Dublin airport passport inspection

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:Entry into ireland: Several EU lines which are only for EU (though I suspect also for Residence Card holders). One for all passports. And a few for non-EU passports.

Directive i am not sure Resident card( Under 2004/38EC) holders are allowed to use those EU queue. They are reserved for EU nationals only.

The EU national can choose to use the non-EU queue but not the other way round.

Then again things might have changed. I shall inform the forum when i return from my holiday in 5 weeks whether much has changed.

Remember schengen does things differently from these two partial members.

At least the Irish are better. In the UK the EU citizens go to the all others queue whiles the mighty Brits have their special section.

Obie wrote: i am not sure Resident card( Under 2004/38EC) holders are allowed to use those EU queue. They are reserved for EU nationals only.

The Schengen Acquis (ok..ok I know its not applicable to Ireland !)
but it uses a bit of common sense and says

Introducing and applying the Schengen arrangements
in airports and aerodromes (secondary airports)
:
One solution would be to provide checkpoints specifically for persons
covered by Community law, so that these travellers, who are
generally subject only to minimal checks, are not delayed on account
of having to go to the same counter as third-country nationals who
must undergo thorough and lengthy checks.

As EU4FAM holders are beneficiaries of Community law, and must
not have their passports stamped, logic would say they should
use EU line. At least entering Schengen countries.
But its Ireland we are talking about here, don't expect logic.

acme4242 wrote:

Obie wrote: i am not sure Resident card( Under 2004/38EC) holders are allowed to use those EU queue. They are reserved for EU nationals only.

The Schengen Acquis (ok..ok I know its not applicable to Ireland !)
but it uses a bit of common sense and says

Introducing and applying the Schengen arrangements
in airports and aerodromes (secondary airports)
:
One solution would be to provide checkpoints specifically for persons
covered by Community law, so that these travellers, who are
generally subject only to minimal checks, are not delayed on account
of having to go to the same counter as third-country nationals who
must undergo thorough and lengthy checks.

As EU4FAM holders are beneficiaries of Community law, and must
not have their passports stamped, logic would say they should
use EU line. At least entering Schengen countries.
But its Ireland we are talking about here, don't expect logic.

Try explaining that to the Authorities in the UK and Ireland.

I am sure they will find you some sugar coated clause in the law, that permits them to do so.

When i read their definition of a Resident card, i was perfectly confident they were right in demanding EEA family permit, and all other nations permitting visa free travel were wrong.

In the Eyes of the Brits, all other EU nationals are the same as third country nationals . The only difference is they will not be asked how long they will be staying in the UK , have their passport stamped, and asked how they obtain their ILR in the UK, on arrival.

The special treatment for Irish applies only when they are traveling within the CTA. Apart from that they have to go to the all others queue, I'm afraid.

Obie wrote:In the UK the EU citizens go to the all others queue whiles the mighty Brits have their special section.

There is a queue for European passports (including UK). I have never seen a separate queue in any UK airport for British passport holders only.

I am not sure where Residence Card holders go, though I think they can use the European queue.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:

Obie wrote:In the UK the EU citizens go to the all others queue whiles the mighty Brits have their special section.

There is a queue for European passports (including UK). I have never seen a separate queue in any UK airport for British passport holders.

I am not sure where Residence Card holders go, though I think they can use the European queue.

Which airport are you referring to.

Five years ago when i was traveling with my Auntie who lives in France through Gatwick South Terminal, from a trip overseas, we saw two sections, one says British Nationals, the other says all others.

The British Citizens Just flash their passport and go through, while the EU and non-EU uses the all others queue.

She wasn't asked a single question, when we came to the queue, the officer just asked me how i obtained my stay and my relationship with the my auntie as i was under age.

It will be nice if things have changed since then

Obie wrote:Five years ago when i was traveling with my Auntie who lives in France through Gatwick South Terminal, from a trip overseas, we saw two sections, one says British Nationals, the other says all others.

The British Citizens Just flash their passport and go through, while the EU and non-EU uses the all others queue.

I have never seen such a thing at Gatwick, though I have regularly flown though only the north terminal. I have also never seen a British only queue in Heathrow, Stanstead, Luton, London City, Preswick, or Glasgow airport. Sadly I have never tried any other airports.

