US / EU Level
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@Gurth that’s Schengen, not EU. You need a passport to go to Ireland.
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This highly polygonal world you all inhabit... oh my me... it's true, you really are all @ben_lubar !
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@Gurth said in US / EU Level:
(Which means that if I did want to make a trip to the UK nowadays, it would be even more of a hassle.)
It's the same amount of hassle - you needed a passport even when we were still in the EU.
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@jinpa said in US / EU Level:
It looks like you made a conscious effort to never step foot in Rhode Island or Delaware.
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@Gurth that’s Schengen, not EU. You need a passport to go to Ireland.
Schengen means there won't be border checks. Even inside the Schengen area you shouldn't cross the border without a valid identity document.
However, when travelling to many European countries a european identity card can substitute for a passport. Based on my source, the list of countries accepting it includes Ireland but explicitly excludes the UK.
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@PleegWat huh, curious. The Irish guy with whom I traveled to Spain and got his passport stolen said he needed it to get back. But maybe he just didn’t have an ID card with him.
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@PleegWat huh, curious. The Irish guy with whom I traveled to Spain and got his passport stolen said he needed it to get back. But maybe he just didn’t have an ID card with him.
At least in NL, it's unlikely for someone to own both, since both of them require paying to acquire them. A driver's license may work as a substitute in practice, but it's not officially an identity document. Also, it's likely that whichever container was stolen which contained the passport also contained other documents.
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@PleegWat just speaking for myself, I have both, but the passport is usually at home. The ID card is in my wallet all the time. So in that case only the bag with the passport and not the wallet would’ve gotten stolen.
But possible he just didn’t have both with him.Though I actually forgot to bring my passport and realized at the airport “good thing it’s in the EU.”
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@PleegWat just speaking for myself, I have both, but the passport is usually at home. The ID card is in my wallet all the time.
Same, although mostly out of habit these days. Haven't had a use for the ID in ages.
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@The_Quiet_One said in US / EU Level:
It looks like you made a conscious effort to never step foot in Rhode Island or Delaware.
Yes and no. It was an unconscious error that I didn't select the Passed Here option. But I'm not sure whether I've actually set foot in either of those places.
And though I've only stayed overnight in DC once or twice, I have spent a lot of time there for work and school and politics. But neglected to color it in on the map.
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@loopback0 said in US / EU Level:
you needed a passport even when we were still in the EU.
In theory, yes, but in practice, no.
I remember one time, long ago, when I went for a week-end in the UK and realised when reaching the Eurostar station that I had forgotten my passport. To make things worse, my ID card at the time was no longer valid (because I wasn't using it that often, and I had a valid passport, and I was a lazy student and couldn't be bothered to go and renew it...).
I still managed to get through, on both legs of the trip, with this out-of-date ID card and a driving license (not sure which of the two the border officers used, I just gave them both each time and was waved through without even being asked a question).
I think I also later did a couple of trips where I only presented my ID card to get through, although I don't remember any specific instance so maybe I'm misremembering/mixing with other states. But the "expired ID card + driving license" is a trip that I remember very well.
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@Gurth that’s Schengen, not EU. You need a passport to go to Ireland.
You need a passport or a European ID card. I don’t have a passport anymore but do have the latter. Which is why I put it the way I did
@loopback0 said in US / EU Level:
It's the same amount of hassle - you needed a passport even when we were still in the EU.
It would be more hassle for me because I would need to get a passport first. (Last time I went to the UK, looong ago, I still had one, so I wouldn’t have noticed if an EU ID card wasn’t sufficient.)
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@remi said in US / EU Level:
In theory, yes, but in practice, no.
That's a pretty important factor as well.
I know it happened to me plenty of times when checking into the campsite that I'd left my passport in the car and checked in with my driver's license instead. Which is officially only an identity document inside NL, but it looks official, it has a photo and a document number, so it's often good enough.
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@PleegWat said in US / EU Level:
when checking into the campsite
That doesn't say much. I once used the school library card as "id" on a campsite. And the card didn't even have a name or photo on it
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@PleegWat said in US / EU Level:
@remi said in US / EU Level:
In theory, yes, but in practice, no.
