Border checks between northern ireland and dublin

Travel legally if you need to travel.

TLDR Version for those with short attention span: LOLZ LOIKE THEY CAN STILL TOTALLY CHECK N ALL LOLZ! YOU CAN STILL BE CAUGHT LOL!





The answer to your question though is nuanced and such requires a nuance answer.

The border is invisible in order that the unionists and nationalists can both pretend to have things their way. The GFA said that the Brits must demilitarize the border to "normal peacetime conditions", and what were normal peacetime conditions between two EU member states in 1998?
An invisible border.


Contrary to popular understanding though, it's not an UNENFORCED border, there are eyes on you everywhere.






The UK and Irelands immigration and security agencies run a joint Operation to police the border for both terrorism and immigration. It's well known that it's common from immigrants to the UK to enter illegally through the "back door" ie flight or ship from NI to Scotland or Wales then overland to England (though why a foreigner would wanna go to such a transparently racist hellhole with delusions of empire about to walk itself off a cliff is anyones guess)


The UK has it's own operation that may nab you as you cross the border, this one is a counterterrorism operation headed by PSNI special branch and their powers are used thousands of times each year to search people etc.
They often arrest people on the national security grounds (since it has stop and search powers under those laws the immigration laws DON'T) and then when they know or are sure you're not a security risk they don't let you go they hand you over to immigration police.



They stop private cars, stop people on the bus and train, and require ID. You only need to prove you are an EU citizen for them to leave you alone since you've the right to be there. If you are non-EU you need a visa and they can and will arrest and detain you if you don't produce one. If you say the passport and visa is in the hotel they'll arrest you until it's found or produced. They will essentially use what some consider racial profiling but that's said with a negative connatation I don't think of it that way, if someone has an Irish accent they'll let them go cos they're clearly in the south. What makes me less comfortable is assuming someones Irishness based on their looks, which is more questionable, and they do that.
But if they are searching a bus they'll ask everyone for ID usually, rather than single out the black guy, this is them simply following equality laws.
They know the guy in the leinster jersey and UCD shorts is probably Irish or here legally.
They ask everyone now because they have been sued, successfully, for profiling people based on silly notions of whats Irish/British and who looks it, and had to pay out thousands.



If you are arrested this is where you'll probably be taken after the police station:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Maghaberry


OR


https://insidetime.org/irc-immigration-removal-centres/irc-larne-house-immigration-removal-centres/





In 2016 this joint operation arrested over 800 people who were illegally crossing the border.


A common genuine error is for people to think Ireland and the UK are in Shengin, when were not:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Ireland


https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_abroad/freedom_of_movement_within_the_eu/free_movement_of_people_within_the_schengen_area.html




All depends what the trips for if it's worth it.


If I were you I'd book seats on the Enterprise train (though it's not going all the way to belfast there is a bus transfer while repair works are being done) but the bus transfer at Newry be worth it because they rarely do rail stops (and after Newry you are already over the border) next to that I'd not get the bus as busses gets stopped regularly, I'd take the private car and use back roads rather than the main Dublin-Belfast road.




Now...what they can still detain you for national security reasons (and unless they had some real suspicion about you they won't ) the law is they cannot, because of the common travel area, do passport checks on the Irish Sea at the ports or on the land border, when they ask you for a passport it's strictly voluntary, they'll make it seem like it's not, but it is.

They can still lock you up on security grounds then hand you over to immigration later, that's a big loophole, but one that's only used when they really are worried about someone, that's less likely to happen if you come clean str8 up when they check you and give them the real reason for why you are visiting NI, cos they'll know you are lying anyway, they get lied to all day every day they know the body language and have a 6th sense for it.




Hope that was helpful

How do they conduct these border checks, like do they set up a road side checkpoint and ask every car for documents or do they come up behind you with flashing blues and pull you over?