[OJFord]

As little as a birth certificate?

You can still cross EU borders with just a driving licence, or government issued ID where they have them.

(In practice the vast majority using planes and boats at least probably do take a passport, I always did from the UK, but in theory you don't need one, so if you weren't planning to go elsewhere you wouldn't even need to get a passport.)

[messe]

> You can still cross EU borders with just a driving licence, or government issued ID where they have them.

For anybody unfamiliar with Europe, I just want to add that there aren't any checkpoints or border crossings, you just drive through or walk over. Half the time you won't even notice you're doing it. You're just supposed to have your ID on your person when you do.

Ireland (and previously the UK) is the only major exception to this, as it's part of the common travel area alongside the UK. In practice, this doesn't make a huge difference when you're an Irish or EU citizen (it does if you're a tourist who needs a different visa to visit), as it's an island, and airlines require a form of ID to board anyway. When travelling from Ireland to Schengen, I usually have a passport in my carry on luggage as a backup, and take my passport-card (similar to a national ID card) in my wallet.

[pell]

>For anybody unfamiliar with Europe, I just want to add that there aren't any checkpoints or border crossings, you just drive through or walk over. Half the time you won't even notice you're doing it. You're just supposed to have your ID on your person when you do.

The above is only true in the Schengen zone. As soon as you cross the border to a non-Schengen country or you arrive from a non-Schengen country you will go through normal border control (with some exceptions). This includes multiple EU countries beside Ireland like Romania, Bulgaria or Cyprus. And many non-EU countries like Bosnia, Serbia, Monaco, Kosovo, Andorra, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, etc.

[usrusr]

But it also includes certain non-EU countries, like Switzerland. You won't notice having crossed the border before your phone notifies you that it just disabled data thanks to roaming charges getting capped at 50 without confirmation.

(I'm exaggerating, but only slightly.. the irony is that I used to have data roaming included in Switzerland, but the network forced me to a new plan that doesn't have that because the old one was almost but not quite complying with EU roaming rules)

[ajuc]

> As soon as you cross the border to a non-Schengen country or you arrive from a non-Schengen country you will go through normal border control (with some exceptions)

Nothing in EU is as simple, therefore it's not only a Schengen/non-Schengen thing. For example a border between North and "regular" Ireland isn't marked in any way, you just cross a brook or a field.

[messe]

> you just cross a brook or a field.

Or walk to the other side of the room. The border cuts through a number of houses and businesses as far as I'm aware.

[dfawcus]

I though the point of the Irish passport card was that it is a passport (not a national ID card), but that the only place where it is needed / accepted is in other EU MS (due to format, and lack of ability to be stamped)? Note - the EU includes a passport union, which has been in place since the EEC days.

i.e. that there should be no need to also carry your passport, unless intending to travel on outwith the EU?

[messe]

You're right there isn't any need to have the passport booklet when travelling within the EU. I have the passport card on me almost 100% of the time when I'm not at home, as it's kept in my wallet. So I use that when flying within the EU as well.

However, when I'm traveling to somewhere that has a hotel safe, or somewhere secure enough to leave valuables, I'll bring the full passport booklet in my carry-on along with me, and leave it there when I go out. That way, in the unlikely event I should lose my wallet / passport card, I still have the full booklet to travel home on, rather than having to arrange emergency travel documents for the flight back.

I haven't needed it yet, but I don't see the harm in also taking it. It's not as if it takes up an obscene amount of space in my carry-on luggage, nor am I risking losing it by carrying it on my person at all times. It's purely there for peace of mind, and a backup in the very unlikely event I need it.

[phil21]

> As little as a birth certificate?

Lost in translation I think. You could cross the border to Canada with just your state issued ID/drivers license as well back then.

What OP is saying is that it was even more lax than that. OP brought a piece of paper that is trivially forged, no photo on it, that basically just said in writing who they were with no additional ID needed.

[OJFord]

> > As little as a birth certificate?

> Lost in translation I think.

Yeah, perhaps. My surprise I suppose is because to me a birth certificate is something somewhat safely tucked away somewhere, extremely rarely required; frankly I don't know how much of a problem it would be to lose and try to replace (maybe not replacing it but fraud would be your greater concern?) but certainly not something generally carried around with you here. (At least, I'd be surprised to learn that's just me?)

[yakubin]

Where do birth certificates contain photos? That… doesn’t sound very practical. (Imagining an elderly person handing in their photo as a toddler to border control.)

[dsomers]

> As little as a birth certificate?

I get what you’re getting at, but in Canada birth certificates from the 80s had a wallet sized version that had no more information than a drivers license, but it didn’t even have a photo on it. It was just a little pice of paper. I remember that’s very different from modern birth certificates.

I also crossed into the U.S. with my health card that only had my name on it and a number that is meaningless to the US boarder agency, also no photo.

[alexanderchr]

No, a drivers license is not enough, you’re supposed to bring a passport or a national id card. For UK nationals that meant a passport since the UK never had a national id card.

Within Schengen you can get away with just a drivers license since there are no checks, but that doesn’t make it allowed.

[usrusr]

In the boarding line of a flight between EU destinations (well, Schengen destinations), I usually see about one couple clinging to their passports. They stand out as if they were dressed up in victorian age safari gear.

[CalRobert]

You can cross schengen borders with nothing.