Ex-EU Scrutiny at DUB

Old Apr 8, 2015, 12:36 pm
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Ex-EU Scrutiny at DUB

To provide some context, I'm an American citizen with a work visa in the UK. Went through DUB twice in the last week on both sides of an ex-EU. Both had overnights in DUB.

Outbound, when asked why I was there, I said transit, officer said are you heading back to the States tomorrow, I said yes (which was true, just via London), stamped and sent on my way.

On the return I of course didn't have that option so had to get into the full explanation. The officer had a chuckle, said this was a new one, but never doubted that it was financially beneficial to do what I was doing. HE did, however, ask how often I would be doing it? I noted once a month probably for the next several. He noted that the number of green stamps may raise some questions. He then said that since I already had a 90 day stamp from last week he would "condition me" which essentially meant he placed a different stamp in my passport where he could hand write that I was coming in for transit and would fly to London the next day. All of this was pleasant and relatively quick.

But wanted to see if this had happened to anyone else and if be concerned that this will be a bigger issue?
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 12:56 pm
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I suspect the only worry would be about people doing the short hop repeatedly to renew entry entitlements with an effective desire to immigrate on a visitor status. I would just continue telling the truth and think you have nothing to worry about.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 1:07 pm
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When I saw the thread title, I had a mental image of grim-faced BA Revenue Protection Officers standing in front of the DUB check-in counters to deter TP runners from gaming the system.

Then I remembered that my TP runs are all hand=baggage only so I mentally tipped my hat to them and carried on my way
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 1:11 pm
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Eire is in the CTA and if you have cleared immigration in the UK you shouldn't be getting issues.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 1:14 pm
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Originally Posted by njf63
When I saw the thread title, I had a mental image of grim-faced BA Revenue Protection Officers standing in front of the DUB check-in counters to deter TP runners from gaming the system.
Me too. In which case it's none of their business. Full stop. Don't even entertain talking to them.

Immigration wise, be honest and you'll be fine.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 1:16 pm
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Originally Posted by 000
Me too. In which case it's none of their business. Full stop. Don't even entertain talking to them.
Unless you are tossing away segments, what grounds what they have? I'm assuming this has never actually happened?
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 2:12 pm
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Originally Posted by sts603
Unless you are tossing away segments, what grounds what they have? I'm assuming this has never actually happened?
Even if that's the case, you have no obligation to speak to them.

I've never heard of this happening, I think this is all hypothetical.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 2:15 pm
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
Eire is in the CTA and if you have cleared immigration in the UK you shouldn't be getting issues.
CTA only applies to those who are British or Irish AIUI - a UK visa doesn't automatically entitle anybody to enter Ireland
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 3:11 pm
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But nothing to stop them crossing the land border, is there.....
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 3:23 pm
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
But nothing to stop them crossing the land border, is there.....
Agree. And coming back into UK it's an open door too. Even flying to JER a few years back I got pulled over (an Irish passport holder) as they were suspicious of a day trip - immigration and customs are suspicious by nature!
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:13 pm
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
Eire is in the CTA and if you have cleared immigration in the UK you shouldn't be getting issues.
CTA provisions only apply to British and Irish citizens.

For non-EU citizens, travel between the UK and Ireland is crossing a "regular" international frontier and they are not exempted in any way from immigration formalities. We have had reports down the years about people coming acropper by assuming they are allowed to freely travel around the CTA without a passport and/or without submitting that passport for the recording of each entry into each country.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:15 pm
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
But nothing to stop them crossing the land border, is there.....
Nope, and therein lies the rub. The CTA is very odd; a big political fudge. I have occasionally seen UK immigration with PSNI at BHD checking documents of random passengers, I assume to catch people who haven't regularised their travel between the Republic and the North.

It's a good thing the land border is essentially invisible; historically this was mostly on principle rather than practicality (plenty of interesting history there!).

The CTA continues to catch people out, however, as it applies only to British and Irish citizens. It's not a Schengen-like arrangement.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:31 pm
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Many Americans travel to Dublin and pop up to Belfast on the train.

Some also then use the free domestic connection to fly to Europe via London... Some breaking their journey in London.
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:38 pm
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
Many Americans travel to Dublin and pop up to Belfast on the train.
That they do, and proper immigration checks are very unusual on the Enterprise train. That's just how it works. It's difficult to explain, because those Americans would not strictly be travelling legally between the two countries. It is an understandable mistake for them to make as there is a lack of understanding about the geography and politics of the British Isles outside our islands. (Many outsiders already assumed Scotland was independent before the referendum!)
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Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:43 pm
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Back OT, my entrance stamp was conditioned when entering DUB a few months ago. IIRC it said int'l transit LHR and that day's date. US passport so no CTA benefits, and sufficiently confused the immigration officer, along with the trainee next to him.
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