Hi All,

Just had a quick question. Can a UK citizen travel to the EU without a passport? I know that this was possible when the UK had ID cards but those have since been abolished. Is there any other travel document which allows for this privilege or is a passport the only valid document?

Thanks!

Don't think the UK ever had ID cards, I think it was just the idea that was abolished (at least, I never got one!). So you're right, you need your passport to cross EU borders.

The UK has definitely had ID cards. The carrying of which was compulsory between 1939 and 1952.

http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org...n/page.php?218

To answer the OP's question:

Travel between the UK and Eire, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (the last two aren't even in the EU) only requires minimal ID, such as a driving licence or bus pass.

I believe that for all other EU travel, a valid passport is required. An ID card would have sufficed if the UK had had one.

In fact, Gibraltar issues ID cards, and British Citizens with a connection to Gibraltar may travel to the EU using their Gibraltar ID card.

Hope this helps

And by the way, they are thinking of issuing UK ID cards to foreigners. If they lower to the price to a manageable amount (They are talking of £60 at the mo) I would gladly get one. I am fed up with people telling me that my Italian ID card is a piece of paper, although it really is a nasty piece of paper.

The UK is in the EU. But as FlyingDutchman6666 says, any travel outside the Common Travel Area (UK, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Ireland) requires a valid international travel document. For British citizens without a connection to Gibraltar, this means a passport.

More recently, the UK issued national identity cards between 2009 and 2010. Not very many people had one, though.

Link? You may be thinking of the biometric residence permits issued to non-EEA/Swiss citizens, although before the Identity Cards Act 2006 was repealed, there were plans to issue identity cards to resident EEA/Swiss citizens too. Neither would be usable as travel documents.

Heh. Well, you have the option of using an Italian passport. Or a driving licence photocard if you mean in UK pubs and so on.

The most recent attempt at geting UK citizens to carry iD cards ran into so much political difficulties, and lots of outcries from such people as Civil Liberty organisations that it was abandoned, I would have been perfectly happy to carry one, but the rguments against were about the fact that the authorities would be able to link the ID to other databases. The only people who should have been worried were people acting illegally, and legal citizens should really have been in favour as it would be a quick way of checking that the person wasn't an illegal immigrant. It would have allowed the UK to join the Schengen agreement and would have eased travel to and from other EU countries.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...itain-id-cards

It's what UK residents in Spain have to do, it's not a card now but you still have to have a piece of paper to show you have registered as a resident, so why not people coming to live in the UK. I have already said I would be happy to carry an ID card here in the UK, even though I'm a British Citizen.

I totally agree with you. As a foreigner, used to carrying ID cards, I never understood the hostility to IDs in the UK. Citizens should be able to request one voluntarily.

The only problem I have with this proposal is the cost should be around £60 (in Italy for example it is €5) and you'd have to reissue a new one every time you change your address, while in Italy for example you don't have to until expires (currently 10 years).

KATH & I both got one about three years ago! Only about 15,000 Brits managed it before the incoming Tory government scrapped it for Brits but kept the infrastructure and requirement for all immigrants from outside the EU!
PS cost £75 each and includes biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scan.

and the same Civil Liberty people will queue for hours to get a passport, rush off to get a photo driving licence and queue again to get a photo bus pass.

had an ID for years in the forces, did me no harm. Put me down for a basic ID card any time.

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Only people who have never been abroad are afraid of ID cards. They don't mind giving all their personal data to their bank, credit card provider, internet provider, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Ebay and all other legitimate spyware.