Acceptable Identification

"Swipe your license"??? Where have you been that does that? Never seen it before and I've lived here my whole life!

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<hr>"Swipe your license"??? Where have you been that does that?<hr></blockquote>
Most of the bars in Calgary now "swipe" your licence.

Sawdough is right - they do it here in Toronto as well, in a portable debit-card like machine. That said, I disagree with most of the other posters. You don't say where you'll be going, but in my personal experience here in Toronto (not saying this applies everywhere else in Canada though), people who are from outside Canada (including the U.S.) are required to have a passport as ID. My guess is there have been too many incidents with fake IDs or it's too challenging for a busy bar/club to identify various foreign IDs as being legitimate or not. Take your passport and make sure that you have a legible copy somewhere in your suitcase/backpack in case you lose it.

I'm sorry # 12, but that's really bad advice.

Do NOT take your passport to a club in a strange country unless it's absolutely unavoidable. Use a photocopy or another form of ID. Anyone who takes their passport with them while drinking and partying deserves whatever they get, IMHO. If you lose the copy, no problem. If you lose the original, big problem. some places might not accept the copy, but these days it's becoming more common as people become more aware of identity theft issues.

As for bars not accepting US driver's licenses and requiring passports that's just crazy. US citizens aren't even required to use a passport to enter the country (by land), never mind a bar. None of the guys who worked door for me ever turned a US citizen away for not having a passport, and I've never heard of that happening in any bar I've frequented, and I've frequented a hell of a lot of bars. Still, I wouldn't say that it can't happen in this day and age, but it definitely would be the grand exception rather than the rule.

The ID scanning or ID photocopying is becoming more common though, as mentioned in #11. This is so they have a record of who was in the club to provide to the police in the case of trouble. It is supposed to be a deterrent to serious violence, and isn't about validating ID in most cases. It's also usually reserved for the big clubs in most cases, and not something you see in the smaller ones or the neighbourhood bars.

My roommate this year had a british passport and often took it out with her in Ontario. It was always accepted and she managed not to lose it the whole year. I think she just made sure to keep it close always. Then again, I agree that it's something you may not want to risk losing.

I don't know what a British license looks like - but i think if i has holograms, bar codes etc they will take it (harder to fake). I have a forgein drivers permit that is a laminated card with a photo on it and this was NOT accepted in Ontario.

I would say take your license and a photocopy of your passport - together they should be enough.