Travelling to the UK - Documents required to enter and leave

redcup342

Hi, 

We are travelling to the UK on October 30th and are wondering what's the story with ID. 
Since the UK is not in Schengen were assuming it will be the same as entering any Non-Schengen country and hence we would require an entry and exit stamp ? 
Normally when we travel in Europe we only bring our ID cards and leave our Passports at home. 
Anyone know if we need our Passports to travel to the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit ?

goingnowhere

No one knows...

Carry a passport is the most sensible option, however it would be advisable NOT to be in the UK on Brexit day or indeed the week afterwards as it will be a mess if you are trying to leave, thankfully the UK doesn't do exit checks.

If the UK leaves the EU the visa rules etc may change for non EU citizens where the visa agreement in place with your home country was done at a EU level.

endofrainbow

Ireland and UK are part of the Common Travel Area which by all reports will remain in place.

whomitconcerns

Are you an Irish or British citizen? A European citizen? Or something else?

All 3 have different requirements/expectations

Dial Hard

endofrainbow wrote:

Ireland and UK are part of the Common Travel Area which by all reports will remain in place.

Only for UK and Irish citizens, though. OP refers to an ID card so I'm guessing they're neither. If so, you need a passport, OP.

shar01

OP, it's better to be looking at it than looking for it. Bring your passport.

Atlantic Dawn

Passport will be fastest access, could be large checks on flights coming from Ireland where they may not take any old photo ID.

coylemj

redcup342 wrote: »

We are travelling to the UK on October 30th and are wondering what's the story with ID.

To get past the boarding gate in Dublin airport, you have to comply with the airline's requirements. If you're British or Irish and flying with Ryanair, you need your passport when flying to anywhere. Ryanair will accept the national ID card of certain countries. Aer Lingus will accept virtually anything with your photo on it for flights to the UK.

redcup342 wrote: »

Since the UK is not in Schengen were assuming it will be the same as entering any Non-Schengen country and hence we would require an entry and exit stamp?

Travel between the UK and Ireland is different as it's covered by the Common Travel Area which predates Schengen and allows citizens of both countries to travel freely without a passport. Effectively, this means that almost nobody is asked for documentation when arriving in the UK from Ireland.

redcup342 wrote: »

Normally when we travel in Europe we only bring our ID cards and leave our Passports at home.

As you're clearly aware, you don't need a passport when travelling between two Schengen countries.

redcup342 wrote: »

Anyone know if we need our Passports to travel to the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit?

The truth is, nobody can give you a definitive answer. You said you travel within Europe with an 'ID card' which suggests you are a citizen of a country in mainland Europe. In which case you are not covered by the Common Travel Area and should always bring your passport when travelling to the UK.

Credit Checker Moose

As you're clearly aware, you don't need a passport when travelling between two Schengen countries.

Hello, Austria-Hungary border. Austria has had checks there for years now.

I have also been checked many times on the trains from Holland going into Germany.

grimm2005

OP, just bring your passport, there's really no reason not to if it's in date so you'd be mad to leave it at home imo for the minuscule inconvenience of packing it in your case. No one including the British government it seems has any idea what's going to happen on and after Brexit day and by all accounts it looks like Boris is adamant that he will pull them out of the EU at any cost on 31/10 so having a full passport is bound to minimise any disruptions you might encounter at airports should chaos ensue.

Even with an Irish passport card which I use as my primary passport around Europe, I still pack my normal passport just in case anything happened while I was away like I get mugged and wallet taken or anything like that. Apart from losing payment cards and anything else in my wallet, losing the passport would cause major complications flying home so it's always smart to have a backup imo.

A couple of weeks ago I flew to Aberdeen with Aer Lingus. On arriving over two officials stood in a corridor asking for “whatever ID you have” and they just glanced at it quickly. Obviously they were just checking for movements of individuals on a known criminal “wanted list” rather than anything. But of course this is liable to change on Brexit, and I would definitely carry a passport. Hotels might want the passport too at check-in etc.

