Why Passport Stamps Could Soon Disappear

A more high-tech border control will mean an end for travelers' most beloved souvenirs.

With the advent of biometric facial recognitionand digital passport control, high-tech methods of border control are speeding up the way we enter and exit countries around the world. But as immigration lines shrink, another aspect of the process is also starting to disappear: passport stamps.

Once the international standard for crossing borders, the analog process of immigration officers flipping through each traveler’s passport book to hand-stamp official ink entries—while an exciting step of the process for many international passengers to document their travels—is no doubt time-consuming and not the most reliable method for providing border clearance.

“Stamps often aren’t the best solution,” Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet, says. “If they’re printed poorly, they can be tough to access later on. They’re often placed randomly in passport books which can make them tough to find—and they can also be easily counterfeited.”

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