Being a fellow pro-Schengen traveller with Feargal I would like to clarify the issue of 'being able to travel to the Russian border without a passport ' ....I am afraid this will NEVER happen as one always has to have 'legal' *** identity on one to travel anywhere even in Schengen. All our fellow Europeans and the 'Schengenites" must have their state identity document or a passport on them in case of an identity check (NOT a cross border seek-permisssion-to-enter/leave as we have to suffer on entering/exit Schengen).
The major difference is that no citizen of an E.U. member state can be forced to have this document in date, in other words valid. If we were in Schengen we would not have to constantly check the validity of our passports before popping over to a Schengen country as we do today.
Since Schengen tightened up many Irish people have been expelled from Schengen for the 'crime' of an out of date passport as has Dublin expelled Schengenites after sometimes a night in Mountjoy... *** no country tolerates the crazy i.d document system we have in Ireland.
Also it should be clearly understand that the presentation of a passport to anybody but an immigration official (A GARDA AT / ON THE BORDER) is illegal as is a driving license to ANYBODY but a Garda while presenter is in charge of a motor vehicle on the public road.
Noel O Ca
Posted on 3 Jan 2012 8:03 pm
Being a fellow pro-Schengen traveller with Feargal I would like to clarify the issue of 'being able to travel to the Russian border without a passport ' ....I am afraid this will NEVER happen as one always has to have 'legal' *** identity on one to travel anywhere even in Schengen. All our fellow Europeans and the 'Schengenites" must have their state identity document or a passport on them in case of an identity check (NOT a cross border seek-permisssion-to-enter/leave as we have to suffer on entering/exit Schengen).
The major difference is that no citizen of an E.U. member state can be forced to have this document in date, in other words valid. If we were in Schengen we would not have to constantly check the validity of our passports before popping over to a Schengen country as we do today.
Since Schengen tightened up many Irish people have been expelled from Schengen for the 'crime' of an out of date passport as has Dublin expelled Schengenites after sometimes a night in Mountjoy... *** no country tolerates the crazy i.d document system we have in Ireland.
Also it should be clearly understand that the presentation of a passport to anybody but an immigration official (A GARDA AT / ON THE BORDER) is illegal as is a driving license to ANYBODY but a Garda while presenter is in charge of a motor vehicle on the public road.