Beechwoodspark

Various airlines only accept passports when booking/checking in

coylemj

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

Hello, Austria-Hungary border. Austria has had checks there for years now.

I have also been checked many times on the trains from Holland going into Germany.

Tell that to the OP....

redcup342 wrote: »

Normally when we travel in Europe we only bring our ID cards and leave our Passports at home.

coylemj

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Various airlines only accept passports when booking/checking in

'Various airlines'

I'm not aware of any airline which requires details of your passport at the time of booking. For the simple reason that many people book flights months in advance, in many cases beyond the validity of their current passport. Or their current passport has expired and they intended to renew it before they travel.

For flights to the UK, Ryanair is the only airline which insists on seeing a passport.

Credit Checker Moose

coylemj wrote: »

Tell that to the OP....

As they are inner border checks ID cards would be OK.

redcup342

Hi 
I checked with our Travel Department in our office they pointed me to this: 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visiting-the-uk-after-brexit

[font=nta, Arial, sans-serif]What you need to show at the UK border[/font]
[font=nta, Arial, sans-serif]What you need to show at the UK border will not change, even if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.[/font]
[font=nta, Arial, sans-serif]You’ll need to show a valid passport or national identity card if you’re a citizen of either:[/font]

[font=nta, Arial, sans-serif][*]an EU country
[*]Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland
[/font]

I have my Irish Passport card (ID Card) my other half has an ID Card from another Schengen country, I call it ID Card as we don't really differentiate here on the Continent. 
Passport is a valuable document since you need it in Germany to do pretty much anything with the local office / banks etc so we generally leave them at home, or we leave the ID cards at home and travel with Passports when going outside the EU/Schengen. 
For Holland/Germany, I think I was checked once in 10 years and I used to cross the border 5 times a week by car  They do random checks on the ICE Between Amsterdam and Dusseldorf and also on Flixbus (Alot apparently) 
Never seen a requirement for an Airline only accepting Passports when travelling in Schengen/EU, the only thing you need to enter the Terminal in the Airport is your flight ticket. Airlines don't really look for ID, only the Budget ones like Ryanair/Wizzair/Norwegian. 
Once I flew to Munich from Dusseldorf and didn't realise till I checked into the Hotel I forgot my ID at home flew there and didn't even cop that I'd not brought it.  Rang my boss and he said to just chance it and worst case I could just get the ICE back, he was right they didn't check for anything. 
In Germany if you are living here you can just show something to prove your identity, Health Insurance card is fine, .e.g. if you are stopped on the train for having no ticket then they police can just lookup your identity in the City Register where you live. 
In Holland if you have a Dutch driving license that it is also fine (Foreign licenses are not accepted as ID and it's a 60 euro fine for not having valid ID) 
Thanks!

coylemj

redcup342 wrote: »

I have my Irish Passport card (ID Card) my other half has an ID Card from another Schengen country, I call it ID Card as we don't really differentiate here on the Continent. 

The UK info. you posted doesn't take account of the common travel area. When you arrive to the UK on a flight from the Republic of Ireland, for all intents and purposes the flight is treated as a UK domestic flight i.e. you will be funnelled through the same baggage hall and exit as flights from Edinburgh, Newcastle etc.

On the basis that you can carry it in a wallet or purse, you should bring your Irish passport card and your other half needs to bring his/her passport. Because technically, the Common Travel Area only applies to citizens of the UK and Ireland.

But it's extremely unlikely that either of you will be asked to show any documentation when you land in the UK. I've travelled over and back dozens of times on business and it's more than 20 years since I was asked to show ID. That involved a polite policeman, I showed him my employee badge (with photo) and it was accepted.

redcup342

coylemj wrote: »

redcup342 wrote: »

I have my Irish Passport card (ID Card) my other half has an ID Card from another Schengen country, I call it ID Card as we don't really differentiate here on the Continent. 

The UK info. you posted doesn't take account of the common travel area. When you arrive to the UK on a flight from the Republic of Ireland, for all intents and purposes the flight is treated as a UK domestic flight i.e. you will be funnelled through the same baggage hall and exit as flights from Edinburgh, Newcastle etc.

