Are Passport Copies Accepted as ID If I Lock Originals in Hotel Safe?

No official authority will accept a photocopy as a substitute for an original document.

It is simply too easy to make a high resolution scan, edit it with photoshop (or a similar program), print it out with a high resolution, and make a photocopy of that printout. Due to the low quality of most photocopies these falsifications are almost not detectable with the naked eye.

For non-official purposes (e.g. entry fees) it depends on the house rules of the institution, and on the good will of the person behind the counter.

This gets discussed all the time. There really is no reason not to carry it. There is a general expectation that you carry some form of proper id. About the only reason to have a good color copy is to prove to the US that you had a passport should you lose it. Safe guard you passport is the same manner as your credit cards and money.

Thanks...I suspected as much.

That was a good question. Let me make sure I understand. I'm travelling to Spain/France with my husband and two children. Do I need to carry all of our original passports at all times?

When we traveled with out two sons, I carried two and Marcia had two. Not a major problem. This question is frequently discussed with no conclusion. Some feel it is OK to carry a copy and leave the passport in a safe --- but that is just personal opinion!! I know that if I always have my passport on me, I can never have a problem. But if I don't, who knows? Of all the things to be concerned about during a trip, that is low on my list,

If available - I always leave ours locked in a safe. Never considered taking it with me!

It is probably a good idea to have your passport with you in situations where you cannot quickly return to your hotel to get it. For example, if you take a day trip on a bus or train or in a rental car.

Thanks to all weighing in on this subject. We're going to carry our originals, bury copies in our luggage as Rick suggests, and e-mail copies to our son in the US.
How safe we feel in the US, lugging our wallets around weighted down with coins and too many cards and bits of paper. When I traveled to DC last month I lightened my wallet, leaving only two credit cards and minimal ID. Don't you know, without the heft of the stuff I carry in my wallet, the cards slipped out onto the carpet in the airline terminal while I fumbled for cash to buy a magazine. If not for a kind and fellow traveler, a stranger who called me by name, those cards could have...well, I hate to imagine that!

We have been to Europe 3 times for an aggregate of 10 months. We have gone to a dozen countries and have never felt a need to lock our passports away. We have carried photocopies but have done so for the reason given above-- to prove to the US that we had passports in the event they were lost or stolen ( btw, it is FAR more likely that you would lose them than that they would be stolen.Locking passports away is inconvenient and a needless precaution. We found that Italy requires passports before allowing internet access at web cafes. Photocopies wont do. There are other similar situations.

I always carry my passport with me, never locking it up.

I have copies buried in my luggage, a copy of it on flash drive that is with me, and my mother has a copy of it back home in an e-file in case it needs to be sent to me.

On all our trips, I always kept the passport at the hotel unless I knew I would need an official document.

Unlike another poster, I found that an internet cafe in Italy (Rome) took the copy w/o a problem.

The passport is like your drivers license. You don't need it normally unless you are participating or involved in an activity that requires its presence. when we knew we needed it, we took it with us.

This will never go anywhere, there are always the "I keep it with me cause it is my lifes blood" type and the mellow, "hey its in the safe, I'll carry it when I need it"... obviously I am of the latter type,, LOL, but each person should do what makes them feel happiest. I feel happy knowing its safe,, in the safe..

I have needed photo ID often when renting audio guides (to leave as a security deposit) and when storing luggage ( I assume this is to make sure they give the luggage back to the same person who left it). I have used my driver's license without problems. The only other instance I can recall offhand was at Chairman Mao's mausoleum in Beijing. The driver's license worked there too, a good thing since my passport was stashed in the hotel safe.

The only times I have needed my passport were for hotel check-ins. Then I have always had the original, of course.

I don't see why you need to carry a passport or copy around with you while touring during the day. I just got back from Ireland yesterday and never had to show my passport to anyone besides at the airport. Even renting a car they only wanted to see my drivers license. Some hotels will want to see your passport. During this trip we stayed at B&B's except one hotel in Dublin. The hotel never asked for our passport. On my debit/visa card I put on the back with my signature to see my ID. Showing my drivers license is sufficient for that too. I have not been to Spain, so maybe it is different there.

Now don't quote me on this, but my understanding is that it is the law in many European countries to have ID on you at all times. I'm sure that a driver's license would suffice, but why take the chance? If you carry your passport in a money belt, as I have on all my travels, it won't be a problem.
But let me stress the importance of a money belt. As one of many first-hand examples, my mother and I were boarding a train in Italy. The woman behind her started yelling at this man who was proximate to my mother (loudly, God bless her). Turns out the guy had emptied my mother's "fanny pack" without her knowing- the place she had been planning to carry her passport, before I convinced her to wear a money belt.
Again, this is one of several incidences where the money belt was a lifesaver. Use it!

re: "the duty to carry ID papers at all times" You can find the relevant regulations for the Schengen states here.

Unfortunately it is rather dense legalese of two dozened different legal systems...

As Mark has pointed out, there is no one law for "Europe." Each country has their own. As an example, Italy makes no stipulation on whether or not a person needs to carry a passport, while France makes it clear that you must carry documents proving you have legal right to be in their country. A drivers license doesn't do that, a passport does.

Not only do most countries require you to always carry proof that you have permission to be in that country. If I am hurt, unable to tell someone my medical information, someone can pull out my passport, go to page 7 of my passport and know who to contact to get that information.