A travel TikToker posted a PSA warning travelers not to put souvenir stamps on their passports to avoid being denied at customs.
Keeks (@keekstravels) reached over 89,000 likes on her viral video as of this writing. She prefaces her video with an on-screen caption reading, “YOUR PASSPORT IS NOT A COLORING BOOK!”
To start her video, Keeks says that she has recently been seeing travelers put souvenir stamps all over their passport books. “I get it. It’s fun to have souvenir stamps,” she says. “Put it inside of your travel journal. Don’t put it in your passport because you will not make it back home.”
Next, Keeks says she saw a lot of discourse around women who claim they’ve put souvenir stamps on their passports and still managed to make their way through customs.
Keeks pauses and says, “Here’s the thing, you can do it … everyone has free will.” However, she says if the gate agent at customs “for some reason just wants to sift through your passport and they see some souvenir stamp from Disneyland or wherever, … they will deny you.”
If your passport gets denied at customs, the only option is to “get a brand new passport, and you’ll be stuck in that country,” she adds.
“So yes, it’s possible you could go through and be fine, but why would you risk that?” she asks before ending her video.
Keeks also left a caption telling viewers, “You only got one passport, why would you do that??”
@keekstravels You only got one passport why would you do that?? #passport #passportstamps #customs #traveltiktok #traveltok ♬ original sound – keeks travels 🌎
In the comments section, several viewers also questioned the decision to use souvenir stamps.
“It’s a federal document,” a comment with over 19,000 likes under Keeks’ video said.
Another viewer responded, “it’s like stamping your birth certificate or driver’s license.”
Travel + Leisure states that The Department of State advises United States citizens to “avoid the use of novelty stamps in the U.S. passport. The Department could potentially consider novelty stamps as ‘damage’ to the U.S. passport,” a State Department official told Travel + Leisure.
However, Travel + Leisure adds that it “cannot comment on what passport damage or alteration might cause the Department of Homeland Security or the government of a foreign country to prevent entry at the border.”
The site also suggests that rather than marking up your official documents, you should “pick up a journal and keep all your souvenir stamps and memories from your trip in there instead,” just as Keeks had suggested.
The Daily Dot reached out to Keeks via email and the U.S. Department of State via media inquiry form for more information.
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