Carrying passport

Legally, you're supposed to have a recognized ID on you. For Americans, this means a passport. However, for nominative tickets, your drivers license should be good enough.

You do have an image of your passport on your phone? Vero.

That’s the reason I got a passport card as well as the passport when I last renewed. I carry the card but not the book.

Passport is required to be on your person in case it’s asked for by police. However, I have used a color copy and I-phone photo and that has always sufficed for ID on trains and at museum entrances.

This topic gets brought up often. Here’s several responses:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/carrying-our-passports-in-italy

Given that the USA has just bombed Iran, I imagine most European countries (if they are still there) will be on the alert for reprisal terrorist attacks. Security will be tightened, so probably best to have your passport on you at all times.

I carry my passport on me at all times. In today's world, with my passport and a credit card, I can get almost anywhere in times of emergency. (Adding a phone to that makes it much easier.)

I keep mine in a "Hidden Pocket" type moneybelt so I hardly know it's there. On travel days, when I know I will have to show it, I keep it in a neck pouch for easy access.

However, if asked for ID at museums, I'm much more prone to show my Passport Card.

Thank you, everyone for your replies. I appreciate the input

I never carry my passport with me - as I understand it, Italy doesn't specify a passport, just a form of national ID. I do have a Singapore ID card, but in all my travels I have never been stopped and asked for ID, so frankly I wouldn't bother.

A passport is required by law in Italy for non EU citizens who are not resident in the EU (residents can exhibit the Identity card). Another document, like a driver’s license, may be sufficient for museums. The probability of being asked to exhibit a passport by a law enforcement agent is low, unless you look like you could be an undocumented immigrant (racial profiling is widely used by Italian police, just like by ICE in the US). If that happens and you left your passport in the hotel, at least be ready to show photos of your passport, including entry visa pages, as well as your driver’s license. Just explain you left it in the hotel because you are scared of pickpockets. Legally a photo or photocopy of the real passport doesn’t meet the law requirement, but with that and a Drivers License, the officer may be reasonably satisfied to let you get away with it. If you drive a rental car or if you take trains to other towns, carry your passport however, because on the road and on trains, and at train stations, random police checks are more frequent.

You will get many “yeses” and many “nos” here on this subject.
I travel to Italy most years and always have my passport with me at all times.
It’s easy carrying it hidden in my underclothing moneybelt.
As Roberto said: it is your accepted form of ID while in Italy.
What if you were in an incident, accident, your accommodation was somehow inaccessible to you for whatever reason…fire etc ?
Of it’s on you, you are good to go and get out of town if need be.
I put mine in a small ziploc bag, then wrap a paper towel around it , then put it in the moneybelt.
I wear the pouch of the belt in the small of my back and don’t even feel it.

I have been stopped by police in Italy a few times and asked to produce it.
In railway stations and once way up in the Dolomites on a country road at a roadblock.

but in all my travels I have never been stopped and asked for ID, so frankly I wouldn't bother.

It's the old "it never happened to me so it won't happen to you." Until it does.

Of course, if you decide not to carry your passport and you get stopped by police, just tell them people on the Rick Steves forum told you not to bother. They'll go "Oh, Rick Steves, well, have a nice day." Not.

Frank II, you're entitled to disagree, but just sharing my experience. Feel free to share your own. I would advise the OP to make up their own mind. Frankly I think carrying a passport around on the off chance of being stopped by an officer who won't accept an alternative form of national photo ID is overkill.

I was interested to see the UK Foreign Office advises a photocopy plus a secondary form of photo ID (not necessarily a passport) will be fine in most cases:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/safety-and-security

We can all agree to disagree but even during the Gulf War and protests in all the European capitals I went to. I never took along my passport unless needed for an attraction-palace or government building. I still don't but have a color copy of the front page with my information.

Of course if you are traveling by train or plane, always have it on your person.

I lived in Spain for 12 years. It's the law that you carry and ID card or passport. I was probably not asked for mine more than once or twice a year. But I always had it with me just in case. And it was always the police (usually Guardia Civil) who asked for it, and who could have issued an on the spot fine.
I know a few people who were fined, and it caused complications for whatever issue they had originally been stopped for.

