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I am a dual EU/UK citizen (recently naturalized in the UK). Since the end of the Brexit transition period, I have tried to collect stamps in my UK passport. I travel frequently between the EU and the UK, and sometimes ask the European immigration officers to stamp my British passport. They ask if it is a souvenir, to which I say yes, and very kindly and smiling they stamp it. In two cases though (Switzerland and Italy) I didn't get an entry stamp, either because I was using the automatic gates with my EU passport or because the line behind me was too long and I didn't want to hold up the people behind. I did get an exit stamp when leaving those countries though.

My question is: Would a Schengen exit stamp in my UK passport without the corresponding entry stamp cause a problem if I travel to (say) Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, or Canada? Or would foreign immigration officials just not care about Schengen entry/exit stamp?

(I always carry my other passport with me, so I'd be able to prove that I am an EU citizen and don't need a stamp anyway, and those I have have been affixed on request.)

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Would a Schengen exit stamp in my UK passport without the corresponding entry stamp cause a problem if I travel to (say) Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, or Canada?

No. Immigration officers of non-Schengen countries are not going to try to figure out whether you've overstayed in the Schengen area. So they're not going to pay any attention to your Schengen stamps.

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  • Out of interest, might the answer be different if the OP needed to apply for a visa using their UK passport?
    – Traveller
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 5:37
  • @Traveller not in my experience. Has any visa officer ever questioned your immigration history in another country?
    – phoog
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 6:46
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    @phoog: That sort of thing can happen if countries X and Y don't like each other very much (e.g. Libya and Israel), but it's certainly not the usual way things go.
    – Kevin
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 7:01
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    @Kevin but even then, it's about whether the traveler has been to the country in question, or sometimes simply about the presence of a stamp. They're not checking whether a given exit has a matching entry.
    – phoog
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 13:27

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