry.

(From https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Italy.html)

Yes, Lane that is some of the info I was referring to. But if FCO is not going to stamp passports, what can you do? From other posters, it sounds like sometimes they stamp and sometimes they don’t. I also read the declaration of presence can be done at your hotel rather than a police station. I know hotels submit your passport info to the police but I was never given a copy of any form by hotels on a previous trip.

It seems obvious the rules on declaration of presence need to be updated for electronic passport processing at airports. If I can’t get a passport stamp, I’ll keep the boarding pass and hotel confirmation with me. The boarding pass should be enough to show I came through FCO.

I recently flew from Atlanta to FCO, arriving on May 9, 2024. In passport control, after I went through E-gates, my passport was stamped.

Thanks for all the replies from your recent experiences. l’ll let everyone know how it went when I return.