Common Travel Area: What is it, and how can it help travellers without a passport?
Exclusive: You can travel where you wish within the CTA, but you are expected to carry some ID – though two airlines demand passports
JimMin
Frontier red tape is getting more tangled at an alarming rate. Dual nationals who are British citizens are the latest in line for more complex rules when travelling to the UK. They have been told they must have a valid British passport (or an expensive “Certificate of Entitlement”) to travel to the UK.
British travellers to Europe’s Schengen area may be called upon to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics as the EU entry-exit system is rolled out.
Yet thanks to agreements stretching back a century, British travellers can go abroad to an EU nation without a passport – so long as the destination is Ireland and they don’t fly on Aer Lingus or Ryanair.
The option results from both countries being in the Common Travel Area (CTA), which also includes the “Crown Dependencies” of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
You could think of the arrangement as a “Schengen Area for the British Isles”. The UK government says the CTA “underpinned the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement” between Britain and Ireland.
These are the key questions and answers.
When and how did the CTA come into being?
The Common Travel Area is an open-borders agreement that predates such arrangements in Continental Europe. It has its origins in the border deals made in 1923 when formalising links between the newly created Irish Free State and the United Kingdom – comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It now also embraces the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey (including the smaller Channel Islands) and the Isle of Man, but not British Overseas Territories such as Gibraltar and Bermuda.
What benefits does it confer?
Numerically, by far the most significant benefits are for British and Irish citizens. They can “move freely between the UK and Ireland”. British citizens can work and take up residence in Ireland, and Irish citizens can do the same in the UK “without any requirement to obtain permission”. Professional qualifications are mutually recognised. And citizens of each country “have the right to access emergency, routine and planned publicly funded health services in each other’s state, on the same basis as citizens of that state”.
As a British citizen, what do I need to travel within the Common Travel Area?
To Ireland from Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland)
The Irish government says: “There is no requirement for Irish and British citizens to carry passports when travelling within the Common Travel Area.
“However, it is the case that airline carriers in many instances require all passengers to have a passport in their possession before allowing them to board aircraft. This is not an immigration requirement.”
Ryanair and Aer Lingus demand a passport for all travellers from Great Britain to Ireland. Ryanair says: “A valid passport is required for travel with Ryanair between Ireland and the UK. No exceptions will be made. Driving licences are not acceptable for travel with Ryanair between the UK and Ireland.”
Up to 24 February 2026, Aer Lingus accepted a wide range of photo IDs for links from Dublin, Cork and Shannon to Great Britain. But the Irish national carrier has changed its policy and now insists on a valid passport (or Irish passport card). Aer Lingus claims the move will “further improve our operational performance for our customers”.
British Airways, sister airline to Aer Lingus, is much more relaxed. The airline tells passengers: “If you are a citizen of the UK or Republic of Ireland who was born in that country you do not need a passport to travel between the two countries. But you do require some form of photographic identification, such as a driving licence. All other travellers require a valid passport to travel between the two countries.”
For ferry companies between Great Britain and Ireland, acceptable identification generally includes:
To Ireland from Northern Ireland
The Irish government says: “For journeys on and across the island of Ireland, British and Irish citizens do not require any travel documents.”
To the Isle of Man
No passport necessary.
To the Channel islands
No passport necessary, but “All visitors do require some form of photographic identification”.
Read more: These are the dual national passport rules that have just taken effect
