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why doesn’t a passport count? or do you mean, no central ID that is the only acceptable ID for various services
by jiveturkey 3y ago
why doesn’t a passport count? or do you mean, no central ID that is the only acceptable ID for various services
- jasode 3y ago>why doesn’t a passport count? In the USA, non-citizens (legal permanent residents aka "green card" holders) can't get passports. They can get state-level drivers licenses but only citizens can get passports from the centralized-level Federal government.
- photonbucket 3y agoGreencards have a MRZ just like passports though. Green cards are effectively entry-only passports (from the perspective of the US). You can enter the country by land with just the GC with no passport. Additionally, if you arrive by air and you have global entry they don't look at your passport at all, just the GC.
- techsupporter 3y ago> In the USA, non-citizens (legal permanent residents aka "green card" holders) can't get passports. Is there a reason they can't get a passport from their country of citizenship? Plus, passports are fully standardized, at least the biometric ones are. It's possible to read and verify the data on a biometric passport entirely offline using open source applications that implement the documented processes.
- arlort 3y agoPresumably they can but it won't prove their legal status in the US, assuming the local government even recognises it as a legal form if ID
- wdb 3y agoHow did the green card holder enter the USA without a valid ID / passport?
- dragonwriter 3y agoWell, they probably didn’t do so with a valid US ID, and certainly not with a valid US passport.
- pvg 3y agoYes but they definitely have centralized id - the 'Alien Registration Card' itself. Technically, lawful permanent residents are supposed to carry it at all times.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> In the USA, non-citizens (legal permanent residents aka “green card” holders) can’t get passports. Yes, but legal permanent residents (and some other legally resident aliens) also have federally-issued ID, and its not optional the way passports are for citizens. (For LPRs, the Permanent Resident Card, for others the Employment Authorization Document or Immigrant Visa.)
- michaelt 3y agoForgive my ignorance, but isn't the green card already a federally issued, nationally recognised photo ID?
- dylan604 3y agoI think you greatly underestimate the number of people that do not have a passport.
- jiveturkey 3y agoI recognize that percentage-wise, dissapointingly few US citizens have passports. I suppose it's more linked to economic status than anything else. But I was merely rebutting the parent's statement that there is no centrally issued ID in the USA, in the context of ironic use for a base layer for "decentralized" identity. It's too bad the article focused on that nonsense instead of, what good is a decentralized identity -- if it can't assert your actual physical identity.
- jandrewrogers 3y agoA passport is an ID. However, it is not mandatory and some State governments do not recognize it as a valid ID for legal purposes. In the US, the power to issue authoritative IDs resides with the individual States, not the Federal government, which creates many interesting edge cases.
- pvg 3y agosome State governments do not recognize it as a valid ID for legal purposes. Do you know which state governments?
- tptacek 3y agoI don't believe this is true, and the reason I don't is that this question nerdsniped me and I looked up every state and found that they all, every one of them, including the ones that made me click into PDFs to verify the fact, accept passports as identification in order to obtain Real ID drivers licenses. (Also I have writers block).
- pvg 3y agoHah, thanks, I sort of suspected as much, weird as US id stuff is. Like if you'd told me 20+ years ago that the federal government can't get states to standardize their ids even in full anti-terrorism super saiyan mode, I'd have thought that was bullshit too.