An identity document (also called a piece of identification or ID, or colloquially as one's 'papers') is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card (IC). Countries which do not have formal identity documents may require informal documents.
In the absence of a formal identity document, driving licences can be used in many countries as a method of proof of identity, although some countries do not accept driving licences for identification, often because in those countries they don't expire as documents and can be old and easily forged. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification.
Most countries have the rule that foreign citizens need to have their passport or occasionally a national identity card from their country available at any time if they do not have residence permit in the country.
Read more about Identity Document: Information Included in Identity Documents, History, Adoption of Identity Cards, National Policies
Famous quotes containing the words identity and/or document:
“No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women.... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it, dull to the contempory who reads it, invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it!”
—Ellen Terry (1848–1928)