Land-of-Miles

This thread is slightly OT but why break the habit of a lifetime. I am thinking about going to Dublin with my other half, but as she is not a British nor EU citizen apparently she needs a visa to enter Ireland. I had always thought that Ireland and the UK had a single immigration area with no immigration checks upon entry on either side of the Irish Sea. I have not been to Dublin now for almost 3 years, but when I used to travel there semi regularly, I never encountered any passport Control (in fact I even took my passport along with me for a couple of trips, because I thought it was required).

So I guess the question is, what is the deal with Irish immigration when travelling from the UK, any recent experience would be appreciated.

Fraser

Went with my girlfriend, an American citizen, to DUB (from LGW) last year and am sure she required a passport to get in. There was a passport check I'm sure, although my rather pickled mind could well be wrong!

AJLondon

This current thread from the TravelBuzz forum might be of some use:

is there no immigration check between Ireland and UK?

Jenbel

I do know of one FTer who forgot his passport, and had to show his driving licence to get in... but as he was British, this was accepted. So it would appear at very least there is an id check.

efamous

Flew STN-DUB on 16/4 (I know, I know, but it was the cheapest way to get there to catch a single flight DUB-LHR-NYC that was about 300 quid cheaper than a straight LHR-NYC single) and definitely had to pass through passport control. I'm a Yank. It was the first I'd ever experienced at Dublin airport after arriving from the UK. I used to fly LON-DUB heaps a few years back and never had my passport checked. In fact, the stamp I got on the 16th is the first Irish stamp I've ever gotten either entering or leaving Ireland.

kered

Yes there is now………they’ve revamped the immigration section you go through.

For years if you arrived on a flight from London or other UK cities you could just breeze though. I flew in from BHX last Tuesday (25th) & saw the new set-up. They have booths / lanes, now for EU citizens & others for non EU citizens.

First time ever I had to show my Irish drivers licence & actually have it inspected by the official.

Things have most certainly tightened up at DUB.

Aus_Mal

I remember going through passport control at Dublin airport 2 years ago. Passport checked and stamped. I was allowed in the country for 60 days IIRC.

Was also passport checked when arriving at Cork airport a few weeks ago and passport stamped. The agent gave me 5 days this time.

If you are a British Resident, I believe all you need is a Driver's License.

Newryman

Kered is correct. DUB now requires everyone to go through immigration control. The CTA applies to citizens of member countries only (in theory.)There is a link above to a long reply I gave in another thread. The bottom line is if you are an Irish or UK Citizen then an ID such as a driving licence etc will be fine. A national of another country however (including the EU) will require a passport and if applicable visa. If that proves problematical then in reality the easy back door solution is to enter through Northern Ireland by air or sea where no such controls are in place then cross the unmanned border by train, bus, foot, horseback, car, skateboard, penny farthing or bicycle

GUWonder

See, I knew those surface trips from DUB to LDY were good for something.

chucko

There is a passport check for non-EU citizens at DUB (and ORK as well). They used to stamp you in for the standard sixty days, but lately the visa has been for one day past my scheduled departure.

thegoderic

The UK / EI agreement says that as a UK (or Irish) citizen, you can pass between the countries with Photo ID.

I regularly just use a driving licence, but according to the airlines, you can use a works photo ID.

Irish immigration have started tightening up (Dublin is full of people from the new East European EU states) and if you do offer a form of ID other than a passport, they will often check to ascertain likely nationality. This is often as simple as checking appearance, surname and accent, rather than a full on "can you prove you're British".

WHBM

Travel between Britain and Ireland is under a government agreement called the "Common Travel Area" which provided for document-free travel between the countries, and also for people to work in either country without controls. This agreement came out of the Irish independence in the 1920s and long predates photo-id and such like.

The agreement is still applied entering the UK where you will not be checked, hence the special routes for "arrivals from Ireland and the Channel Islands" you see at UK airports. It also is still applied to the land Irish republic - UK (Northern Ireland) border. However the Irish government has decided in the last few years, unilaterally as far as I can see and against the inter-government treaty, to make full passport checks at Irish airports on arrival from the UK.

Furthermore the Irish consulate procedures for visas are pathetically administered and can waste you weeks, and they can turn you down for seemingly no reason, which I have direct experience of. Being neither Schengen or Common Travel Area any more, the visa is useless for elsewhere. Best thing is to fly to Belfast and rent a car. It's less than 2 hours drive each way nowadays. The only way to even identify you have crossed the border is the colour of the roadmarkings at the side of the road (white in UK, yellow in the Republic).

Land-of-Miles

Thanks for the advice everyone. There is I suppose the possibility that she could just use her Uk driving licence, but whether she "looks and speaks appropriately " is open to question.

It seems Belfast is the way to go then, so BD it is.

Globaliser

Being a British resident is not enough. I travelled to ORK with a long-standing British resident who produced a full UK driving licence.

Unfortunately, it said "South Africa", which was enough to trigger a demand for a passport.

Fortunately, we had it because we were only trying it on with the DL to avoid the long non-EU queue.

Unfortunately, we were sent to the back of the long non-EU queue.

kered

Cork always much more stringent in their document inspections than DUB, who are really just playing “catch up”

But then you must all remember you are after all entering “The peoples republic of Cork” & we must be very careful of who we let in. A special eye must be kept on those Dubs trying to sneak across our borders !