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Comment by Jugurtha | Hacker News Reader

Yes. Some do it in Marseille, France.

Citizens of many countries would be in big trouble if they have a stamp from Israeli customs on their passports. Customs apparently issue a separate document not to put a stamp on the passport as a result. This enabled many tourists who are "not supposed" to go there to nonetheless go there.

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Something similar happens in Turkish occupied Cyprus.

The Turkish airport in Turkish Cyprus is not recognized by Greek Cypiriot government, so if you do fly from Turkey to Cyprus, it is not considered a valid port of entry.

Thus you will get a stamp on a piece of paper, which you need to leave the country back to Turkey.

When traveling between the Turkish and Greek side of the island, the checkpoint guards will inspect your passport. As Greek Cyprus is part of the EU, EU laws require all EU Memberstates to allow free travel for any EU citizen. Likewise, due to agreements between the US, Cyprus and the EU, US citizens are too allowed free-travel. Citizens from other countries run the risk of being denied entry.

Before they started doing that, my dad was able to get a second passport just for Israel. Technically you were not allowed to have more than one passport (Ireland, 70s), but they made an exception.

They'll actually still do it for Israel and Iran I believe.

I’m not sure if they still do but you used to be able to hold two passports simultaneously. One that was ‘clean’ for countries that didn’t recognise Israel and another for Israel.

I meant citizens of the other countries that don't have diplomatic relations trying to go to Israel. They only have one passport and would be in trouble if they visited as their passport would be stamped, thus the scheme of a separate document. Meanwhile, the government buys things from Israel that transit via some nearby country to "simplify imports" through "creative incoterms" and naming and all.

Differs by country, but certainly true some places. Norway for example allows you to apply for a second passport, and the need for a "clean" one is one of the valid reasons you can give.

You still can in the US. [0] This exact use case is listed as one of the reasons the US Department of State will issue a second passport book.

[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-pa...

Israel stopped stamping passports years ago, as I understand it. They give you a separate piece of paper/plastic instead.

There may well be other combinations of countries that justify a person having multiple passports.

Last time I checked (4-5 years ago) this was true for international airports but not all land crossings.

I was annoyed by this - I wanted the stamp as a souvenir. The first time I went to Israel I got the "stamp on a sticker" thing, but the second time I just asked and they explained the reasoning, I affirmed my intent, and they stamped it.

That passport is since expired (it only had 3 years on it, at time of stamping), and my new passport book will get me wherever I happen to go. The souvenir sits safely in my safe.

Aren't you required to turn in your expired passport to get a new one, or report it as lost.

When renewing, the US returns the original passport with holes punched through it.

Yep, my old passport has a hole punch, and that's part of it's charm.

This is also what used to happen when a citizen of the US (and anyone else who requested it) entered Cuba. Cuban immigration would take a little piece of paper, place it in the passport, and then stamp the piece of paper.

If the traveller happened to remove that piece of paper once the returned from Cuba, so be it.

Cuba does the same thing for American tourists who might run afoul of America's export/trade ban.

As a non-aware, are you talking mostly about citizens of Middle East countries?

Citizens of middle eastern countries that are hostile to Israel would care the most, but other international travelers also benefit from avoiding the Israel passport stamp to avoid unnecessary difficulties if they need to visit those middle eastern countries in future.

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