A New Twist on ID Fun.

[Chromatix]

The reasonng is probably very simple, actually. There fewer types of ID that have to be accepted, the more chance that signs of a fake will be noticed. There are already 50 states' worth of driving licences to cope with, so at least passports follow an internationally agreed format.

For travel within the Schengen area, national ID cards and driving licences are accepted as well as passports. Again, there are a limited number of these to cope with and local officials can therefore be briefed about each one. (FWIW, there are no English speaking countries in Schengen, even though two - the UK and the Republic of Ireland - are in the EU.)

[Jester]

Part of the problem may well be that not everyone knows what the different ID cards are supposed to look like. I'm sure with a little work I could come up with a nice ID card from Transubecistan that looks suitibly official, and has all the needed info on it...Just none of it valid Restricting it to certain forms of ID allows the servers a better chance of knowing what those forms are supposed to look like, and having an easier time catching a fake.

Also to this point, I should note that it is absolutely legal to print up, sell, and/or purchase "State ID cards" as long as somewhere on it there is a note to the effect that it is "not a government-issued ID card." It is NOT legal to print up one's own driver's license.

Some bars have a book containing pictures of all the different state IDs. Maybe from other countries too, I'm not sure. I didn't see the whole thing.

I'll have to check the next time I'm working, but I'm pretty sure the ID book only lists American and Canadian licenses.

[Sapphire Silk]

Were I live you need to produce ID for any take away alcohol purchases, no matter your age. The ID is scanned on a small computer and compared against a banned drinkers register. What it doesn't do is confirm that the person is of legal age to buy alcohol. A few places got into trouble when the laws first came in for assuming that it did and didn't check the date of birth on the ID.

Question: when you say banned, do you mean banned by the owner of the establishment?

[Andara Bledin]

Question: when you say banned, do you mean banned by the owner of the establishment?

Probably not.

There are registries in some countries where people who are too stupid to be trusted to get drunk get banned from the purchase of alcohol at all. I remember a news story from a couple of years back where some twit in the UK who was already on some list for being drunk and obnoxious in public was caught doing it again and got her ability to purchase booze revoked for 2 years.

^-.-^

[laborcat]

I remember a news story from a couple of years back where some twit in the UK who was already on some list for being drunk and obnoxious in public was caught doing it again and got her ability to purchase booze revoked for 2 years.

^-.-^

So who's to stop someone else from buying booze for her?

[TopEndDave]

Question: when you say banned, do you mean banned by the owner of the establishment?

Nope. Banned by a court order for alcohol related crimes. It is illegal to consume alcohol in certain public places that have been declared as dry areas. Repeat offenders can get banned from being able to purchase alcohol.

[Pixilated]

You can and you can't.
*snip*

You are unquestionably correct. But here I feel the need to defend Europeans in general. See, you DO need a passport to enter the country, of course. But that doesn't mean you have to have one with you wherever you go. Since passports are so valuable, many people, Americans, Europeans, and others, will often leave their passports on their cruise ship, in their hotel room, etc. Especially since passports tend to be a bit bulky and hard to carry easily. Which is at least partly why in recent years they came out with the DL-sized passport card, which confers all the benefits of a full-sized passport, but fits in your wallet for convenience.

I'm rather surprised they weren't carrying their passports. I've read that you should never leave your passport behind when traveling (in your hotel room, etc.) They're only moderately inconvenient, surely ... it's not like they need their own suitcase.

If they were from a cruise ship, the cruise ship may have taken their passports at the beginning of the cruise, and returned them at the end. That is what happened to me when I took a Mediterranean cruise several years ago. Fortunately I didn't need it on any of the shore visits.

A few years ago I studied several languages at a local university. They had a program whereby you could go to the languages' home countries for a year for a real immersion program. Many students also work while in those countries, and several had trouble with employers demanding to hold their passports (these are European countries, incidentally). One thing the professors emphasized was the employers have NO right to demand this and you do not EVER comply with it (we were advised to raise the issue with the officials at the partner university in those countries).

