"Is anyone aware what this means?" At the Terespol checkpoint, a border guard crossed out a stamp in a Belarusian passport

"Is anyone aware what this means?" — wrote Nastassia on Threads. She posted a photo of a page from her passport. On it were two identical stamps that a Polish border guard had placed. On one of them, two lines cross out the stamp. They are located in the upper left corner.

Павялічыць

Two stamps in Nastya's passport

There are over 120 comments under the post. Belarusians explained the meaning of these stamps to the girl:

• "This is how they mark the cancellation of a stamp. Judging by your picture, they saw that the first one was illegible, canceled it, and stamped it again so that everything was readable."
• "They crossed out the stamp because [it] was unclearly placed. It wasn't clear whether it was 'entry' or 'exit' [indicated by arrows on the stamp], and the checkpoint wasn't visible."
• "They also crossed them out for me like that. It's normal."
• "I'm impressed by the simplicity of Poles when it comes to document processing. Made a mistake? Cross out the line, write it correctly — and no problem. After Belarus, where from school age grades were lowered for corrections, you even get lost at first."

The practical guide for border guards working in the Schengen area states that there are situations when a stamp needs to be canceled. For example, because it was placed by mistake. Or, as in Nastassia's case, unclearly. To do this, it is recommended to draw two parallel lines in the upper left corner of the stamp.

Belarusians shared why their passport stamps were crossed out

Under the post, Belarusians shared stories of how and why their stamps were crossed out. It turned out that this happens not only at the border:

• "I was late for my connection and decided to go into the city; they also crossed out my exit stamp, then put a new one the next day."
• "A long time ago, our border guards corrected them like that for me. At the auto crossing, they handed out passports. Then, for some reason, they collected them again. When they reissued them, the first stamp was canceled because it had the date 'September 38'."
• "They put a visa incorrectly in my passport, crossed it out with a huge cross, and put a new one. I thought that was it, my passport was done for."
• "I was luckier in December. Two lovely Lithuanian border guards spent five minutes lamenting, apologizing, and consulting over an unclear stamp where the exit date was not readable. And they had already let me go, but then asked me to return, took my passport, and, crossing out the crooked stamp, neatly made a new one."
• "Our [officials] also cross them out. They crossed out my registration stamp and put a new one below (they registered the wrong street, Prospekt Rokossovsky instead of Plekhanova). I laughed, said I would come there to settle."

Павялічыць

"And at the Turkish border, they put such a [stamp] for me. Divorce is forbidden!" — joked a Belarusian woman. She attached a photo of a passport page where, under the marriage registration stamp, there are marks for crossing the Turkish border.

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