Wander, although I like your technique, the household bleach technique works ridiculously well on passport stamps, and avoids leaving any offending marks in your passport.
The only thing I've found that it doesn't work well on is ball point pen, where the officer sometimes writes a date on top of a stamp (i.e.: "valid until" date). Even then, you get left with a date but no incriminating stamp.
Since this works so well, let me expand on the technique a little.
Step 1: Buy some household bleach, the same stuff used to disinfect a floor or to help laundry be white. Clorox is a good brand, but any brand will do.
Step 2: Take a paper towel, and moisten a portion of it with the bleach. No need for it to be soaking wet, because you don't want to flood your passport. I suppose you might want to wear rubber gloves, but I never have, and have never suffered any consequences beyond having disinfected hands. But you wouldn't want to be rubbing your eyes until you've washed your hands!
Step 3: Dab, don't rub or wipe, the passport stamp. Just one second is enough. The stamp and the paper it is sitting on will become wet. Wait 10 to 20 seconds, and watch with glee as the stamp gradually disappears. If it disappears completely, you're done. If not, dab again and again until it is all gone. I have found that this process usually takes me all of about 2 minutes to complete.
Step 4: At this point, realize that you've done it! Just leave the passport open to dry for half an hour, and that's all there is to it.
I have tried this with friends using passports from the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, and it works very well. I've used it on Macau stamps, Thai stamps, and even a PI stamp. It does not change the color of the paper at all. It does not "look funny" under ultraviolet light, it looks normal (yes, I've checked). And, most importantly, it seems to pass muster when presented to immigration officials the next time you enter a country.
Just in case it doesn't work well with your kind of passport, try it on an old expired passport if you can.
But in my experience, it has worked very well.
Gherk
Originally posted by wander at 16-7-2013 01:50 PM
Wrong passport stamp: Showing an HK entry on July 27 2013 might cause a heap of trouble. (unless you go a lot and just need to smear the date. If so, do it immediately after they stamp you while he ink is still wet.). If you need to remove the "Hong Kong Immigration" details completely do what I've done -- blotted ink from a broken pen on it to totally obscure the location. (I had to do this to a Thai stamp). You can also ask some immigration to stamp your boarding pass, but many wont.
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[ Last edited by ggherkin at 16-7-2013 15:59 ] |