There's certainly no way I'd hand my passport over to a cruise ship!

[Jester]

Be that as it may, it has been my experience that most foreign visitors to Key West do NOT carry their passports with them. Many do, of course. But the majority (i.e., more than half) do not.

Then again, since so many Americans cannot be bothered to even carry their ID, which fits in their WALLETS, why are any of us all that surprised by this?

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

There's certainly no way I'd hand my passport over to a cruise ship!

Oddly emphatic emphasis! Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you hand it over to a cruise ship? It's the norm - the Purser/Clearance Officer has to arrange clearance with the local authorities for all the passengers and crew. [grins] It's not like a hotel/school/employer - a ship moves from country to country...

[Argabarga]

Then again, since so many Americans cannot be bothered to even carry their ID, which fits in their WALLETS

Welcome to my nightmare, except, the IDs are IN their wallets.... it's just the WALLETS they don't have.

[Skelly]

Question to Jester: Are you allowed to accept a foreign driver's license (in a language you don't speak) if the person also have the international driver's license papers with him/her?

[Jester]

Skelly, I can accept a foreign driver's license if I can understand it enough to know that it is a driver's license.

However, whether or not I understand a DL, an International Driver's License is worth exactly nothing when it comes to alcohol or other age-restricted items (i.e., tobacco). It is not something we can legally accept, so having it or not makes no difference.

The short answer to your question: No.

[Pagan]

ME: "Sir, this is NOT a passport."
HIM: "No, it's not a passport, but it allows me to travel anywhere in Europe."
ME: "I understand that, but Florida does not allow me to take national ID cards for alcohol purchases. If you have your passport or driver's license with you, I can accept that."

That's great, but Florida isn't in the EU. Not that I'm aware of, anyway.

--any STATE-ISSUED ID card. And by "State" I mean one of the U.S. States. And by "ID card" I mean specifically an Identification Card. Which means I cannot take any Canadian ID cards, nor can I take an Iowa bus pass, a Michigan fishing license, or a Nevada health card.

A VALID state-issued ID. If it has a hole punched in it or in any other way mutilated, it is no longer valid.

There's certainly no way I'd hand my passport over to a cruise ship!

They'd have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Oddly emphatic emphasis! Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you hand it over to a cruise ship? It's the norm - the Purser/Clearance Officer has to arrange clearance with the local authorities for all the passengers and crew. [grins] It's not like a hotel/school/employer - a ship moves from country to country...

Because of this (and this is from my passport):

U.S. Government Property This passport is property of the United States (Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 51.9). It must be surrendered upon demand made by an authorized representative of the United States Goverment.

Most cruise ships carry registration outside of the US. Unless the cruise line has made some sort of arrangement with Homeland Security, none of the employees on a cruise ship are authorized representatives of the US Govt.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

Because of this (and this is from my passport):

"U.S. Government Property This passport is property of the United States (Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 51.9). It must be surrendered upon demand made by an authorized representative of the United States Goverment. "

Most cruise ships carry registration outside of the US. Unless the cruise line has made some sort of arrangement with Homeland Security, none of the employees on a cruise ship are authorized representatives of the US Govt.

Ah, I see.

But that it saying that you MUST surrender it to the gummint, not that you MUST NOT let anyone else have it.

And; "Registration"? A Brit looks blank...

[auntiem]

And; "Registration"? A Brit looks blank...

Most cruiselines are registered in countries they don't even visit - Libya is a common one. It think it is for tax purposes and possibly it effects their liability under maritime law (that part I'm unclear on). It is also why they have to hit at least one foreign port if operating in the US (that is why there is a Victoria BC stop on Alaska cruises departing from Seattle for example).

The valid ID thing is why I always had the book handy by the register. If it ain't in the book, I ain't taking it.