Travelling in new year - do I need an Emergency passport?

condra · 29-11-2009 12:26AM #1

Hi guys.

I was planning on going to Krakow with my girlfriend for the new year, but just discovered that my passport is just out of date!

She's freaking out and claims that I don't need to have a passport to travel within the EU. I'm quite sure I do need one.

Does anyone know about getting an emergency passport? And if so, how much is costs, how long it takes, etc?

Thanks for any advice on this.

mikemac · 29-11-2009 12:30AM

Fear not!

Passport Express will get you a passport within 10 working days so loadsa time.
This is Ireland where things are done efficiently and our public service always deliver

Any main Post office can do this for one, costs a small bit extra but worth it.
Remember, not every post office has this facility so go to a larger branch

http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=254

Edit: I don't know cost,under €100 anyway for everything, probably less. When you consider it's going to last 10 years that's nothing realy

condra · 29-11-2009 12:32AM

Thanks for your swift response!

condra · 01-12-2009 11:32PM

Can someone confirm that I cannot travel to Poland without a Passport.

Both my girlfriend and my brother tell me my Drivers License is enough ID.

Thanks again.

robinph · 02-12-2009 12:58AM

You do need a passport.

Only place you can get to without a passport is the UK. You will be unlikely to get asked for a passport on crossing any border within continental Europe, but you won't get back into the UK or Ireland without one even if you do manage to leave without showing it.

condra · 02-12-2009 01:54AM

TYVM

undo · 02-12-2009 02:54PM

Just to finish robinph's thought: The UK is the only place you can go without a passport and even then, that only works if you are not flying. Airlines insist on passports for absolutely all international travel. And they do check at the boarding gate that you have one. No passport - no travel - no exceptions.

I hope you get your passport in time. Kraków this time of the year is magical... Snow everywhere, the Christmas Market in the center... amazing!

Bogger77 · 02-12-2009 03:17PM

undo wrote: »

Just to finish robinph's thought: The UK is the only place you can go without a passport and even then, that only works if you are not flying. Airlines insist on passports for absolutely all international travel. And they do check at the boarding gate that you have one. No passport - no travel - no exceptions.

I hope you get your passport in time. Kraków this time of the year is magical... Snow everywhere, the Christmas Market in the center... amazing!

No, you do not require a passport to travel to the UK, via Rail, Road, boat, swim, walk or air.

I've travelled to/from Heathrow with drivers license, and I've used a work ID badge coming into Ireland from UK.

The UK is trying to change this, but as it currently stands you don't need passport, national id card, drivers license to travel between Ireland and UK by air. You need an ID which has photograph and isn't a knocked up fake id card, so bus pass from Dept of Social Welfare, most work id's, most college id's but the ISIC card is ok.

robinph · 02-12-2009 03:27PM

You don't need any form of ID to cross between UK and Ireland, photo or otherwise, if you are a UK or Irish citizen. However the method that you use to cross that border will most likely require that you do have a passport.

That is all beside the point though as the question was about getting about the rest of Europe for which you definitely do need a passport as an Irish or UK citizen.

deman · 02-12-2009 03:32PM

Your girlfriend is misinformed. Ireland is not one of the Schengen countries so therefore we need a passport to travel anywhere in the EU except for the UK.

Schengen countries don't need a passport to travel. See the link below.

http://www.axa-schengen.com/en/schengen-countries

penexpers · 03-12-2009 02:35PM

robinph wrote: »

You don't need any form of ID to cross between UK and Ireland, photo or otherwise, if you are a UK or Irish citizen. However the method that you use to cross that border will most likely require that you do have a passport.

I'm not sure about that - last time I went to the UK I went through Holyhead and they (UK border patrol) were looking for official government photo ID (i.e. passport or drivers license).

robinph · 03-12-2009 02:50PM

They may ask for it in order to speed up the process of proving that you are a Irish or UK citizen, but as one you do not require any form of ID to cross that border.

Any non UK or Irish citizen does require a passport to cross the UK/ Ireland border so you just need to convince the immigration guys that your not a foreigner somehow, that is generally most easily done with a passport.

deman · 04-12-2009 02:29PM

robinph wrote: »

Any non UK or Irish citizen does require a passport to cross the UK/ Ireland border

My wife is neither a UK or Irish citizen and has never once been asked to produce a passport when crossing the Irish/Northern Irish border and has crossed it 100s of times.

robinph · 04-12-2009 02:43PM

deman wrote: »

My wife is neither a UK or Irish citizen and has never once been asked to produce a passport when crossing the Irish/Northern Irish border and has crossed it 100s of times.

That's because they don't bother with having any form of border control there. If for some reason they did decide to put some border control in then she would not be able to cross without a passport. If that did happen though then there would be far bigger issues to worry about than getting across that particular border with or without a passport.

Bogger77 · 04-12-2009 02:51PM

deman wrote: »

My wife is neither a UK or Irish citizen and has never once been asked to produce a passport when crossing the Irish/Northern Irish border and has crossed it 100s of times.

random checks are done, usually on public transport, either exiting Dundalk train station, on the train, or on buses as they cross.

undo · 04-12-2009 03:42PM

deman wrote: »

Schengen countries don't need a passport to travel.

No, that's not correct. You are still required to have your passport (or government ID for countries that issue one) when crossing a Shengen border. It's just that there are no fixed control points - only random checks. I was stopped on the motorway once after driving from the Netherlands to Germany. They wanted to see my passport and then let me drive on. It was just a random border check.

deman · 05-12-2009 09:23AM

undo wrote: »

No, that's not correct. You are still required to have your passport (or government ID for countries that issue one) when crossing a Shengen border.

Yeah. That's what my point was. They don't NEED a password.

mikemac · 05-12-2009 12:46PM

Bogger77 wrote: »

random checks are done, usually on public transport, either exiting Dundalk train station, on the train, or on buses as they cross.

Yep, I've been on buses that got stopped by the border by the gardaí. It's pretty random, you might never see it or get stopped two weeks in a row.

And they do take people off the bus for more questioning, I presume to Dundalk garda station.
At least the time I saw this it was foreign students who were taken off the bus

Travelling in new year - do I need an Emergency passport?

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