Dublin airport passport control.

OPENROAD

Why is it that when we return from the UK, we have to show our passports, we all have to, why? apart from the fact that we are coming from an EU airport and there is suppose to be a free travel agreement between UK and Ireland.

Have never been asked at Heathrow, in fact have only seen police point on arrival once in last three years. Stanstaed have a poloice point for ROI but not everyone is asked for id, so why in Dublin does everyone have to show id.

bbbbb

They have no way of knowing whether your flight originated in the UK or is a connection from somewhere else?

Stark

I've come through Dublin airport from the UK a few times and didn't have to show ID. As you approach the passport controls, there should be a lines for people coming from EU, outside EU and from the "common travel area". If you go to the common travel area line, you have to show them your boarding card so they know where you came from.

OPENROAD

Suppose because of the way Dublin airport currently operates which is fair enough,they have no way of knowing, hopefully this will be a thing of the past when new t2 opens, as for eu versus non eu lines, in eu line they still insist on photo id, well I have seen people asked for it.

Stark

You only have passportless travel between EU countries when they've signed up to some common border agreement, such as the Common Travel Area for the United Kingdom and Ireland, or the Schengen Agreement in the case of most other EU countries. Otherwise, passport checks need to be done to make sure the person travelling is actually an EU citizen.

OPENROAD

Stark wrote:

You only have passportless travel between EU countries when they've signed up to some common border agreement, such as the Common Travel Area for the United Kingdom and Ireland, or the Schengen Agreement in the case of most other EU countries. Otherwise, passport checks need to be done to make sure the person travelling is actually an EU citizen.

ok will give it a go during week, see do they let me though with by bp only.

GerardKeating

OPENROAD wrote:

Why is it that when we return from the UK, we have to show our passports, we all have to, why? apart from the fact that we are coming from an EU airport and there is suppose to be a free travel agreement between UK and Ireland.

The common travel area between Ireland and Britian is only for Irish & British citizens, so they can ask you for proof that you are entitled to travel without a passport. In theory any photo ID is eneough for "passport control"

Stark

GerardKeating wrote:

The common travel area between Ireland and Britian is only for Irish & British citizens, so they can ask you for proof that you are entitled to travel without a passport. In theory any photo ID is eneough for "passport control"

Nope, the whole point of the common travel area is that it's free travel for everyone. The advantage of this for us is that we don't need border checkpoints along the border with the North.

"Freedom to travel" in the EU sense though only means freedom to travel for EU citizens. Hence the need for your passport when you head to EU countries other than the UK, as you'll need to prove you're a EU citizen. As I've mentioned in a previous post though, many EU countries have signed up to the Schengen agreement amongst themselves so that you don't have border checkpoints all over the EU.

The UK didn't sign up to the Schengen agreement as it would mean loss of border control for itself. If it did sign up to the agreement, it would mean a non-EU national could enter the EU at a country with poor border controls and then have free movement into Britain. Since Ireland is effectively a backdoor to Britain thanks to the Common Travel Area, that means we can't sign up to the Schengen agreement either.

OPENROAD

GerardKeating wrote:

The common travel area between Ireland and Britian is only for Irish & British citizens, so they can ask you for proof that you are entitled to travel without a passport. In theory any photo ID is eneough for "passport control"

Thats exactly as I saw it, always show my passport anyway, just curious, always remember Irish used to get a bit peeved if stopped in UK for id, although airport depending this does not seem to be the issue anymore in the UK.

ardmacha

Nope, the whole point of the common travel area is that it's free travel for everyone.

It should be, but it isn't. Many nationalities require visas to visit Ireland and the fact that they are in the UK doesn't mean they have one.

OPENROAD

[
The UK didn't sign up to the Schengen agreement as it would mean loss of border control for itself. If it did sign up to the agreement, it would mean a non-EU national could enter the EU at a country with poor border controls and then have free movement into Britain. Since Ireland is effectively a backdoor to Britain thanks to the Common Travel Area, that means we can't sign up to the Schengen agreement either.[/QUOTE]


So why no checks entering the UK from Ireland?

jrey1981

UK airports have dedicated channels for UK & Ireland passengers, so it'd make sense to have this permanently in Dublin.

I came through yesterday and they had 'All passports' and 'EU' but no 'common travel area' lane, so obviously it isn't permanent.

I came back from Manchester in January and it was there, although I think that time I came in through a different gate.

Chris_533976

I dont go to any airport without a passport. No big deal for me.

Stark

OPENROAD wrote:

stark wrote:

The UK didn't sign up to the Schengen agreement as it would mean loss of border control for itself. If it did sign up to the agreement, it would mean a non-EU national could enter the EU at a country with poor border controls and then have free movement into Britain. Since Ireland is effectively a backdoor to Britain thanks to the Common Travel Area, that means we can't sign up to the Schengen agreement either.

