can a foriegn national travel to uk with Drivers Licence?

Washout

HI Guys,

My wife is Indian and just noticed her visa has expired for the UK and we are due to go saturday week.

Can she travel to the UK with a an rish Provision Drivers Licence?

robinph

A photo drivers license is all you need to get on a plane between the UK and Ireland, for airport security and not immigration purposes as there is no such thing between the two countries. Potentially more likely to get queried on the return to Ireland than on entering the UK.

You've probably got enough time to get the visa renewed before then though, and then apply for an EU passport to solve the problem in the future and with travel further afield than the UK.

eorpach

A Provisional Driving Licence issued in this country is only valid for use in the Republic of Ireland so strictly speaking, it may not be a valid ID for the purposes of air travel to the UK.

A Passport is not required for travel to the UK as we have a common travel area, however you should check with your airline as to what ID they themselves will accept to allow you on board (some, including Ryanair can be very strict and may only accept a full Driving Licence or a Passport - see http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=pid&quest=photoid).

You should also check with the Dept of Foreign Affairs or the British Embassy in Dublin as regards what the British Authorities will accept as valid travel ID upon arrival at a UK Airport: ttp://193.178.2.96/home/index.aspx?id=275 This is particularly important if your wife is not a documented EU citizen (though presumedly she can apply for an Irish Passport on the basis of being married to an Irish national).

Note also that an Irish Provisional Driving cannot be used to drive a car outside the Republic of Ireland.

eorpach

dermot_sheehan

Only British and Irish citizens can benefit from the common travel area. Note that Ryanair only accept a driving licence that indicates place of birth in the EEA (EU + Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) for travel between britain and ireland. I don't know how strict they are on this as i've used my full licence a couple of times to travel with them and it indicates i was born in Canada.

Captain Trips

Washout wrote:

HI Guys,

My wife is Indian and just noticed her visa has expired for the UK and we are due to go saturday week.

Can she travel to the UK with a an rish Provision Drivers Licence?

Well she *can* but she *may not*.

If she normally needs a valid passport as an Indian entering the UK, then nothing is different, except they might not check.

themole

Washout wrote:

Can she travel to the UK with a an irish Provision Drivers Licence?

Will she be able to do it, almost definitely yes.
Is it legal, no.

I know a pakistani guy who has done that before.

Our man in Havana

eorpach wrote:

though presumedly she can apply for an Irish Passport on the basis of being married to an Irish national

This loophole was closed last year by the Dept of Justice.

netman

Bond-007 wrote:

This loophole was closed last year by the Dept of Justice.

Well she can still apply to become an Irish national through Naturalisation, which will get her an Irish passport. To qualify she needs to be married to an Irish national for 3 years, and then face a backlog of 3 years.

Renewing the visa for UK seems like a much quicker approach.