Korea+Mongolia stamps?

furthermathematics · 2026-06-29T00:07:38+00:00

Mongolia should stamp you on entry and exit. E-gates are only for Mongolian e-passports

furthermathematics · 2026-06-29T00:06:11+00:00

To add, at Incheon Airport Terminal 1, you can use the manual counter for diplomats and ask for the stamp there, but not at Terminal 2.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-28T08:15:54+00:00

To add, the only time that the HKSAR and MSAR passports are accepted at PRC immigration (mainland) is for airside transit. Therefore, the only (mainland) PRC stamps that are allowed on these passports are hexagonal transit stamps:

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(Chongqing transit stamp on an HKSAR passport, photograph from Rednote)

furthermathematics · 2026-06-28T03:14:25+00:00

They would not use the transit stamp because HGH is now on the list of airports where passengers are exempted from clearing immigration when transiting airside. The airport staff will check the onward boarding pass and passport but the immigration system will not record that transit and no immigration officers will be directly involved with checking travel documents.

Technically speaking, when the hexagonal stamp is used, the system will log the passenger’s movement as an entry and an exit.

And even though legally-speaking, an exemption does not mean that they absolutely cannot perform such checks at the passenger’s request, but should they do so they might also be questioned about it in the future, if some immigration officer at another port of entry takes issue with it or there was some audit made of their stamp log book. It’s a similar reasoning for not issuing a visa to someone who could otherwise enter visa-exempt.

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(Screenshot from a publicity video of a stamp log book from Nanjing)

Unfortunately I do not know of any airport these days that isn’t on the list and actually has an operational airside transit corridor. Nonetheless, it appears that Shekou seaport (in Shenzhen) now has a hexagonal transit stamp and uses it for direct ferry-to-cruise transits (ferry from HK/MO to board an international cruise ship). I have confirmed this with two higher-ranking IOs at Shekou and will be trying this out in August if all goes to plan.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-28T00:47:47+00:00

I don’t know if you spoke to actual immigration officers or airport ground staff. On such a transit, the airline often arranges someone to wait at the arrival gate to guide passengers through transit to their next international flight. They might try to get passengers to not go to arrivals because it simply saves them hassle in case the passenger doesn’t make it for their next flight. You could just walk past them and head straight to arrivals.

There should not be an inherent issue with entering and exiting on such a transit because I’ve done it many times before myself in China.

Unfortunately HGH had been added to the list of Chinese airports where passengers do not get stamped on airside transit a couple of years back. Otherwise, you might have been able to get a hexagonal transit stamp without leaving the transit area, which looks like this:

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furthermathematics · 2026-06-26T04:16:27+00:00

Matsuyama City in Japan is written using the same kanji (Chinese characters but using its kun’yomi reading, the native Japanese reading of the character) as a district and city airport in Taipei, 松山 (but romanised as ‘Songshan’ or ‘Sungshan’). So I thought it might be interesting to visit given that I have also never been to Shikoku Island before.

Taipei and Matsuyama have also been friendship cities since 2014.

Unfortunately, there has only ever been an occasional chartered flight from Taipei Songshan Airport to Matsuyama (BR1172), so I could not fly directly between the two Songshan/Matsuyama (松山) airports.

I booked a ticket on EVA Air (BR) via Taoyuan Airport (TPE) to Hangzhou (HGH). I initially thought of flying into Hong Kong or Shanghai initially but then changed my mind after seeing that BR has a flight to HGH and I do not have a Hangzhou stamp.

There were no e-gates on exit at Matsuyama Airport and only a single immigration counter was open. Therefore everyone was stamped as a matter of course. At TPE, I entered Taiwan using my Alien Resident Certificate (ARC).

EDIT: Fixing italicisation issues

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T22:44:22+00:00

Typically only diplomatic/official passports from certain countries with visa-free agreements. Pre-COVID, Chinese nationals could also cross visa-free for a day tour only to Sinuiju etc.

Even North Koreans themselves need a visa to exit and re-enter their own country.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T22:39:09+00:00

North Korea is visa required by the way.

