Entry and exit checks at airports - Ireland vs other countries?

Geuze

I have two queries:

(1) it seems to me that Ireland has no exit passport checks at all - is that correct?

Why do other countries have them? In the past week I went though UK and DE exit passport checks.

(2) on entry to Ireland, the GNIB seem to simply look at the passport, whereas in FR or DE they seems to scan it / type it in. What is the difference?

Thanks.

Peregrinus

(1) Ireland does not have exit controls.

Many (most?) other countries do, either in the form of direct controls by customs/immigration officials or indirect monitoring of passenger data provided by airlines, etc. They use information about exits to monitor/enforce e.g. visa conditions about how long visitors can stay.

In the UK they have exit checks, but not for passengers travelling within the Common Travel Area. In Germany (and other Schengen countries) they have no exit checks for travel within the Schengen area, but do have exit checks for travel to countries outside.

Note that the nature of the check may differ depending on what passport you carry. If you leave the Schengen area with an EU passport they do not retain a record of that, but if you leave with a third-country passport they do.

(2) The Schengen agreement requires participating states to monitor entrances and exits by third-country nationals. So if you arrive in Germany with an EU passport you will be waved through; if you arrive with a third-country passport they will scan or otherwise record it. Same when leaving.

Ireland is not in Schengen so has more freedom here. EU passport holders still have to be waved through, but we can do as we wish (or as we agree with the UK under the CTA arrangements) with respect to third country passport holders.

Victor

"EU passport holders still have to be waved through" - strictly speaking, should this be "EU passport holders still have to be treated the same as Irish passport holders".

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120843542#Comment_120843542

No, I don't think so. A citizen of a member state has free movement rights which other member states must respect even if — as is occasionally permitted — those member states impose stricter conditions on their own citizens.

Spook_ie

If you wave people through how do you check what countries passport they have?

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120846229#Comment_120846229

By "wave people through" I mean you can glance at their passport and, if it's an EU passport, that's it, they're in. You can can pause long enough to check that it is their passport, if you want, but that's about it. You don't stamp their passport, you don't record it, you don't check it for visas or evidence of previous entries and exits, nothing. Whereas you may do one or more of these things with holders of non-EU passports.

Usually this process is facilitated by having separate queues for EU and non-EU passport holders.

Dodge

Passports are scanned in Dublin airport and have been for a while. They are not just “looked at” by the immigration officer

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120848866#Comment_120848866

I was in Knock recently, no scanning, just looked at.

Glittering_Fault_720

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120848866#Comment_120848866

Depends on the time of day and the officer. I have entered on a simple glance of my passport.

harveyminds

Department of Justice publication: “Air carriers who are operating ‘extra-EU flights’ have a legal obligation to transfer PNR data they collect to the IPIU. An ‘extra-EU flight’ refers to a scheduled or non-scheduled flight entering, leaving or transiting through airports in Ireland from countries outside of the European Union, including flights with stop-overs in the territory of the EU or third countries.”

Note the word “leaving”.

This would contradict what you are saying, Peregrinus. It would seem that exits are treated same as in other EU countries. Any comments?

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072882#Comment_122072882

I think the discussion was long over. We do check outgoing via a scan, as was made clear.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072882#Comment_122072882

Theyre not exist checks in relation to immigration issues. It's for a list of passengers that is kept for very specific anti terrorism or serious crime reasons.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304624/entry-and-exit-checks-at-airports-ireland-vs-other-countries

There certainly is a check. Try getting on a flight headed out of the EU without presenting a passport or arriving at DUB from outside the EU.

Scanning passports is, I suspect, a thing where a country keeps an electronic track of goings and comings and matches these. I have dual citizenship. I once entered Australia on my Australian passport but was stopped when leaving on my Irish passport and asked if I had another passport, because they had no record of entry on the Irish one, so I got scanned out on the Australian one to get the computer records to match.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072882#Comment_122072882

My comments were about what happens at passport control on arrival in Dublin.

This quote deals with what data airlines are required to collect and pass on to the Irish Passenger Information Unit. Different thing entirely.