this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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electoralism
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A drivers license is only proof of identity, not proof of citizenship. Something I found out when I went overseas. A passport is proof of both. Now they even have passport cards that fit in your wallet but they're only valid for Caribbean travel on cruise ships and such. My Mom's friends would always bring their birth certificates. anything to avoid getting a passport. MN doesn't require an ID to vote which is why Trump is so upset about this. In China your national ID card is proof of both identity and citizenship. And your race. I liked to show around my US drivers license and amaze people because it has fields for hair color and eye color. Fun fact: Mandarin has no word for "hazel". I never knew until I was well into adulthood that I have brown hair and a black beard. One of my aunts pointed it out and I said, you know what, you're right. I never noticed.
They're good for driving into Canada and Mexico, which is actually pretty handy for a ton of people.
They will work for cruises but IMO are worthless for it. May as well take your birth certificate. You can't fly internationally with the card so if you got stranded by your ship and had to fly home you're just as boned as if you had no passport at all.
An extra form of ID is always handy, I used mine to fly in the States because my drivers license had expired from disuse. I love not driving. Plus the passport card is also proof of citizenship and it fits in a wallet and doesn't get beat-up and stringy like your passport does. Plus if you lose it it's not a super tragedy, but if you lose your passport that is a big deal because it has all your visas in it and getting those back is a pain. Plus reporting a lost passport makes you suspicious because someone could be impersonating you. Brits on holiday used to run out of money and sell their passports. There was a way of steaming it open and putting someone else's photo in there so god knows who got into the UK with those.