Passport stamps are a cool way to show off your travel destinations. Basically, if you don’t have a country’s stamp, you haven’t been there. But some countries are doing away with passport stamping, entirely.
Numerous countries have been bypassing the stamping process, opting for other ways to keep track of travelers.
These other ways include no stamps at all or biometric technology and facial recognition at self-service kiosks.
South Korea recently reduced the number of stamps they give out to passengers flying in and out the country, leading them to stop stamping completely.
Hong Kong got rid of passport stamping in 2013 and other countries such as Israel, Macau followed suit using landing slips for travelers. The slips include the traveler’s name, date of arrival and date of departure.
Brazil and Austrailia no longer use stamps for their citizens entering back into the country.
Australian airports have a self-service process called SmartGate, using facial recognition and e-passport information to perform security checks, according to TPG. Visitors must take a photo in the SmartGate booth and answer questions about diseases and quarantines, after scanning their passport into a reader.
The UK is also joining in on the process, allowing foreign nationals from five nations to use similar methods such as e-gates, saving visitors time and accelerating the process.
SmartGate is also available in Sydney, Melbourne, and a few other countries. Dubai also added smart gates earlier this year.