An "unofficial" Pilgrim Passport?

[smallove]

Hello everyone,

My friend asked me a question and I'm not sure about the answer. Therefore, I hope someone here can help.

Quesion: My friend would like to walk the camino while using his favorite small notebook for daily stamping. Someone told him he can use any kind of paper / notebook / A4 paper to replace the "official pilgrim passport". Is that true? Is the unofficial pilgrim passport acceptable in the Santiago pilgrim office?

Hope someone could answer this because I am curious about this as well.

Thank you

 

[Flog]

No and no. Your friend can pick up an official credencial in SJPP. Nothing to stop your friend getting their favourite notebook stamped along the way too, but the pilgrims office requires an official one.

 

[grayland]

In the past, most credentials were accepted by the Pilgrim Officein Santiago.
For a number of reasons...this was changed a few years back (maybe more than a few). Now only the official credential is accepted. There are credentials issued by national Pilgrim Associations which have been authorized as well. Homemade or those offered by tour groups or other commercial businesses are not.

 

[henrythedog]

You can add an ‘extension’ to the official credencial using anything including plain paper. With a bit of enthusiasm you could fill a credencial with sellos in the first couple of days and continue thereafter as you see fit. I half filled one in a single memorable* evening in the barrio humido of Leon.

* actually only ‘potentially memorable’ as I can’t remember anything but the hangover, but the sellos record the evening for me.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

As others have said, you must have an officially recognized credential to get a compostela. One year in addition to the credential I carried a small notebook that I got stamped. The day after I received my compostela I returned to the pilgrim office, presented the notebook and received the alternative document that is given to those who walk for non religious or spiritual reasons.

 

[xin loi]

On my first Camino i filled three passports with stamps!

 

[Former member 49149]

What a lovely idea! As you see above, it will be necessary to show an official pilgrim passport, one stamp per day until the final 100km, when two stamps are required for the last 100km.
However - there is nothing to stop your friend getting a set of parallel stamps in his own notebook.
May he walk safely and soon!

 

[Rmarkob]

I met a Polish gentleman on the Meseta in early October 2021 who had left his home in Gdansk in June and had been walking continuously with just a notebook for his stamps.

None of the albergues had any problem with stamping his notebook, but he pulled ahead of me after Foncebadon and I didn't see him again until Fisterra. He may have acquired a Pilgrim Passport for the last 100km for all I know, but he arrived in Santiago on 21 October and did get a Compostela, as well as a distance certificate for over 3,700km!

 

[Tincatinker]

Hello everyone,

My friend asked me a question and I'm not sure about the answer. Therefore, I hope someone here can help.

Quesion: My friend would like to walk the camino while using his favorite small notebook for daily stamping. Someone told him he can use any kind of paper / notebook / A4 paper to replace the "official pilgrim passport". Is that true? Is the unofficial pilgrim passport acceptable in the Santiago pilgrim office?

Hope someone could answer this because I am curious about this as well.

Thank you

The authoritative answer to your question lies here: https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/pilgrimage/the-credencial/ all other answers are speculation or hearsay

 

[jmcarp]

Hello everyone,

My friend asked me a question and I'm not sure about the answer. Therefore, I hope someone here can help.

Quesion: My friend would like to walk the camino while using his favorite small notebook for daily stamping. Someone told him he can use any kind of paper / notebook / A4 paper to replace the "official pilgrim passport". Is that true? Is the unofficial pilgrim passport acceptable in the Santiago pilgrim office?

Hope someone could answer this because I am curious about this as well.

Thank you

Your profile doesn't indicate where you live, but if in the U.S., the American Pilgrims on the Camino is the recognized national confraternity. As such, APOC issues approved credentials on their website at https://americanpilgrims.org/request-a-credential/. Be sure to read all the instructions on that page, and consider ordering at least two credentials to ensure you have enough space for all your sellos.

If you live outside the U.S., check your country's confraternity to see if they issue an approved credential. Or you can also order the official Cathedral credential from Ivar, our forum host, at https://www.santiagodecompostela.me...passport-from-the-pilgrims-office-in-santiago

 

[c0484]

Hello everyone,

My friend asked me a question and I'm not sure about the answer. Therefore, I hope someone here can help.

