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Common Travel Area
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Common Travel Area
The Common Travel Area (CTA; Irish: Comhlimistéar Taistil, Welsh: Ardal Deithio Gyffredin) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Governed by non-binding agreements, the CTA maintains minimal border controls, allowing easy passage for British and Irish citizens with limited identity documentation, albeit with some exceptions. Sustaining the CTA requires cooperation between British and Irish immigration authorities.
In 2014, the British and Irish governments initiated a trial programme to recognise each other's visas for travel within the CTA. As of August 2022[update], this programme extends to Chinese and Indian nationals, albeit with restrictions on certain visa categories. Nationals of other countries and holders of non-qualifying visas must obtain separate visas for both countries and are not eligible for transit visa exceptions if travelling through the United Kingdom to Ireland.[citation needed]
Since 1997, the Irish government has implemented systematic identity checks on air travellers arriving from the United Kingdom and selective checks on sea travellers, with occasional checks at land borders.
The Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in December 1922, at a time when systematic passport and immigration controls were becoming standard at international frontiers. Although the British had imposed entry controls in the past – notably during the French Revolution – the imposition of such controls in the 20th century dated from the Aliens Act 1905 (5 Edw. 7. c. 13), before which there was a system of registration for arriving foreigners.
Before the creation of the Irish Free State, British immigration law applied in Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. With the imminent prospect of the secession of most of Ireland from the United Kingdom in 1922, the British Home Office was disinclined to impose passport and immigration controls between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, which would have meant patrolling a porous and meandering 499 km (310 mi) long land border. If, however, the pre-1922 situation were to be continued, the new Irish immigration authorities would have to continue to enforce British immigration policy after independence. The Department of Home Affairs in the newly established Irish Free State was found to be receptive to continuing with the status quo and an informal agreement to this effect was reached in February 1923: each side would enforce the other's immigration decisions and the Irish authorities would be provided with a copy of the UK's suspect-codex (or 'Black Book') of any personae non gratae in the United Kingdom.
The agreement was provided for in British law by deeming the Irish Free State, which was a dominion, to be part of the United Kingdom for the purposes of immigration law. It was fully implemented in 1925 when legislation passed in both states provided for the recognition of the other's landing conditions for foreigners. This may be considered to have been the high point of the CTA – although it was not called that at the time – as it almost amounted to a common immigration area. A foreigner who had been admitted to one state could, unless his or her admission had been conditional upon not entering the other state, travel to the other with only minimal bureaucratic requirements. In December 1937, the Irish Free State was renamed in British law Eire.
The CTA was suspended on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and travel restrictions were introduced between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. This meant that travel restrictions even applied to people travelling within the UK if they were travelling from Northern Ireland to elsewhere in the UK.
After the war, the Irish re-instated their previous provisions allowing free movement, but the British declined to do so pending the agreement of a "similar immigration policy" in both states. Consequently, the British maintained immigration controls between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain until 1952, to the consternation of Northern Ireland's Unionist population. In 1949 The Republic of Ireland Act abolished the last remaining functions of the British monarch from Irish law, which resulted in Ireland leaving the Commonwealth of Nations as it had become a republic.
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Common Travel Area
The Common Travel Area (CTA; Irish: Comhlimistéar Taistil, Welsh: Ardal Deithio Gyffredin) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Governed by non-binding agreements, the CTA maintains minimal border controls, allowing easy passage for British and Irish citizens with limited identity documentation, albeit with some exceptions. Sustaining the CTA requires cooperation between British and Irish immigration authorities.
In 2014, the British and Irish governments initiated a trial programme to recognise each other's visas for travel within the CTA. As of August 2022[update], this programme extends to Chinese and Indian nationals, albeit with restrictions on certain visa categories. Nationals of other countries and holders of non-qualifying visas must obtain separate visas for both countries and are not eligible for transit visa exceptions if travelling through the United Kingdom to Ireland.[citation needed]
Since 1997, the Irish government has implemented systematic identity checks on air travellers arriving from the United Kingdom and selective checks on sea travellers, with occasional checks at land borders.
The Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in December 1922, at a time when systematic passport and immigration controls were becoming standard at international frontiers. Although the British had imposed entry controls in the past – notably during the French Revolution – the imposition of such controls in the 20th century dated from the Aliens Act 1905 (5 Edw. 7. c. 13), before which there was a system of registration for arriving foreigners.
Before the creation of the Irish Free State, British immigration law applied in Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. With the imminent prospect of the secession of most of Ireland from the United Kingdom in 1922, the British Home Office was disinclined to impose passport and immigration controls between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, which would have meant patrolling a porous and meandering 499 km (310 mi) long land border. If, however, the pre-1922 situation were to be continued, the new Irish immigration authorities would have to continue to enforce British immigration policy after independence. The Department of Home Affairs in the newly established Irish Free State was found to be receptive to continuing with the status quo and an informal agreement to this effect was reached in February 1923: each side would enforce the other's immigration decisions and the Irish authorities would be provided with a copy of the UK's suspect-codex (or 'Black Book') of any personae non gratae in the United Kingdom.
The agreement was provided for in British law by deeming the Irish Free State, which was a dominion, to be part of the United Kingdom for the purposes of immigration law. It was fully implemented in 1925 when legislation passed in both states provided for the recognition of the other's landing conditions for foreigners. This may be considered to have been the high point of the CTA – although it was not called that at the time – as it almost amounted to a common immigration area. A foreigner who had been admitted to one state could, unless his or her admission had been conditional upon not entering the other state, travel to the other with only minimal bureaucratic requirements. In December 1937, the Irish Free State was renamed in British law Eire.
The CTA was suspended on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and travel restrictions were introduced between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. This meant that travel restrictions even applied to people travelling within the UK if they were travelling from Northern Ireland to elsewhere in the UK.
After the war, the Irish re-instated their previous provisions allowing free movement, but the British declined to do so pending the agreement of a "similar immigration policy" in both states. Consequently, the British maintained immigration controls between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain until 1952, to the consternation of Northern Ireland's Unionist population. In 1949 The Republic of Ireland Act abolished the last remaining functions of the British monarch from Irish law, which resulted in Ireland leaving the Commonwealth of Nations as it had become a republic.
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