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Comment by alkonaut | Hacker News Reader

What is immigration control doing these days when very few people actually get stamps in passports? And if I have stamps from Somalia and Libya in my passport, why would I go to the US wihtout first getting a new blank passport? Are stamps in passport really that useful?

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I keep two passports; one gets stamps from interesting countries, and the other one is used for going to places where being well-travelled is considered suspicious (such as, it seems, the U.S.).

Edit: To expand, in the UK it used to be as easy as writing a letter explaining why you needed a second (maybe it still is; haven't tried for a while). I've also got a third passport, from a different country, but so far not needed it.

That's my problem with these kinds of scenarios. An honest person with a truthful passport will be punished, while someone with a blank passport might not be looked at twice.

Actually I traveled to Japan with a blank passport and was selected for additional checks. Nothing aggressive or in any way impolite, but I would guess a blank passport would be regarded suspicious in many instances.

You may afford to get a new passport first, but the author said that he was traveling continuously and just wanted a last segment before reaching his home. There was therefore no preparation in advance that could include getting a new passport, and also there were no bad expectations.

I have two passports, two different countries (being a dual citizen has it's uses). Countries that I want to visit that other countries dont go in one of them, everything else in the other. Makes life easier in general if you travel a lot.

If people start doing that, they'll probably start rejecting people with passports less than half a year old.

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