New requirements for Irish citizens traveling to the UK

As Britain tightens its immigration policies one thing that will change affects those living in Ireland.  If you plan on visiting Britain from Ireland you will now be required to travel with some form of photo ID.  This should not be anything new to Irish citizens as this type of system is already in place for travel to other countries in the Common Travel Area.  The CTA is made up of the United Kingdom, Ireland, The Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey.

This change will be added as an amendment to the new Citizenship Bill that was introduced by the Home Office.  It was expected that the British Home Secretary and Minister for Justice would okay the plan but scheduling conflicts have delayed the meeting.

A statement regarding the new bill reads that "Today, the law allows for a Common Travel Area (CTA) comprising the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man).  The ability to travel freely for all CTA nationals is important to the special relationship between the constituent countries which make it up.  But the principle of movement without controls regardless of nationality in the area is out of date. We therefore made a commitment to review the arrangements for the CTA.  The results of our review, undertaken in partnership with the Irish and Crown Dependency Governments, will be announced shortly. The legislation required to implement our proposals will be included in the Bill before its introduction [to Parliament] and following public consultation."

www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/immigrationandcitizenshipbill