Travel documents when crossing the NI border

CiniO

What travel documents are needed when I travel up north?
Planning small holidays with my family.
Me, wife (Polish citizens resident in Ireland), kids (Irish citizens resident in Ireland), and my parents (Polish citizens resident in Poland).

If we drive from the Republic to the North - do we have to carry Passports/National ID with us?
Do I have to carry car's Reg cert or insurance cert with me?

Seth Brundle

Maybe drivers licence. Nothing else.
I'm frequently up there (other half is from Belfast) and never any issues

savagethegoat

It's a good idea to have id with you, but it's very, very unlikely you will be asked anywhere for your documents, only if there is an incident.

Marcusm

CiniO wrote: »

What travel documents are needed when I travel up north?
Planning small holidays with my family.
Me, wife (Polish citizens resident in Ireland), kids (Irish citizens resident in Ireland), and my parents (Polish citizens resident in Poland).

If we drive from the Republic to the North - do we have to carry Passports/National ID with us?
Do I have to carry car's Reg cert or insurance cert with me?

Non Irish, non UK, non IOM/CI citizens technically need to carry passports or national ID card. A driving licence is not a national ID card. That being said there's only a 1 in a million chance of anyone asking for it. Perversely, the kids are not requied to carry anything! THe reg cert and original insurance cert are mandatory but again unlikely to be checked. In reality, given reported propensity of PSNI officers to detain rather than bail non residents, I would carry them.

CiniO

Marcusm wrote: »

Non Irish, non UK, non IOM/CI citizens technically need to carry passports or national ID card. A driving licence is not a national ID card. That being said there's only a 1 in a million chance of anyone asking for it. Perversely, the kids are not requied to carry anything! THe reg cert and original insurance cert are mandatory but again unlikely to be checked. In reality, given reported propensity of PSNI officers to detain rather than bail non residents, I would carry them.

Thanks Marcusm.

I've found this on wikipedia as well

Other European Economic Area nationals[edit]
Nationals of member states of the European Economic Area other than British and Irish nationals have the right to freely enter and reside in the UK and Ireland under European Union law. They are required to carry a valid travel document, a passport or a national identity card, for entering the CTA and for travelling between Ireland and the UK.[56]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area


So it looks like me, wife, and my parents need to carry national ID's or passports.
Kids technically don't as they are Irish citizens, but how can we can't prove that without them having a passport.... So we're better off also taking their ID's or passports.

And reg cert and insurance cert obligatory by law, but usually not checked, but probably better to have it in case of accident/roadside check.

Nekarsulm

Bring driving licence and insurance cert. The disc on the windscreen is not sufficient proof.