# No exit stamp in passport



## lizard0924 (Jan 8, 2015)

I left the UK yesterday via Heathrow to come back to the States to submit my spousal visa application. Strangely enough, there was no specific passport control @ Heathrow upon my exit and definitely no immigration person stamped my passport with an exit stamp (like happens in most other countries when I depart). So now I've left the UK but only have my entry stamp from Guernsey (as I arrived via ferry from France and bypassed UK immigration altogether). 

For information, when you arrive in the UK (Gatwick) from the Channel Islands, you don't have to go through the usual immigration lines as you are considered a domestic arrival.

So it seems that if an ECO was reviewing my passport, they will only see an entry stamp for the Channel Islands, but no exit stamp. Is there some other way that UK immigration people can tell that I've transited out of/through the UK? I've included my arrival/departure dates in the application itself, but my passport stamps won't necessarily support that.

I just want to avoid any situations that might jeopardize my visa application unnecessarily. At this point, I'm stressing about every little detail.


----------



## salix (Apr 27, 2014)

The airlines share their passenger lists/information with the government, they know everything you do even if you didn't get a passport stamp.


----------



## Pallykin (Mar 30, 2014)

The exit stamp seems to be very variable in terms of whether they give them. Sometimes they are stamp happy, other times not. And I'm not just talking about the UK. All kinds of places sometimes do sometimes don't give exit stamps. 

I've also got a fairly good collection of US entry stamps in my US passport, contributing to my running out of visa pages.


----------



## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

There is no border control on exiting the UK so it would be very unusual to get an stamp upon leaving the UK.

Make sure when you return to the UK on your spouse visa that you enter through the UK otherwise your passport will not be stamped activating your visa.


----------



## HKG3 (Jan 11, 2015)

lizard0924 said:


> For information, when you arrive in the UK (Gatwick) from the Channel Islands, you don't have to go through the usual immigration lines as you are considered a domestic arrival.
> 
> So it seems that if an ECO was reviewing my passport, they will only see an entry stamp for the Channel Islands, but no exit stamp. Is there some other way that UK immigration people can tell that I've transited out of/through the UK? I've included my arrival/departure dates in the application itself, but my passport stamps won't necessarily support that.


The Channel Islands, alone with Ireland and the UK are within the Common Travel Area (CTA). Just like the Schengen Area in Europe, the 'internal' border checks between different part of the CTA were removed and people could pass freely within the CTA.


----------



## Pallykin (Mar 30, 2014)

It's my understanding that the only passport check that takes place upon departure by air is that you have a valid passport. The airlines are not supposed to allow you to board the plane without a valid passport if your flight is international.

I had to go through my email to figure out my travel for the past 10 years. My passport's stamps were only marginally helpful.

On a separate topic... A woman sitting in front of me on a flight last month coming back to Boston from overseas arrived at her seat and could not find her passport anywhere. She showed it to the airline agent at the gate, and lost it between that point and sitting down. People sitting near to her looked under seats and all around, and did not find it. The flight attendant said that immigration will let you into the US one time with a US driver's license, and then you are required to report your passport lost and apply for a new one.


----------



## lizard0924 (Jan 8, 2015)

nyclon said:


> There is no border control on exiting the UK so it would be very unusual to get an stamp upon leaving the UK.
> 
> Make sure when you return to the UK on your spouse visa that you enter through the UK otherwise your passport will not be stamped activating your visa.


Excellent reminder. Thanks. Fingers crossed that my application is successful, I plan to fly into Heathrow and then go on to Guernsey.


----------

