Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Common Travel Area
Summary
The Common Travel Area (CTA; Comhlimistéar Taistil, Ardal Deithio Gyffredin) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Based on agreements that are not legally binding, the internal borders of the CTA are subject to minimal controls and can normally be traversed by British and Irish citizens with minimal identity documents (with certain exceptions). The maintenance of the CTA involves co-operation on immigration matters between the British and Irish authorities.
In 2014, the British and Irish governments began a trial system of mutual recognition of each other's visas for onward travel within the CTA. As of August 2022, it applies to Chinese and Indian nationals and is limited to certain visa types. Other nationalities and those holding non-qualifying visas are required to hold separate visas to visit both countries and may not avail of a transit visa exception if wishing to transit through the UK to the Republic of Ireland.
Since 1997, the Irish government has imposed systematic identity checks on air passengers coming from the UK and selective checks on sea passengers, and occasional checks on land crossings.
The Irish Free State officially seceded from the then 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, 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 long land border.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.