The short answer
Yes. 18 U.S.C. 2257 does not carve out foreign performers or foreign shoots. Every performer in sexually explicit content needs a record. What changes when a co-star is from another country is which identification the regulation names, and that depends on facts about the day of the shoot.
The record is the same for everyone
For a co-star from anywhere, the record holds:
- Their legal name and date of birth, from a picture ID you examined before the shoot, plus a legible copy of that ID
- Every other name they have used, stage names included
- A copy of the content and the URL where it is published
- The date of original production
- The cross-reference that links them to every piece of content they appear in
Which ID the regulation names
The regulations define the ID you examine, a "picture identification card", in two parts:
- A document issued by the United States, a State or a U.S. territory that shows the person's photo, name and date of birth. Examples include a U.S. passport, a Permanent Resident Card, an employment authorization document, or a state driver's license or ID.
- A foreign government-issued equivalent, when the performer is a non-U.S. citizen located outside the United States at the time of the shoot, and the producer keeping the records is also located outside the United States on that date.
Both halves of that second condition have to hold. It turns on where the performer and the record-keeping producer were on the shoot date, not on where anyone's company is registered. Either way, the ID must be valid on the shoot date.
The situations people actually ask about
- Shoot abroad, foreign co-star, records kept abroad. Their foreign passport, national ID card, driver's license or residence permit is the document the regulation describes.
- Shoot in the United States, or you keep the records in the United States. The regulation lists U.S.-issued documents. Many performers from other countries who work here hold one, such as a Permanent Resident Card, an employment authorization document, or a state driver's license or ID. If your co-star holds only a foreign document, talk to your attorney before the shoot, not after.
Why the answers online disagree
Some answers say a production outside the United States needs no 2257 form. There is no government 2257 form in the first place. What the law asks for is records, and it does not exempt a performer for being from another country.
Where Easy2257 fits
Easy2257's ID check reads identity documents from many countries, and every record states the facts: which document was examined, and where the performer and the producer were on the shoot date. It does not decide for you whether a particular foreign document qualifies. Foreign talent and productions covers the rules in full, and identity documents from outside the United States lists what the check reads.
Informational only, not legal advice.