Reid 3d ago
Okay so, I'm perplexed: is it really just an EU thing to have state issued ID cards that you get for free by just being a citizen and then you use those for ID with like banks or when voting or whatever?

Wikipedia page on Romanian ID cards for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_identity_card
Romanian identity card - Wikipedia

Show threadBenAveling2d ago
@reiddragon citizen, or resident…
Show threadReid 2d ago
@BenAveling I think the laws vary slightly from country to country on residents
Show threadBenAveling2d ago
Everything seems to vary slightly from country to country.
And yes, as other people have noted, it's not necessarily free.
But yes, you do get one and you do use it from time to time.
Irony is, the card says: not to be used as ID, and then everyone including the government uses it as ID.
@reiddragon
Show threadReid 
@BenAveling > And yes, as other people have noted, it's not necessarily free.

Well, my only experience is with Romanian ID cards and those are free if you renew them on schedule (you pay a small fee only if you have a new one issued before the old one expired because you lost it or it was destroyed or w/e)

> Irony is, the card says: not to be used as ID, and then everyone including the government uses it as ID.

Which cards are you talking about here? Resident cards?
Mar 20 at 9:54pmWeb
Show threadBenAveling2d ago
Yup, resident card. Specifically, in my case, Irish.
It says on the front "This IRP is not an identity card". But it totally gets used as an identity card. And, I guess, technically, the card itself is free. But the residency itself is not free and needs to be renewed regularly.
@reiddragon