Can you travel to eu with just your photo driving license?

[martin thomas]

Have a friend without a passport at the moment and wondered if he could travel to spa with just his photo drivers license?

Martin

[fatwomble]

As far as I am aware - No

[siscar]

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

[bull996]

No, but I dont know why. You dont have to show it when you go from France to Germany eyc?

[TheEnd]

bull996 said:

No, but I dont know why. You dont have to show it when you go from France to Germany eyc?

I think that's due to the shengen agreement, which allows people to travel freely between most mainland EU countries, but the UK isn't part of this.

I suppose the agreement if anything is the EU holding their hands up and saying it'd be a real PITA to have checkpoints everywhere, so just let people do what they want.

[JCW]

In theory, no. In practice, yes. I wouldn't rely on it, but on a couple of occasions I've got to the Eurotunnel having forgotten my passport and the Gendarmes have let me through whilst on the way back I had to complete some questions/paperwork for immigration although if you look dodgy I'm not sure if it would be so easy.

[sneijder]

The bottom line is the fact it's a proof of ID, not nationality.

[Planet Claire]

JCW said:

In theory, no. In practice, yes. I wouldn't rely on it, but on a couple of occasions I've got to the Eurotunnel having forgotten my passport and the Gendarmes have let me through whilst on the way back I had to complete some questions/paperwork for immigration although if you look dodgy I'm not sure if it would be so easy.

I went to France, via the Eurotunnel, one weekend a couple of years back. For some reason I too thought that you could travel on the photo ID drivers licence, so that's all I took with me. Getting out of the country was a doddle, but it wasn't the same getting back into Blighty. I didn't have any paperwork to complete, just answer a few questions like 'why don't you have your passport?'. I think they only let me through without too much hassle because the guy at the checkpoint got a phone call asking what was causing the tailback at his station.

[Puggit]

siscar said:

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

Errr - sure about that?

[deckster]

Puggit said:

siscar said:

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

Errr - sure about that?

Yes, completely sure. Do you think differently?

[anonymous-user]

I'd have thought the answer to the question as written is yes, you can travel "TO" Europe, there is no passport check leaving the UK, and in Europe you just need ID, problem is you 'CANNOT' travel back to the UK, as UK has not signed upmthe Shengen you need the passport to enter.

[Puggit]

deckster said:

Puggit said:

siscar said:

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

Errr - sure about that?

Yes, completely sure. Do you think differently?

I've seen passport control at Dublin when arriving for the last couple of years, and the airline staff check passports on boarding both ways. I know there isn't supposed to be border control, but there is!

[Paul Dishman]

Puggit said:

deckster said:

Puggit said:

siscar said:

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

Errr - sure about that?

Yes, completely sure. Do you think differently?

I've seen passport control at Dublin when arriving for the last couple of years, and the airline staff check passports on boarding both ways. I know there isn't supposed to be border control, but there is!

I've got relatives who live near the border. You can cross back and forth between the Republic and the North and there aren't any border controls at all.

[Puggit]

Paul Dishman said:

Puggit said:

deckster said:

Puggit said:

siscar said:

No, he could go to Eire or the Channel Islands but not to mainland Europe

Errr - sure about that?

Yes, completely sure. Do you think differently?

I've seen passport control at Dublin when arriving for the last couple of years, and the airline staff check passports on boarding both ways. I know there isn't supposed to be border control, but there is!

I've got relatives who live near the border. You can cross back and forth between the Republic and the North and there aren't any border controls at all.

Different to flying to the UK mainland...