What information be left out of an apartment rental application in Rhode Island?

I recently filled in a rental application for an apartment in Rhode Island. I had to fill in my national origin . I asked the agent if I could leave this out and he said no. It was a mandatory field. Shouldn鈥檛 such information be supplied voluntarily? Is it legal to collect and keep such information against an applicants will?|||I beleive it is legal for them to ask, but it is illegal for them to use it against you. Even if you give that info there is nothing they can do with it anyway. It is illegal to discriminate based on national origin.





EDIT: Discrimination is hard to prove. It is typicaly a case of your word against theirs. You would have to sue them.|||It IS illegal for them to ask, unless they are asking if you are a US citizen or not.





If they DO make you fill it in, and then don't rent it to you, you can sue them for discrimination. Ask for a copy of your application.|||You would need to look up the law in RI, but, asking what nationality one is seems odd. Since there are laws against discriminating against race when renting a place, that question really doesn't need to even be on there.|||They can only ask and demand proof that you are in the US legally, not your origin.