The signs (never so good in the UK) may well have said "British and EU passports" and maybe you misread this to be British only?

benifa wrote:I asked this question to the European Commission on 04/06/09 and am awaiting a reply.

Reply received, see this post.

benifa wrote:

Obie wrote:My sister (EU National) was asked what she is doing in Ireland. Even though she is an EU national and not allowed to be asked that kind of question.

Incorrect. An EU national's right to reside in accordance with the Directive is, beyond the first three months, conditional on his/her exercising a Treaty Right. It is reasonable, therefore, that an EU national is asked "what she is doing in Ireland".

I was always under the impression that

Article 5
Right of entry
1. Without prejudice to the provisions on travel documents
applicable to national border controls, Member States shall
grant Union citizens leave to enter their territory with a valid
identity card or passport and shall grant family members who
are not nationals of a Member State leave to enter their terri-
tory with a valid passport.
No entry visa or equivalent formality may be imposed on
Union citizens.

stipulates that the exclusive and only requirement for EU-nationals is to carry an ID.

Furthermore, the commission is describing the rights for family-members of EU-citizens >>here<<.

Immigration officers at the border may not:

• affix an entry stamp in your passport on arrival when you present the residence card;
• ask you to produce any documents other than a valid passport with a visa, where applicable, and documents attesting to your family link with a Union citizen, such as to furnish proof of means to support yourself, travel tickets, employment certificate, pay slips, bank statements, proof of accommodation, means of subsistence, medical certificate …
• ask you how much money you have to spend;
• ask you questions regarding the purpose and duration of your trip.

If they´re not allowed to ask family-members about the purpose of the stay, surely EU-citizens may not be questioned either?

(After all the Union is supposed to give you a "home" feeling, which in the unwelcoming states of Ireland and their friends from the UK is clearly not the case)

However, they were probably asking all those questions due to the fact that EU national was travelling with a non-EU dependant/relative. And all those questions were more relative to the non-EU national. I guess if EU national travelled alone, no such questions would be asked. Or if EU national travelled with a non-EU spouse where relationship is easier to determine (marriage cert), it would be easier to pass the immigration. But i guess when it's other family members, like brothers and sisters, aunts, etc, the relationship wouldn't be clear from the first glance and more questions would be neccessary to make sure that the relationship exists, especially if a non-EU national is arriving without any visa and only accompanied by the EU-national.

agniukas wrote:However, they were probably asking all those questions due to the fact that EU national was travelling with a non-EU dependant/relative. And all those questions were more relative to the non-EU national. I guess if EU national travelled alone, no such questions would be asked. Or if EU national travelled with a non-EU spouse where relationship is easier to determine (marriage cert), it would be easier to pass the immigration. But i guess when it's other family members, like brothers and sisters, aunts, etc, the relationship wouldn't be clear from the first glance and more questions would be neccessary to make sure that the relationship exists, especially if a non-EU national is arriving without any visa and only accompanied by the EU-national.

I don't think this is an isolated case at all/ or my presence resulted in her been treated like an undocumented alien or intruder. She was harrassed on a subsequent occasion when she travelled with her 3 months old infant with her driver's licences, due to the fact that the department of Justice held her passport to assess our application. She showed the officer every evidence to confirm that she is British and hence allowed to do so, she even showed her son's British Passport. They kept her in detention for nearly 3 hours before she was let out. She even ran out of food for the infant, and the officer didn't even budged that the infant was starving.

She was told she is only been let in on humanitarian reasons, and if she was to attempt travelling without her passport in future she will be properly dealt with.

A complaint has been lodged to the Ombudsman and the EU commissioner about her treatment and it is been assessed. We also reported to the department of justice, but yet to get any reply from them.

His line of questioning, his racially motivated overtone, his question about how she obtained her British Passport, left no doubt whatsoever in my mind as to what that individual was thinking.

He saw her work transfer, our birth certificate, bank statement showing allowance that i get from my Sister, my father's death certificate, evidence that i live in the same household as her (Voter register), University Tution fees payment, We verbally explained all this to the officer aswell, albeit i couldn't do it in Irish accent but Southern England, he give us no indication that he was having difficulty understanding what we were saying.

There was no need for her to be asked again" what are you coming to do here".

His intentions were to harrass and intimidate us, and harrassing and intimidating us was exactly what he did.

The thought of our treatment from those people makes me cringe and feel Nauseated.