America ID

Idbatterim

hey, hoping some of you have some experience with this. when trying to gain entry into a nite club or pub in the states , will you always be id'd? what id can you use? will an irish drivers licnese suffice? any info, past experiences, warnings or advice greatly appreciated! thanks

Ruu_Old

You probably will be asked for an ID. I use my garda age card. I would imagine your irish drivers licence would be fine as it has a photo on it.

last_orders

i was in san diego for june and they never accepted anything unless it was a passport, the id's i tried were a drivers licence and an agecard but they were generally turned down. only the odd time but for things like ciggeretts, maybe its just a regional thing but at least your passport will always work. one excuse i was givin for my drivers licence was that 'they werent trained to recognise forigne id', wtf? i explained that i could travel on planes with the id but he was havin none of it. also they id all the time, i always saw people in their 30's even gettin id'd.

blorg

Bring your passport. I'm 30 (and I look 30) and was constantly asked for ID, even in some restaurants. I really couldn't believe it when it first happened. I carried a photocopy of my passport everywhere but this was often not accepted. It does seem to depend on where you go though, was constantly carded in Georgia but not so much in Boston/NYC (not so much but certainly it still happened regularly enough.)

Our man in Havana

Some states will ask ID from everyone regardless of age for alcohol and fags. Utah is the best example of this.

Rb

last_orders wrote:

i was in san diego for june and they never accepted anything unless it was a passport

With there being thousands upon thousands of Irish students going on J1 visas to San Diego in the summer months, are you surprised?I'm sure they've had almost every trick in the book tried on them.

mloc

it varies from state to state. Your passport is the only document that most places officially will except, but depending on your age, how old you look and your general presentation and attitude, this could vary.

Personally, stick to your passport. NY city itself isn't too strict, but places like Boston and California most certainly are. Most likely, at any place where they don't need you to come in, they will laugh at an age card and most likely refuse a drivers license too.

Skittlebrau

How long are you going for? I spent a year or so in Chicago a while back and got the Illinois State ID. Gets rid of all the hassle with passports etc. Pretty cheap too.

Mloc is right, it really does vary from State to State. Generally though I got ID'ed everywhere. A lot of places I went to were passport or American Driving Licence/State ID only. There was one bar though with an American bouncer that knew the Irish Driving Licence better then we did. He pointed out all sorts of security devices on it that I had never noticed before.

Benedict XVI

last_orders wrote:

one excuse i was givin for my drivers licence was that 'they werent trained to recognise forigne id', wtf? i explained that i could travel on planes with the id but he was havin none of it. also they id all the time, i always saw people in their 30's even gettin id'd.

Would you expect an Irish bouncer\barman to be trained to, or able to, recognize a valid South Australia, Utah or British Colombia drivers license.
I don't think so.

Simple rule as many other have stated is to use your passport no matter how inconvenient it is.
And as someone said if you are staying long term you can get a state ID, also called a state liquor id. It's usually issued by the same people who issue drivers licenses, is as valid for buying booze as a drivers license and simple to get
.

BC

I was in Florida recently and all they would accept is a passport. (I'm 29). Also, it may have been the area i was in but they always wanted a passport per drink. So i couldn't just go to the bar and order 3 drinks unless i had 3 different passports.

Benedict XVI

BC wrote:

I was in Florida recently and all they would accept is a passport. (I'm 29). Also, it may have been the area i was in but they always wanted a passport per drink. So i couldn't just go to the bar and order 3 drinks unless i had 3 different passports.

That's a common enough occurance at sports events and concerts.

Never seen it is a pub setting in Boston or NY so it could be a Florida, or whatever city you were in thing.
in Maine some pubs also will not server you more that 3 drinks in one sitting, once again it is regional.

dave2pvd

Benedict XVI wrote:

Would you expect an Irish bouncer\barman to be trained to, or able to, recognize a valid South Australia, Utah or British Colombia drivers license.
I don't think so.

Simple rule as many other have stated is to use your passport no matter how inconvenient it is.
And as someone said if you are staying long term you can get a state ID, also called a state liquor id. It's usually issued by the same people who issue drivers licenses, is as valid for buying booze as a drivers license and simple to get
.

My advice exactly. Get a state ID as quick as you can. You don't want to lose your passport!

The 'rules', btw are entirely state-dependant. So someone who spent a Summer in Anchorage can't tell you what the carding policy will be like in Florida.

I'm always amazed that people expect US bouncers to recognise Irish driver's licences or Garda IDs. WTF are you thinking? That everyone has taken an honours class in ID cards from small countries?

Grem

I was there 4 years ago and got away with using a fake drivers license - i was under 21. A police man checked my friends fake ID in a bar one night and couldnt tell the difference. Funny!

Then 2 years later went back and they would only accept a passport everywhere. Going again in a few weeks and im well over the drinking age but ill still have to bring my passport everywhere. Its been very strict anywhere ive gone.

Going off topic a bit -age cards are so useless -they accept them nowhere, not the US, not Australia, not NZ not the UK. Pieces of poo.

Ruu_Old

Actually I was suprised that I was able to use my age card in the US and in the UK a number of times. Its not officially an ID at all, its sole purpose is to show that you are at a legal age (in Ireland) for consuming alcohol.

Grem

Ive tried to use it before for not even buying drink, just for silly things like showing ID in the post office for sending a package overseas and they wont accept it anywhere. Its not like i carry my passport around everywhere with me!

And in London for Paddy's Day - about 5 of us had them and they still wouldnt accept them in a pub. We are lucky to all be so youthful looking i suppose.

last_orders

iv never had my garda id turned down except in the us, iv used it all through europe, east and west. iv even rented a moped in greece with it!!! obviously an unscruplious company but i understand why it wouldent be accepted in the us, it doesent mean squat. but i was honestly surprised that my drivers licence wasnt accepted in most places considering its an official government licence, i can rent a car, rent an apartment with it but cant buy some smokes.

Tazzle

I'm living in Providence, Rhode Island at the moment and they'll pretty much accept anything, eg. my gf just got some nail varnish remover and altered her student id so it showed her as 21 in the US format, ie. mm/dd/yy.

Three Irish lads down from Boston got in with one guys student id, (he gave them his 1st, 2nd, 3rd year ids etc.), and he got in on his passport. *shrug*

It really depends where you're going I guess. In Boston I had to argue my way into getting a pint because I only had my passport, wtf?