Can I write notes in my passport?

2/18/2017 7:43:12 AM

The simple answer is NO. My own PRC biometric passport contains a notice which says that “…(this passport) shall not be altered, transferred and/or deliberately defaced”. Many other passports contain similar notices.

Writing and/or stamping on passport not for immigration check purposes & outside of the designated emergency contact information page is essentially defacing the passport. There are cases where passports are rendered invalid because of non-immigration stamps and even stickers. While many immigration officers would not care, they could announce your passport invalid if you write on it, if they wanted to do so. So, just get a notebook and please, please don’t write on your passport.

2/18/2017 9:40:35 AM

As a general rule of thumb, anything you write in a passport other than your signature and emergency contacts is considered defacing a passport. This might seem contradictory to real life since Immigration officers write in the passport, but they are authorized to do so by both their government and yours.

I don’t know of any countries that would prosecute you for doing so, but they could require you to replace the “defaced / damaged” passport.

But there is also the airlines to consider, as they could deny boarding if they feel your passport has been damaged or defaced.

And there is also the Immigration officials, who could likewise deny entry if they feel your passport has been defaced or damaged. I recently spent a long time in front of the immigration counter because the officer though my passport was defaced as it had extra pages added. He eventually accepted the fact that they were added before the US stopped allowing extra pages.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

Search Posts

Latest posts

Popular posts