So why no checks entering the UK from Ireland?

That's been explained several times in this thread. The UK and Ireland are part of the "Common Travel Area", our equivalent of the Schengen zone. You can travel within this zone without needing your passport.

BendiBus

Stark wrote:

You can travel within this zone without needing your passport.

Provided you've another form of ID to prove you don't need a passport (or at least to prove you're entitled to be in the CTA in the first place). Otherwise why do immigration regularly board the enterprise from Belfast, and almost as regularly escort people off the train?

ardmacha

The UK Ireland common travel area is not the exact equivalent of the Schengen zone. A Schengen visa is valid has common rules for the Schengen countries. An Irish or British visa has no validity whatsoever in the other jurisdiction.

OPENROAD

Stark wrote:

That's been explained several times in this thread. The UK and Ireland are part of the "Common Travel Area", our equivalent of the Schengen zone. You can travel within this zone without needing your passport.

Yes but you still require photo id entering ROI, as you can be asked to produce it, actually you are asked to produce it, as no UK arrival only point in Dublin airport, hopefully they will introduce this with Dub Airport expansion.

Stark

Try producing your boarding card instead of your passport next time you return from the UK. I've done that a few times and never had any hassle. Plenty of people fly using only their driver's licence or even student card in the case of Aer Arann.

OPENROAD

Stark wrote:

Try producing your boarding card instead of your passport next time you return from the UK. I've done that a few times and never had any hassle. Plenty of people fly using only their driver's licence or even student card in the case of Aer Arann.

Just created the topic out of interest, fly to lhr every other week, have no problems showing my passport which I always do, to be honest the immigration guys don't even look that closely, once they see the harp and photo are happy.

Victor

One difference is that Dublin Airport is a controlled entrance, the A3/N54 on the Monaghan / Fermanagh border isn't (it crosses the border 4 times). In addition, Dublin Airport is an entrance for non-CTA traffic.

Separating CTA / Schengen / other traffic would reduce the number of checks on CTA traffic.

It may also be that the UK has better real time information available.

MadsL

Annoying part of this is travelling with my wife who has a US passort, she often ends up at the back of a huge non-EEU line, despite having permission to remain stamped in her passport - and a citizenship application in process.

Like to see EU passports + residents of Ireland line...

Enigma365

The UK should sign up to schengen. And then we would be able to sign up.

In fairness though, the biggest practical advantage to Schengen as far as I see is open land borders. As neither the UK or Ireland has a land border with the rest of Europe, we wouldnt really get this benefit(would remove the need for immigration from Eurostar and Ferries I guess).

The other benefit would be that we wouyldnt have to flash our passport when arriving in another EU airport. But this only takes 5 seconds and is not exactly hassle.

mackerski

Enigma365 wrote:

In fairness though, the biggest practical advantage to Schengen as far as I see is open land borders.

Tell that to Iceland. Though to be fair, they're only in because of their common travel area with the Nordic countries.

Capt'n Midnight

Enigma365 wrote:

The UK should sign up to schengen. And then we would be able to sign up.

Don't forget the UK has lots of travel arrangements with former colonies / commonwealth that the rest of the EU doesn't. See ye olde Hong Kong passport etc.

We share a common land boarder and until recently the vast majority of traffic here was to/from the UK and for historical reasons.

KC61

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Don't forget the UK has lots of travel arrangements with former colonies / commonwealth that the rest of the EU doesn't. See ye olde Hong Kong passport etc.

We share a common land boarder and until recently the vast majority of traffic here was to/from the UK and for historical reasons.

Therein lies the problem!!!

The Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland dates back to a time when there was virtually no immigration into Ireland. Virtually all of the inward traffic on UK originating flights into Ireland was either Irish or British by nationality.

Since the Celtic Tiger days of the early 1990s this obviously changed dramatically and the Irish authorities were faced with the problem that there were huge numbers of people from different countries arriving on flights from the UK, many of whom required visas to visit Ireland. The problem was that these people might have had UK visas but no Irish visa, and if left unchecked we would have had major illegal immigration, hence the requirement to pass through the immigration booths was introduced. The prevailing direction of travel for these people is into the UK first and then Ireland, hence there has not been the same requirement as passengers enter the UK.

The main problem nowadays is that there is no segregation of passengers arriving into Dublin Airport - all passengers come in via the same immigration booths.

With the terminal layout as it is, we are faced with this problem until we get to the point that Domestic, UK, and International flights are segregated properly. But I would imagine that the immigration checks are there to stay on all international flights.

Victor

Note that a new immigration area is to be built between T1X and Pier A and US immigration (departures) is likely to move to T2.