This seems kinda weird re: passport

[iamali]

I'd ask see the actual policy, because I wouldn't be comfortable with this.

[CloudBee]

My assumption is that they need to track who comes/goes. As it's a nuclear facility, to an extent, they are responsible for their guests while visiting the country. (As they are the reason for the visit.) Due to access to possible sensitive information, there may be a requirement to cover their tracks, per se.

[isabel]

I mean, I guess it's ok, but I would be irrationally freaked out that they would lose it and it would be a huge hassle to get home.

[aprilsails]

At certain federal government facilities you have to hand over your valid ID in order to be given a security pass which you will trade back at the end of the day. This could be a passport or your driver's license. I've never found it shady.

On the ships I worked on all people on board had to hand over their passport to the captain. They were kept locked together in a safe box that floated and was part of the retrieval kit in the event of emergency. We went back and forth between the US and Canada in the Great Lakes so people needed their passports to do the border crossings.

I don't find it too surprising for the type of facility you are describing.

[livinitup]

I've left my Driver's License when at government contract facilities with military secrets. On a related note, I was 8 months pregnant at such a visit and needed to be 'hip to hip' escorted everywhere, so I had a chaperone to/from my bathroom breaks - numerous at that point.

[iammalcolmx]

I have had to leave my passport at the Front Desk of a hotel while overseas.

[Deleted]

I've had to leave my passport with people overseas several times for several different reasons.

[Captain Serious]

I've also had to leave my passport with others sometimes while abroad. When we went to Tibet, the only way to get the Chinese visa was to leave our passports with our Nepalese travel agency while they went to the Chinese embassy to secure the visas. We were not allowed to go ourselves, only the agency that was sponsoring us was allowed to go. Less scary, we had to give our passports to our Peruvian lawyer during the adoption processes.

The US government warns against doing it, but sometimes other governments require it. If you want whatever service they require leaving your passport, you have to make an educated decision on whether or not you are okay with the risk.

[Captain Serious]

Oct 20, 2014 11:42:11 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I have had to leave my passport at the Front Desk of a hotel while overseas.

In this situation, I usually offer a copy and that often satisfies them.

[iammalcolmx]

Oct 20, 2014 11:50:29 GMT -5 Captain Serious said:

Oct 20, 2014 11:42:11 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I have had to leave my passport at the Front Desk of a hotel while overseas.

In this situation, I usually offer a copy and that often satisfies them.

Great idea!!! I haven't had to do it in years but I will def be using this idea.

[Muddled]

Oct 20, 2014 10:52:00 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

My assumption is that they need to track who comes/goes. As it's a nuclear facility, to an extent, they are responsible for their guests while visiting the country. (As they are the reason for the visit.) Due to access to possible sensitive information, there may be a requirement to cover their tracks, per se.

yes. They know who is on site at any given time. IIRC, WHO does this as well.

[renna]

My husband was with his work group in Texas at an oil company. They were supposed to work (do their computer work) on the 5th floor of the company for maybe a month or something. The first day they show up at the front desk and are told to fill out a form with name, address, phone number and social security number. He told them no. He would give his name, address and phone number but no on the SSN.

Apparently they weren't used to being told NO, so there was a tiny commotion while the front desk person asked some higher-ups what to do. He said he was willing to work from the lobby or work from his hotel but he was not giving them his SSN if that's what it took to get a security pass.

Turns out that they were fine with giving him a daily pass to go up to the floor every day, it's just he could have gotten the mack daddy pass (for a month) if he had given his SSN. He said "They just had a stack of papers with everybody's SSN's sitting on the front desk! Who KNOWS who has access to that or what they do with those papers? Plus, THEY invited ME to come here!"

Anyway, he just stopped at the desk every day for his pass. Apparently his co-workers (including his boss) were all mad at themselves for filling out the paperwork fully and not going the route of my husband.

Your social security number! Sitting at a front desk!

[chickadee77]

When I traveled overseas, every hotel at which I stayed required your passport when you returned. Made me uncomfortable as hell, but they all did it - I would assume to track your comings and goings?