Get your passports out…

As of October 1st, all alcohol providers in Scotland are required to check the ID of anyone who looks under the age of 25. As the Union primarily serves students who (with a few exceptions) are under the age of 25, this means that everyone will be legally required to show some ID.

The Union has put out an official statement saying that the bar will not accept a matriculation card as a valid form of identification (although they still must present one to get into the Union). This is especially troublesome for international students, as the only universally accepted form of ID (except for those PASS cards that look like something out of a spy film) is a passport.

Many students who are on visas don’t wish to carry their passport on them on all times. First year student Danielle Polemeni-Hegarty, a dual citizen with U.S. and British passports, lost her UK passport on a night out in the Union: ‘I was really scared… because I lost my [British] passport and don’t have a visa in my American passport there was no proof that I wasn’t in this country illegally.’ Fortunately someone found it and returned it to her.

The law has been implemented to prevent underage drinking, but some are suggesting it will do little but inconvenience overage international students who, at the end of a long day, just want a drink before bed.