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Passports

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Just trawling through Google and only found an answer specific to Ryanair. My dad appears to think that as both the UK and Spain are members of the EU, you don't need to have a passport to travel between them, just a valid photo ID (ie drivers license). Ryanair specify that it is only acceptable on UK internal flights. Can anyone give me more info?
Post edited by JustV on

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you are talking about flying from the UK to Europe you need a passport with every airline I can possibly think of. If you are going to fly you will need to check that particular airlines website for further information but I'd bet that you still need a passport. There are new regulations making it easier to travel within Europe and regarding working visa and making it easier to move to another EU country so although in theory Spain and the UK are both EU countries, in practice airlines still request passports.

    You can fly on domestic UK flights with acceptable photo ID like a driving license but flying to Europe, especially in the current climate is a different story.

    Is it just a theoretical question to settle a personal debate or are you actually going to Spain..? :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To travel between EU countries you need to be able to prove your right to do that without a visa, ie. that you're a citizen of an EU country. For Brits, the only acceptable form of ID for proving nationality is a passport. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes, I am going to Spain, and we're arranging for my sister and Dad to travel out there. I have a valid passport but Dad doesn't. I would also have thought with the current climate that they would obviously be strict as, but just double checking- will need "proof" haha.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep- he's going to have to shell out for one! I'd tell him to get it done sooner rather than later as in the run up to summer I imagine they will get more requests. I had trouble getting mine renewed last time as they said my head was too small in the picture! lol- it was just too far away from the camera so I had to take another one and send it all back which took a bit of time.

    Have a lovely holiday!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They're having the holiday, i'm going to study... but it'll be like an extended language learning holiday lol. Ta! yep i'll call my little brother up now n get him to sort it hehe.
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    When coming to the UK from Greece, all I ever needed was an official (i.e. issued by the government) form of identification that had my information written in latin letters. Not necessarily a passport, although passports of course fit that description.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As a British citizen you need a passport.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You need a passport because the UK is not signed up the treaties creating open borders. Whilst all EU citizens can enter the UK, or leave it, they have to show a passport.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You dont' need to show a passport to go between countries which have signed the Shengan treaty - so france to spain - spain to portugal etc - you just drive right over. However AFAIK - if you have an official ID card then you can use it to travel anywhere in Europe even countries which have not signed the Shengan treaty - but this is the Crunch the UK doesn't have offical ID cards - hence the current great debate about them - so in the mean time you need a passport. But i've seen lots of other european nationalities travelling on just their ID within Europe.

    I hope that kind of answers your question - so if you were spanish and wanted to come to the Uk you could just travel on your spanish ID but if you were British and wanted to go to Spain you would need a passport.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my boyfriend travels betwen england and france with just a french national ID card, but I dont know what the requirement is for English nationals.
    I just use my passport!!

    You could always phone up ryanair to check?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As an english national the only choice you have for international travel is your passport. Your driving licence doesn't count as an ID card. For nations that have ID cards then they will do the trick.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No visa.

    But you do need a passport.

    If you're flying within this country a driving licence will suffice but not if you're going abroad.
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