I agree there is a superficial similarity, but it seems strange to focus on that little detail. What prevented people in the USSR from visiting their family wa

I agree there is a superficial similarity, but it seems strange to focus on that little detail. What prevented people in the USSR from visiting their family wasn't the requirement of ID per se. It was the fact that the government could confiscate all your documents and basically turn you into an unperson. In my country, which had a recentish authoritarian past, the Constitution (we made a new one when we changed the form of government) says that everyone has a right to an identity, and nobody can take that away from you.