You are aware that getting a new, clean passport without any trace of his visit to Iran would have cost him less than the efforts of going through, say, getting an ESTA in place?

If customs is triggered by what countries one has visited in the past, know that only someone who has means no harm has these in his or her passport. All others will remove this evidence prior to flying...

I'm surprised he didn't have a second diplomatic passport.

I've always had two standard US Blue passports. All I was required to do to get them was write a explanation as to why I needed it and await approval. The most common reason is travel to Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, keeping them separate reduces some of the headaches.

FWIW, Israel no longer stamps passports.

But do they check the stamps you have?

Ah, haven't been in a few years. Is it because of the above issue?

My understanding is that it was because US travelers with an Israel stamp would have trouble if later trying to visit a country not friendly toward Israel.

I was just there last summer. They gave me a bar-coded receipt in lieu of the passport stamp.

There's still an issue that if you visit Jordan from Israel you get a stamp from Jordan that states the entry point.

I had a conversation about this yesterday and I assumed USA keeps a database of your entries into other countries thus ending this new passport hack. Can anyone confirm this?

How would the US know if a non-US citizen entered Iran if there is no stamp? Keep in mind that this law does not apply to US citizens.

Someone posted this, I guess that's how: https://papersplease.org/wp/2013/09/29/how-the-nsa-obtains-a...