In the US, there was an incident when I tried to bring a friend from China to a bar. Even though she was old enough and had her passport (which had her birthday), the bouncers denied her entry because the passport displayed no information on her weight, height, hair/eye colour, etc. They didn't accept her ID card from her country because they couldn't read it.

Since I will be going to school in Switzerland, I'm wondering if I could run into similar problems with such strict ID checks when I enter most bars or clubs. I'm 25 years old although I look like I'm at most 20 (and I think the drinking age here is 18, not 21.)

You can go into a bar here at 16 and order beer and wine. though you need to be 18 to order spirits and alco-pops. However, some clubs operate a higher age policy (21 is quite common) and you will be ID'd if you look younger. Your residents permit would be sufficient for ID though, I think.

You are lucky, when I go to bars, they check my ID to ensure I am not TOO OLD... (in case I need emergency help later on)

HAT

I have never seen a passport that contains this information, other than eye colour the rest of it can change within 10 years and so is completely redundant anyway.

Fire the bouncer!

He should know how to read basic Chinese, 1 2 3.!
Didn't he know chinese is going to be the new international business language?


HAT

Cantonese or Mandarin? (what others are there, incidentally?)

Hi!

I was just going to say that some of the European do...but a quick check in my Swedish passport it only contains the height of all the physical characteristics....

Besides that it used to contain both eye colour and hair colour as well - which could lead to very interesting discussions with the police when applying for one. Many years ago, when my older sister that has this beautiful chestnut/redish/brownish hair applied for a passport. The police woman refused to put in red or if it was redbrown in the passport since she told my sister that it could not be her natural hair colour - it must be fake! So she wanted to put in Dark Blond or something equivalent....

WARNING: Off topic
Just googled this: took 1.3422 seconds.
http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/

Basically Mandarin is the main (equivalent of High German) Chinese language.
Cantonese is a dialect spoken from a certain Canton.
There are many other dialects, but main ones are listed in the weblink.

Hope this helps. China is taking over the world!!!!!
PS: I am not from China.

HAT

Off topic, I do find your posts brilliantly amusing HAT.

Yes, I saw this in my Swedish girlfriend's passport.

It says:
Original color at birth = Brown hair
A year ago = Blond Clairol no.244
A month ago = Very blond Clairol no.344
A week ago = Extreme blond Clairol no.444
Current color = No hair.

HAT
PS: Don't tell my wife ok?

Shouldn't be a problem: I've been using my US driver's license without any issues. I've only been asked to show my id in clubs since some nights they have a certain minimum age.

The incident in the US just smells like a racist anti Chinese or anti non-American door policy to me where they would have used any weak excuse to stop your friend from entering. Unfortunately a lot of bars around the world can be like this.

This thread is worthless without pics.

I'm not sure if it was on EF or on certain Polish forum about Switzerland - someone was denied entrance to some club because he didn't have C permit.

Yes it was here and was quasimodo in Bern. Last yr I was also refused in upstate NY as I didn't have "American ID". I was with my 3 brothers (younger). 2 got in fine. I guess they'd reached the Tourist quota. Imagine trying this in Ireland with visiting Americans.

I don't think so. Bouncers are typically not the brightest crayon in the box. They are trained to look at one specific type of ID everyone has - the driver license of the state the club is in. Any other document, be it a DL from another state or country, an ID card or a passport is wayyy outside their mental capacity. I was refused cigarettes at a gas station in the U.S. at age 30 because all I had with me was a German ID and passport.

I think it's pretty normal that certain level of selection is done. By no means I think it is 100% fair, but if I had a club, I would also instruct the bouncers what type of people to let in It's all about money.

I don't know if it is also the case, but in Poland for example many clubs ans bars have the status of club. This means that any member can enter freely, but non-member will have to undergo "selection" process by the bouncer. The trick is that there are almost no real members and membership.

Of course. SIP door policy applies.

I am a US citizen and very concerned about this passport issue. I am noticing that many businesses are starting to demand local drivers licenses and not accept either US or foreign passports. I use my US passport as my primary ID, and only show the DL to law enforcement when driving, as it should be.

My fear is that because of complacency, the drivers license is becoming a defacto national id card. This has too much private information for it to be a requirement to do business with private entities.

Refusing passports, which are valid federal ID in the US, defies all logic. I have done some legal research, and it appears to violate the commerce clause of the constitution, the supremacy clause, the civil liberty to have the free right to purchase alcohol when being of age, as well as various state laws. The need to see a description is BS.. because a picture tells a thousand words, and a photo should certainly trump a description.

I am now in correspondence with different levels of the US government, and also with some of the companies that conduct this practice. If they will not amend all of their policies, or if the government does not put an end to it, I am planning a large scale civil liberties based lawsuit against any and all entities, including the US government.

I believe the government may solve the issue, but I am not going to hold back if they fail to do so.

If anyone here has input as to what bar, company, or establishment engaged in the practice, or has details about their experience, please post more details or contact me. You could be very helpful to this cause.

(I am new here, but assuming that you can either PM or email me through this system)

Now I don't care who you are, but that's funny right there.

The government IS the issue and it MAKES the issues, it doesn't SOLVE the issues.