No, this is normal for bitstamp, they have been asking similar questions for >5 years now. Other exchanges are catching up with their intrusiveness. It's better to take your time to find a trustworthy person to make an exchange in-person.
I would be extremely uncomfortable with having to deal with a person face to face but its better with a P2P exchange like LBC.
I always feel it to be better if governments would allow trading in crypto and that country people use an exchange where they can verify themselves to buy and sell. As for the OP this is not important but I see your point here. The more the governments try to supress crypto the more AML/KYC problems will arise because of non-compliance from public.