OPC Offers Press ID

The Overseas Press Club offers photo ID card options for our working press members.

The cards are valid for 12 months to correspond with the OPC’s dues schedule that runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. There are two options available.

Option One: A double-sided hard plastic ID card, similar in size to a credit card. It is durable, bears the owner’s photo and the date of issue, and certifies that the bearer represents themselves as an active member of the OPC and active press. All members will have the option to request such an ID at no extra cost when renewing membership or joining the OPC; since the cards will be custom printed on-demand at OPC headquarters, members will also have the option to request a card at any point throughout the year, and have it shipped to their location.

Option Two: A government or press-pass style Overseas Press Club ID that can be hung around the neck. This ID is also affixed with holograms for extra security. These IDs must be custom printed and thus will be available to members only in batch orders of 5 or more, for $40 each.

The OPC Press Badge is only available to OPC members. Please email a high-resolution color headshot to patricia@opcofamerica.org and pay the $40 charge on this link.

If you are not a member but wish to join, please see our member application page to read more and apply.

Many OPC members find the large ID’s an invaluable tool.

OPC member Joasia Popowicz used hers recently while covering politics in Poland.

“The OPC press card was invaluable in gaining access to Polish polling stations, reporting on the close presidential election held during COVID-19,” she said.

Freelancer Chriss Swaney used hers to cover the 2018 massacre in a Pittsburgh temple:

“I had no idea my new OPC press badges would give me unlimited access to covering one of the most horrific mass shootings of Jewish people in U.S. history.”

Read Swaney’s story here >>

Two-time OPC award winner Anand Gopal wrote about his “lifesaving” use of an OPC press pass in Afghanistan, and how it allowed him “to cross checkpoints, enter government offices, even obtain journalist visas. But most important, the OPC Press Card gives me a sense of security.”

Read Gopal’s story here >>

OPC member Lucy Sherriff wrote about her experience using the OPC’s Press Badge to gain access and reassure sources while covering US election rallies.

Read Sherriff’s story here >>