Joining a FIDE tournament abroad without a rating

Question

I am an unrated USCF member, ~1800 @ lichess.org. I've been travelling from place to place for years, and was thinking about joining FIDE rated tournaments to adjust to OTB and become rated. But, if I look at the tournament's requirements, I notice that tournaments consistently need players from abroad to have a FIDE ID before entering. i.e. for the Dubrovnik Open; "Svi zainteresirani šahisti iz zemlje i inozemstva s FIDE ID brojem."

Is there any way around this(such as getting an ID without a rating), or is someone in this situation barred from tournaments until they settle down?

Answer 1

Often tournaments have a B- (or C-) open in which even unrated players can take part.

But I have also encountered the regulation that unrated players need to provide an estimate of their playing strength, given by their federation, to take part in an open. Maybe that would be an option for you.

Apart from reading tournament regulations carefully you can always just write to the organisers explaining your situation. They should usually be quite accommodating, and if they aren't maybe this shouldn't be the tournament of your choice anyway.

Answer 2

In France, people who are unknown to chess federations (such as yourself) can subscribe to most OTB tournaments, but they have to subscribe for membership in the club organizing the tournament. This implies an additional expense.

On the other side, membership in a club is valid for a year (from September to August).

Almost all tournaments with long enough time control are FIDE rated. Good luck!