There is a lot of fairly aggressive pickpocketing in Italy and while passports are not a target of pickpockets, they tend to indescriminantly scoop up whatever they can glom onto and then just throw out keys or passports etc. Losing one abroad is a real pain. If you do decide to carry one on your person, do it with a money belt UNDER your clothes where it is really secure.

Why take a chance that a police officer will be flexible? We were stopped at an Italian train station a few months ago and we were glad we had our passports with us.

Carry your passport in a money belt so it’s not accessible. Keep copies on your phone or in a hotel safe. Then don’t worry about it. Enjoy the trip.

I always carry my Passport with me, and on a previous trip the value of that approach became very apparent. While out hiking one day, I injured my leg and had to be taken to hospital. My Passport was the first thing they asked for in Emerg. and I was very relieved that I had it with me. Although I was eventually able to arrange delivery of my luggage a few days later, if my Passport had been in a hotel room safe, it would probably still be there.

Having the passport with you is a legal requirement, no way around it. You can choose if you prefer to dodge the law, as controls are not that frequent but in some situations, and losing your passport is a major problem. But to people that book in the same morning a visit to Uffizi, a call at Accademia, a cooking class and have a train to Rome at 2.30pm, even losing half an hour with the police may be a problem. Be it clear that you are dodging the law and take consequences if any.

In some other discussions about overtorusim the subject of being a "responsible" and a "good" tourist often comes up. My, possibly minority opinion, is that being a good and responsible tourist begins with obeying the laws of the host country. Just because one know that one can get away with something less than the law requires does not in my mind, for me, justifying doing it. Sort of an Aldo Leopold thing I guess.

Simon, above, is misquoting the FCO - what they say is "In most cases a copy of the photo page of your passport should be enough, but you may also be asked for a second form of photo ID. The police will normally ask for your full passport if you are stopped while driving."

Most, should and may is a lot of conditions in a single sentence.

We were on a day trip by train, from Venice to Codroipo.
Passport checking crew got onto the train.
We did not have our passports.
Finger wagging from the passport crew.
Two Aussies had very red faces.

Lesson learned, I now have a neck pouch for our passports.

”We were on a day trip by train, from Venice to Codroipo.
Passport checking crew got onto the train.”

We were on a train from Torino, heading to Annecy. Some armed officers were scanning passports, looking for a male because they scanned my husband’s but didn’t need mine. They definitely didn’t look like they would have been okay with someone not immediately producing the required documentation passport.

Back to the original question, Do you have to carry your passport with you?. Legally, yes.

Jean, the world is sort of a messy place. We have two major wars involving Western powers, a half dozen European countries that feel threatened by the ongoing wars, the ocassional nut case detonating himself, shootings in countries that as a rule dont do that sort of thing, one European country finding it impossible to form a government after 4 months of trying, two European governments questioning the legitimacy of another European government, schengen countries setting up checkpoints, pro this and anti that rallies in most countries. I know, no tourist has ever been swept up in any of this stuff .... Wallace has been traveling for 76 years and never once seen a protest ... but if you were to be so unlucky, unlike Walace, those poor cops are just trying to do their jobs while cars around them are buring and someone wants to show them a photo of a passport on a cell phone? Not fair to the cop.

Driver's license will 100% work for ID at a museum.

If you want to carry around your passport 24/7, be my guest but that seems paranoid to me. You're not going to get randomly stopped by the police. How often are you randomly stopped by the police in America? It's not more common in Europe.

I can’t imagine not having my passport on my person.
It’s so simple. Put it in a money belt. It’s the most important thing you carry with you while traveling abroad. A passport and a credit card will get you anywhere you need to go or get you through any incident.
Keep a photo of your passport on your phone, print a photo of your passport and keep it accessible.
The chances of a passport being stolen or lost are very low as long as you are responsible.

You are required by law to carry your passport, so the answer to OPs question is YES, you must carry your passport.

You're not going to get randomly stopped by the police.

We have been randomly stopped and asked for our passports twice.

I'm with Frank II, besides being required by Italian law, if the worst scenario happens my passport and a credit card can more easily get me to safety.

Why carry your driver's license when driving? How often will you stop by police? Especially in US of A.
You carry one because it is required by law. Has some respect to your host country.

"Simon, above, is misquoting the FCO"

I did not misquote - I paraphrased, and I did use the word "most", just as they did.

Having said that, it's been an interesting discussion, and I do agree being a "good" tourist includes obeying local law, so you have made me reconsider my position on carrying my passport in Italy (and elsewhere it is specifically required by law).