On the basis that you can carry it in a wallet or purse, you should bring your Irish passport card and your other half needs to bring his/her passport. Because technically, the Common Travel Area only applies to citizens of the UK and Ireland.

But it's extremely unlikely that either of you will be asked to show any documentation when you land in the UK. I've travelled over and back dozens of times on business and it's more than 20 years since I was asked to show ID. That involved a polite policeman, I showed him my employee badge (with photo)  and it was accepted.

Ya but we are flying from Germany. 

Where is the CTA Desk in Dublin ? Last time I flew in from UK there was no CTA Border gate.

coylemj

redcup342 wrote: »

Ya but we are flying from Germany. 

Now you tell us :rolleyes:

You both need passports and you'll have to queue in the EU passport line when you arrive in the UK. Though you (with your Irish passport) could chance the UK line and they'll probably let you through.

redcup342 wrote: »

Where is the CTA Desk in Dublin ? Last time I flew in from UK there was no CTA Border gate.

If you mean .... 'why do you have to queue to show your passport when you arrive in Dublin off a UK flight'? That is a major source of irritation for Irish people for the past 20 years or so. It's a Dublin airport thing.

redcup342

coylemj wrote: »

redcup342 wrote: »

Ya but we are flying from Germany. 

Now you tell us :rolleyes:

You both need passports and you'll have to queue in the EU passport line when you arrive in the UK. Though you (with your Irish passport) could chance the UK line and they'll probably let you through.

redcup342 wrote: »

Where is the CTA Desk in Dublin ? Last time I flew in from UK there was no CTA Border gate.

If you mean .... 'why do you have to queue to show your passport when you arrive in Dublin off a UK flight'? That is a major source of irritation for Irish people for the past  20 years or so. It's a Dublin airport thing.

No, we only need ID Cards no need for Passports, it's already clear in the Article. 
 
Don't think I could for the UK and Irish queue since my flight didn't originate in Ireland (to be honest I wouldn't like to mess around with UK Border Control)

coylemj

redcup342 wrote: »

No, we only need ID Cards no need for Passports, it's already clear in the Article. 

Your Irish passport card is a passport, not an ID Card i.e. it is not the same as a Polish or German ID card. It's not accepted (as a substitute for a regular passport book) in certain countries like the US but within Europe, it is 100% regarded as a passport. It counts as an ePassport because it has a chip.

redcup342

coylemj wrote: »

Your Irish passport card is a passport, not an ID Card i.e. it is not the same as a Polish or German ID card. It's not accepted (as a substitute for a regular passport book) in certain countries like the US but within Europe, it is 100% regarded as a passport. It counts as an ePassport because it has a chip.

Yep, but UK border control and almost every other country I’ve been to regard I as an ID card.

It doesn’t work on epassport gates, to my knowledge up until 6 months ago it wasn’t working on the egates in Dublin airport either.

ID card in the Netherlands can be your Legitimatiebewijs or Rijbewijs (Identity document or Dutch driving license.

FYI if you try to use your Irish passport card (Identity card) UK border control will tell you it’s an Identity card and give you a chastising for using the wrong queue.

Regardless of whether it’s a passport or not it’s one or the other so I’m covered either way

coylemj

redcup342 wrote: »

It doesn’t work on epassport gates, to my knowledge up until 6 months ago it wasn’t working on the egates in Dublin airport either.

+1 the passport card didn't work at the egates for a me a few months ago returning from Portugal. Luckily I had my full passport with me as well and that got me through.

redcup342 wrote: »

FYI if you try to use your Irish passport card (Identity card) UK border control will tell you it’s an Identity card and give you a chastising for using the wrong queue.

The don't have an equivalent passport card or a national ID card in the UK so it's new territory for them. The Irish card does say 'Passport' but I recognise that you'd be foolish to get into any kind of 'discussion' on the matter when dealing with an immigration official.