Quesion: My friend would like to walk the camino while using his favorite small notebook for daily stamping. Someone told him he can use any kind of paper / notebook / A4 paper to replace the "official pilgrim passport". Is that true? Is the unofficial pilgrim passport acceptable in the Santiago pilgrim office?

Hope someone could answer this because I am curious about this as well.

Thank you

Generally they will not issue a compostela unless you have an approved Camino Passport.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

As others have said, you must have an officially recognized credential to get a compostela. One year in addition to the credential I carried a small notebook that I got stamped.

This is the way to go. Get the official passport stamped and then get an additional one in the notebook. Let me suggest that you get a few passports but only have them stamped on one side. This will allow you to see all stamps if you tack the passports up on a wall or frame them.

And greetings Steve.

 

[wendywalker]

For Canadian pilgrims official passports are available through the Canadian Company of Pilgrims https://www.santiago.ca

 

[C clearly]

In case anyone is wondering, the Cathedral issues one style of credencial (that is stocked by Ivar). The other national associations have their own versions - they look different but are still officially recognized.

 

[dick bird]

I think the essential point of the credencial is to demonstrate that you began your journey with the intention of making the pilgrimage so an official credencial will be necessary for you to receive a compostella. Other than that, you can get stamps in your diary or journal - few if any will refuse.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Yes and no.

If you've no intention of obtaining a Compostela, then a notebook is fine.

If you have that intention, then you'd need an officially recognised one for at least the final 100K.

As to collecting stamps on both, this used to be OK ; but it has been frowned upon to a degree in recent decades, as cases of fraud have become more numerous than they were. I suppose one way to do this would be glue your Credencial into the back of the notebook, to make them one document ?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Your profile doesn't indicate where you live, but if in the U.S., the American Pilgrims on the Camino is the recognized national confraternity. As such, APOC issues approved credentials on their website at https://americanpilgrims.org/request-a-credential/. Be sure to read all the instructions on that page, and consider ordering at least two credentials to ensure you have enough space for all your sellos.

I have used the APOC site for obtaining credentials for all five of my Caminos and also have ordered them for those who have accompanied me. It's very simple to do, and the organization sends them in a timely fashion. Although there is no charge for this service, donations are appreciated.

 

[alhartman]

Never had any trouble getting extra stuff stamped.
One year I collected extra stamps on my white desert hat and neck flap. Great looking but eventually all wore off.
But you do need an official credential for a compostela and sometimes for admission to albergues.

 

[trecile]

As to collecting stamps on both, this used to be OK ; but it has been frowned upon to a degree in recent decades, as cases of fraud have become more numerous than they were.

I'm trying to understand what fraud could be perpetrated by collecting stamps in a notebook.

 

[Tom Hagger]

I'm trying to understand what fraud could be perpetrated by collecting stamps in a notebook.

Trecile, presumably, someone collecting two sets of stamps (one in a credential and one in a notebook) could be collecting for an absentee who wanted a Compostela without walking for it. I suspect that this is what JabbaPapa meant. Tom Hagger

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Trecile, presumably, someone collecting two sets of stamps (one in a credential and one in a notebook) could be collecting for an absentee who wanted a Compostela without walking for it. I suspect that this is what JabbaPapa meant. Tom Hagger

Probably but pretty silly since someone collecting stamps for fraudsters can carry 100 passports and get them all stamped at different spots in the morning and then again in the afternoon. And most could be gotten quickly with self-service.

 

[JillGat]

I'm hoping, next time, after having my passport stamped, to have my journal stamped too, with my daily notes below each stamp.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Trecile, presumably, someone collecting two sets of stamps (one in a credential and one in a notebook) could be collecting for an absentee who wanted a Compostela without walking for it. I suspect that this is what JabbaPapa meant.

Indeed.

 

[jmcarp]

Probably but pretty silly since someone collecting stamps for fraudsters can carry 100 passports and get them all stamped at different spots in the morning and then again in the afternoon. And most could be gotten quickly with self-service.

I saw someone stamping a whole stack of passports at one of those freestanding, self-service passport kiosks between Sarria and Santiago. It didn't dawn on me til later that he might have been a tour guide or some kind of group leader.