I do not - and will not - carry my passport where not required, and I do sense a little paranoia about the whole 'carry your passport with you because you never know what might happen' argument.

Just thought I’d add that we are in Italy right now - family of 4 with adult children - and we were approached by police to produce our passports on a train platform in La Spezia. In prior trips we’ve never had this experience. We were pleased to be able to comply, and everyone else on the platform obviously on vacation (ie most everyone) was addressed similarly. YMMV, but I would rather avoid time consuming law enforcement interactions generally, and especially whilst on vacation.

On my way to Vienna. If i understood the Budapest train station announcement correctly the Austrian authorities will be checking passports.

In my moneybelt I always carry my passport, driver’s license, an extra credit card or two, my medical insurance card, and cash both Euros and US dollars. I keep a small amount of cash and my main credit card (and phone) in my cross body bag. If I know I’ll need to show ID at a museum (which rarely happens) I would have the driver’s license in my bag that day not in the moneybelt. Photos of everything are on my phone and credit cards are also in my Apple wallet. I don’t go anywhere without my phone charger and battery. I always have 2-3 credit cards on me at least one of which is also a debit card. Rarely need to use them as almost every place you can tap your phone to pay. I take a VISA, a MasterCard, and the card for my airline. If something goes really bad I can abandon everything I left behind at the hotel and get out of the country with my passport, cash and cards.

Carrying a passport can initially be cumbersome. I’ve tried a number of methods until I encountered one that works well and quite securely for me. I gladly (and without fail) carry that document with me everywhere while traveling internationally. To answer your specific question - my driver’s license has been accepted as identification or proof of age even though my passport was accessible.

@Simon-“ Frank II, you're entitled to disagree, but just sharing my experience. Feel free to share your own. I would advise the OP to make up their own mind. Frankly I think carrying a passport around on the off chance of being stopped by an officer who won't accept an alternative form of national photo ID is overkill.”
It’s not overkill, it’s the law. I’m married to a northern Italian, all my friends are Italians as are my relatives and we’ve been traveling to Italy for more than 25 years and I still carry my passport with me everywhere, because it is the law and I’m not a citizen nor a resident, although I was a resident in the past. And, yes, I follow speed limits, and always follow the letter of the law, because, to be frankly honest, it’s the law.

and I do sense a little paranoia about the whole 'carry your passport
with you because you never know what might happen' argument.

I can assure you- I carry my passport because it is required by law and what a smart traveler would do. I am not paranoid.
As many here have shown- you can and will be stopped and asked to show it.

I do wonder what your reason for refusing to carry your passport is?
Are you paranoid that you will lose it or it will be stolen?

I was told by my travel agent not to carry a color copy of your passport or drivers license with you. Instead of color use black and white (grey scale) only. If lost or stolen, someone finds your color copies it will be easier for them to steal your personal identification.

Asking a question.

Wouldn't your passport also provide the evidence that you have not overstayed the Schengen time limit?

Kat V. There is nothing on a passport worth stealing.

Khansen yes. If not by the stamps then by scanning the chip and if not by that then manually entering the passport number. I think its more about it being a world wide accepted form of identification that is difficult to forge except in Mission Impossible movies. Right or wrong every cop will recognize it and accept it as fact. A color ink jet printed copy? Ahhhh, no.

"don’t post comments saying giving false information like you did up top and then expect people to not respond to it. You’ve got some chutzpah"

Johnrossjan, I have not given any false information. I was simply sharing my opinion. If you read my later comment, I agree with the observation about following the law. Absolutely correct and will be carrying my passport with me next time I'm in Italy. I appreciate your comment and you're right.

ChristineH - see above. In my second comment, I agree the law requires it, and will do so. I don't carry my passport when not legally required. Can't see any good reason too unless the location is unsafe. Totally agree though that a good visitor should follow the law.

If read carefully, both of you are in agreement in that you will carry your passport where required (I assume "required" means the law). So cheers to both.

MrE yes indeed - and while I don't believe I shared any false info, I'm happy to correct if I have done so. But to be absolutely clear, yes I agree one should carry ones passport when the law requires it.

Simon, as one who sticks his foot in his mouth often, gets taken out of context often and see life from what would be considered on this forum as a minority view point; i take no exception to the opinions of either of you.