El rincón cultural – Lemme see your ID!

Just who are you anyway? When you travel somewhere, pay for something, are stopped by police among other things people always want to see some sort of proof that you are who you say you are. Something official. Often, something official with a picture. My wife and I have discussed at length the fact that, surprisingly, there really is no singular piece of official identification in the US that citizens/legal residents are required to keep on them to prove their identity. There are numerous things used- driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, social security card, among others.  However, unless you drive or are traveling you probably never have anything truly official ever on you. Kids under driving age most definitely don’t. Strange, right? You’d think the US would be more security conscious than anywhere. So how can anyone really prove who they are?

Well, here in Argentina all citizens, permanent residents, etc. are required to have something know as a DNI. A DNI is short for Documento Nacional de Identidad and is almost universal in its use here to prove your identity.  You need it when signing someone up for something, applying for something official (bank account, etc.), using your credit card, etc. and when someone asks for your “De – ene – eee” or “documento” you need to write your number down. It’s pretty universal and most people in Argentina always carry it and/or have their number memorized. Many European countries have similar types of IDs for their citizens/residents. The DNI here looks like this:

The one on the right, that kind of looks like a driver’s license, is the new one and the one on the left, that kind of looks like a passport, is the old one.

If you don’t have one of these, like me, you don’t have the rights to do some things that citizens/legal residents can do. Argentines have many travel discounts on airfares, sites, etc. as well as other obvious rights.  Without a DNI you cannot have an Argentine bank account, you can’t get dollars out of ATM machines, among some other things. I must use my passport to prove who I am though, in the end, with the passport you still can do most things without a problem.

I wonder if the US will ever come up with something similar? I imagine, though, that the US system is so entrenched and ingrained in its current system that to start with something like this would be far to costly and so much more of a bureaucratic nightmare to even consider. Still, if you someone asks you for your “documentos” here in Argentina, at least now you’ll know what they’re looking for.

Prof Rabner