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Comment by yohannparis | Hacker News Reader

To get an ID in France: - Go online, request a birth-certificate, wait a week to receive it by mail. - Go to the city-hall, with a photo, birth-certificate, and proof of residence, then fill a form, pay nothing. - Wait ~6 weeks, pick-up at city-hall ID, valid for 15 years.

To get an ID in USA: - Hope you still are in possession of the only copy of your birth-certificate. - If not, hope that your church/city-hall, can provide you a copy. - Go to the DMV, birth-certificate, two proof of residences. - Wait couple of weeks to receive by mail.

Things are much simpler in France, cost nothing, and because it is mandatory to have an ID, it is never an issue to provide one.

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> To get an ID in USA: - Hope you still are in possession of the only copy of your birth-certificate. - If not, hope that your church/city-hall, can provide you a copy. - Go to the DMV, birth-certificate, two proof of residences. - Wait couple of weeks to receive by mail.

Do you live in the U.S. or do you just read about it online? I live in a historically Republican county that is suburban/rural. I needed a replacement copy of my son's birth certificate the other day. I went over to my county records office (which is 5 minutes away) and they gave me a copy in 30 minutes.

Waiting six weeks to get an ID in France? In my state your drivers license is delivered in under 10 days, typically just 4-5.

Yes, I lived in the U.S.A., and each county does things differently, so it is hard to compare all experiences at a national level.

And Driving Licenses are not the same thing as an ID outside of North America. In France we have an CNI (ID), Passport, and Driving Licence as separate documents.

This is one of my pet peeves in D.C. and Ontario, I can not have an ID card if I have a driving license.

Yes, but the US uses drivers licenses the same way other countries use ID cards. I’m not aware of anywhere that takes more than a month to deliver you a drivers license. DC for example says two weeks.

In WA state, they print out a temporary license on the spot. It’s just a piece of cardboard.

Same in IL, which until recently issued permanent laminated licenses on the spot.

In Germany, they make your actual metal license on the spot.

Driver's license in US vs passport in France - not same.

Also are you completely not self aware?

"went over to my county records office" and "hope that your church/city-hall, can provide you a copy" - are literally the same thing. You just happen to live nearby the place where your birth certificate was recorded.

Let alone - low density areas, that are much more republican, also have easier access to government services.

OP said “to get an ID in France” not “get a passport.”

OP was wrong about US birth certificates. They’re not recorded by “churches” they’re recorded by each state. My county office issues certified copies of Maryland birth certificates. (Yes you need to be born in the state, but most Americans live in the state they were born in, just like most Europeans live in the EU member country they were born in.)

> OP said “to get an ID in France” not “get a passport.”

It's literally the same process, you just get a card instead of a "book".

> They’re not recorded by “churches” they’re recorded by each state.

OP also used a slash.

These days at least around Paris (and I mean le grand paris not just inside paris) it takes over 5 month to get a appointment for a Passport or a National ID. They say it's because of the pandemic but i much rather be in the US to renew my passport if i had to.

It's probably fair that, in the US, bootstrapping ID from nothing if you were born somewhere across the country, don't own a home, don't know your social security number, and maybe don't even have a permanent address is probably going to be challenging. But it's also sort of an edge case. And, at the extreme, remarkable enough to be a podcast subject: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invis...

And how is that done in France? Everyone has a birth certificate and Social Security card automatically issued when they’re born in the US. If you have those things you can get a photo ID. If you don’t have those things, I don’t see how you’re in a different situation than someone in France who loses their national ID?

I don't know. I assume that most places getting official ID absent any existing proof of identity is at least somewhat challenging.

In the US, I haven't had a social security card for decades (it was in a wallet that was stolen) and I honestly don't know if I could unearth my birth certificate from my files someplace. But I do have a valid passport and drivers license so it doesn't really matter.

Most of the noise about ID cards is very politicized. Most adults have government-issued photo IDs; lots of things are very hard without them. And, for those who don't, by and large, they'd have problems rounding up the documentation to get one issued in most places. At the same time, there is essentially no evidence that voter fraud is a significant outcome of ID not being required.

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