Passports within EU

I recall at the time of us joining the EU that one of the big advantages was supposed to be free and easy travel between member countries. Indeed I remember back in '95, prior to a holiday in Jersey, getting a visitors permit type thingy from the post office which allowed my son and I to travel from there to France for up to a week. Now you need a full passport for even a day trip! What went wrong?

I would love to holiday in Greece or Malta, or eveny Gibraltar (which is ours for goodness sake, but the added expense of a full new passport puts this just out of my range. Even a weekend in S.Ireland is a no no.

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Free and easy travel between countries is not an advantage, at least not for the people who live withing 20 or so miles of the border, in mainland Europe all the thieves and criminals now just drive over the border steal what they can, sling it in their trailor and drive back, the Police can do nothing and there are NO guards or Police at any of the borders.

Thank God that the UK still retains the requirement for a passport, it may cost you something (quite alot actually) but it's necessary otherwise they would be driving here (Through the tunnel of course) and doing what they are doing everywhere else in Europe.

For the criminal element it's a gift from the Gods, as I said above the Police can do nothing, there are still different laws and even if the laws were unified there is still the language problem, it was a stupid idea to abolish all the controls on borders but do youthink any of the politicians will acknowledge this ? No way, they don't live in the vulnerable areas do they ?

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Its all since 9.11 ,passports are needed,homeland security,which im in favour of ,i use my passport to fly to #'Scotland dont know if a Citizan card will get you anywhere now...

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Living abroad we have to keep our passports up to date and we are charged almost double of what it costs for a passport in the UK, the British really know how to screw the Brits abroad, it´s a good job it´s only once every ten years. Now they have changed the system yet again. At first we could renew them at the British High Commission in Alicante, then they changed that and we could only renew them at the British Embassy in Madrid. Then it changed again and we had to renew them via Northern Ireland. Now it´s all change again and we can only renew them via internet. You can probably imagine the trouble that will cause for people who don´t have computers or internet and no idea how to use it. We have more than a few "British post" places who of course will now do all this for you, for a fee of course. However not everyone uses internet banking, not everyone has credit or visa card and you can´t pay cash to renew a passport. It´s going to cause a lot of hassle and distress to more than a few people.

However as for getting out of UK, well in the past couple of weeks here there have been two cases of people arriving and being stopped on arrival, one had a passport two years out of date and the other had someone else´s passport, one had flown out from Manchester and one from Stanstead. So easy enough to get out, but getting back, well that could be a problem!

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Clumsy, I know what you mean. I had to renew my passport last year but because they were going to charge me double to do it here in Ireland I arranged to use a friend's address in UK and she kindly forwarded stuff. It's a complete rip-off to charge so much abroad. But they do say that if you are visiting the UK for minimum 3 weeks you can do it there.

The other thing that baffles me somewhat is why when I was in transit in Manchester Airport I still had to show my passport before being allowed to go from disembarking the plane into the terminal. I wasn't even entering the country as I was flying on to Ireland, and they still insisted on seeing my passport!

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Not necessarily DM - if you go to Northern Ireland - the 'border' is 'open' and you can travel to Eire without being asked for a passport. I flew to Belfast using my bus pass as identity, and then down to Dublin for the weekend to stay with friends.

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The cost of a passport is prohibitive, I keep seeing trips to The Giants Causeway and Titanic Exhibition, would love to go but, not worth renewing passport for one trip.
Do you need one for domestic flights & Scotland?

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Twiz darlin' - providing you have photographic proof of indentity (a bus pass will do), you do not need a passport to visit Northern Ireland and see the Giants Causeway and the Titanic exhibition. Belfast City Airport (as opposed to Belfast International airport) is actually right beside where the Titanic Centre is.

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Thanks Uncle Joe, I heard that you need a passport if you travel by plane, glad you don't! Is it the same by ferry?

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Don't go booking anything too hastily, Twiz. The requirements seem to vary depending on the airline/ferry company. Some will insist on a passport even though technically it should not be required. So if you do decide to go to Belfast, check with them first.