That's a pretty important factor as well.
I know it happened to me plenty of times when checking into the campsite that I'd left my passport in the car and checked in with my driver's license instead. Which is officially only an identity document inside NL, but it looks official, it has a photo and a document number, so it's often good enough.
In the 1990ies already, showing the driving license at the German-French border or German-Swiss border was generally enough.
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@BernieTheBernie said in US / EU Level:
@PleegWat said in US / EU Level:
@remi said in US / EU Level:
In theory, yes, but in practice, no.
That's a pretty important factor as well.
I know it happened to me plenty of times when checking into the campsite that I'd left my passport in the car and checked in with my driver's license instead. Which is officially only an identity document inside NL, but it looks official, it has a photo and a document number, so it's often good enough.
In the 1990ies already, showing the driving license at the German-French border or German-Swiss border was generally enough.
Be careful about that: german driving licenses used to have no expiration, which makes them specifically not valid for this purpose. Usually nobody bothers so you can still go quite far with it, until an over-eager officer in Portugal says "You can't travel on your grandson's ID!" (happened to a coworker).
Also, let me try to clarify the confusion about Schengen: All EU citizens can travel anywhere in EU just with a valid ID. This has nothing to do with Schengen treaty and is true even when traveling to EU states outside Schengen area (Ireland and Cyprus today, plus UK in the past).
Schengen area is important for the citizens of other (non-EU) countries: any Visa issued in any Schengen country is automatically valid in all other Schengen countries, so the holder can travel freely across these countries.
This is important distinction because it explains why it is possible to have no border checks inside Schengen, but there are and must be border checks inside EU when traveling to Ireland.Btw: Switzerland is the "reverse Ireland", being part of Schengen area but not EU or even customs union. So when you travel to Switzerland, nobody should check you passport, but you might be asked to show all your stuff to prove you're not smuggling.
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@Kamil-Podlesak said in US / EU Level:
your grandson's ID
"30 years old photo"
Mine is older...
(and showing a guy with full long hair)
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@PleegWat said in US / EU Level:
I know it happened to me plenty of times when checking into the campsite that I'd left my passport in the car and checked in with my driver's license instead. Which is officially only an identity document inside NL, but it looks official, it has a photo and a document number, so it's often good enough.
Which reminds me of the time a hotel desk clerk in the USA refused to accept my passport as ID when I tried to check in, and asked for a driver’s licence.
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@Gurth “sir, I don’t intend to drive the room around the block.”
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@topspin
:clarkson:There's no practical difference from American cars. They're just as large and they can't turn.
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@Gurth “sir, I don’t intend to drive the room around the block.”
Sure, no-one intends to do that. But after a few beers...
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@Gurth said in US / EU Level:
Which reminds me of the time a hotel desk clerk in the USA refused to accept my passport as ID when I tried to check in, and asked for a driver’s licence.
It used to happen a lot when I'd start a new job that I'd have to explain to them that I only needed one form of ID if it was a passport.
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@topspin said in US / EU Level:
@Gurth “sir, I don’t intend to drive the room around the block.”
An American friend at the time thought it might be because (American) driver’s licences have your address on them (or did at the time, no idea if they still do), so they would know where to send the bill if I did any damage to the room.
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@Gurth said in US / EU Level:
no idea if they still do
They do, but you aren't necessarily required to get a new one when you move. They're issued by the states, so the rules vary. Typically (in the handful of states I've lived in), you're required to file a change of address notification with the DMV (or whatever the issuing agency is called in that state) but not get a new physical license. You may or may not be required to write your new address on the back.
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@Gurth said in US / EU Level:
Which reminds me of the time a hotel desk clerk in the USA refused to accept my passport as ID when I tried to check in, and asked for a driver’s licence.
Which reminds me of the time a TSA agent looked at my passport and turned it around several times as if she'd never seen one.
I got extra-nervous when she started trying to pick at the picture and corner of pages (i.e. almost damaging the passport!) as I could already see myself trying to explain that to the security staff at the next airport in my trip.