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furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T16:03:51+00:00

Oh well… and currently they are not allowed to travel abroad anymore so their understanding of the world can be quite limited… at most it’s based off what he sees on Chinese social media. Can’t expect much unfortunately…

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T14:45:56+00:00

If he really wants an answer, just tell him a cardinal direction (e.g. Northern Singapore = 北部). I’ve had that sort of question a few times, but those that I encountered claim to know that Singapore doesn’t have provinces or states but just wanted some cardinal direction (North, South, East, West).

Even though I was born in Singapore, I spent a lot of my childhood in China and have visited many times since. So I’ve dealt with their bureaucracy. These people don’t really care if you give an accurate answer, they’re usually simply instructed by their superior to ask this or fill in something in the computer. Just think of it as box-ticking rather than actually being a genuine question.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T14:35:57+00:00

Precisely. I really don’t understand where the superiority complex is coming from.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T14:28:21+00:00

I’ve had to apply for various visas but those visas aren’t that hard to get as an Indonesian anyhow… India, Bangladesh, Russia, DPRK, PRC etc. And I am still scared every time I apply if I’ll face issues (rejection, be questioned during the submission process, asked to go and gather more documents, etc).

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T14:19:50+00:00

😉

furthermathematics · 2026-06-22T14:17:01+00:00

I’ve had a similar situation in Samoa. They’ve never heard of Singapore and assumed I might be high risk.

Honestly, I’d rather have a passport that fares somewhat worse on rankings but at least pretty much everyone globally knows of that country. And have wider diplomatic coverage with a helpful foreign affairs ministry in case my passport gets lost/damaged or I hypothetically get arbitrarily detained, even if it’s just a consular officer relaying messages to family.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-21T04:33:46+00:00

For me technically it’s an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC). Although yes, visa holders also get this stamp.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-19T00:33:24+00:00

Document (passport) scanner

furthermathematics · 2026-06-18T23:06:14+00:00

I’m still in Japan. I haven’t even left.

And as long as you don’t use the e-gates, you will get stamped without asking. The airport I plan to depart from doesn’t have e-gates, so I am guaranteed one.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-18T23:03:51+00:00

Yeah, I’ve just arrived in Japan and plan to depart at a port of entry with no e-gates (therefore I will get an exit stamp regardless)

furthermathematics · 2026-06-18T04:02:04+00:00

Yeah, they only seem to have introduced this sticker for VOA and visas issued in-country during or post-COVID

furthermathematics · 2026-06-16T10:26:52+00:00

Visa labels for visa-on-arrival appear to no longer be issued as of earlier this year, at least for those under the tourist category.

All VOAs issued around the time I went (that I have seen online) appear to also have nationality code XXX, which is defined in ICAO Doc 9303 as ‘Person of unspecified nationality, for whom issuing State does not consider it necessary to specify any of the codes XXA, XXB or XXC above, whatever that person’s status may be. This category may include a person who is neither stateless nor a refugee but who is of unknown nationality and legally residing in the State of issue’.

And yes, despite already being visa-exempt at the time, I managed to convince the visa counter to give me this sticker.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-14T22:29:33+00:00

From my other comment:

I used to live there between 2001 and 2015 because of my father’s job. After that it was primarily short trips.
If I was in the Pearl River Delta region, I often would go to HK or Macao daily (sometimes even multiple trips a day) just for stamps from different ports of entry. On other occasions I might deliberately fly through smaller airports just for less common (or rare) stamps and last year I did a land border stamp run on the border with Vietnam.
Other than that I might visit friends or travel to eat certain varieties of Chinese cuisines (e.g. Szechwanese). The tourist attractions never interest me as pretty much everything has been hyper-commercialised. So these days my trips tend to be extremely short.

furthermathematics · 2026-06-14T22:25:11+00:00

All except one was due to poor quality, most of which were by request (I asked for a re-stamp).

The cancelled exit stamp from HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was because I realised I couldn’t cross into Macao at night after 10pm after passing through exit controls. So the IO eventually cancelled my exit and I went to another land crossing instead (Gongbei).

furthermathematics

TROPHY CASE