Europeans need passport to enter UK from today

[scutty brown]

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ID cards are from today no longer valid for entry to the UK
I think this may significantly reduce the numbers of EE girls on Vivatreet over the next few weeks. Shouldn't affect AW as they already required passports as ID

[mrwhite]

I doubt it would have any affect at all as they may have had a passport anyway for travelling outside the EU.

[scutty brown]

I doubt it would have any affect at all as they may have had a passport anyway for travelling outside the EU.

The reason VS is so popular with EE girls is because many don't have EU passports. Romania hands out ID cards to almost anyone from the EE, but not passports. Bulgaria is similar. So you get a lot of Albanians, Serbs, Macedonians and other Yugoslavs, Ukrainians, Moldovans and others who would otherwise be excluded from the EU, getting in using Romanian ID  as a back door.
Its why AW stopped accepting ID cards as verification around three years ago, forcing the girls to switch to VS
Of course a lot of legit girls just travelled on ID cards as well - passports are just another expense for them

[Global_Punter]

The reason VS is so popular with EE girls is because many don't have EU passports. Romania hands out ID cards to almost anyone from the EE, but not passports. Bulgaria is similar. So you get a lot of Albanians, Serbs, Macedonians and other Yugoslavs, Ukrainians, Moldovans and others who would otherwise be excluded from the EU, getting in using Romanian ID  as a back door.
Its why AW stopped accepting ID cards as verification around three years ago, forcing the girls to switch to VS
Of course a lot of legit girls just travelled on ID cards as well - passports are just another expense for them

Very correct years ago I used to work as a Premier Relationship Manager for a retail Bank, Romanian ID's was an issue and they wouldn't give you their Passports.

The ID's is easy to get & fake while it's difficult with Passports. Also Italians have paper ID's, I'm not sure if its still being used.

[Gordon Bennett]

Well given I can't enter the UK, my place of birth and continuous residence, without a passport I don't see why ANY foreign national should be allowed to come here without a passport. We need to rescind the right for EU citizens with longstanding rights to just wave a poxy ID card to get in too.

[fisherofsouls]

Well given I can't enter the UK, my place of birth and continuous residence, without a passport I don't see why ANY foreign national should be allowed to come here without a passport. We need to rescind the right for EU citizens with longstanding rights to just wave a poxy ID card to get in too.

Strictly speaking, if you are a British citizen, you have an absolute right of entry to the UK without any sort of documentation, but:

1. Good luck being allowed to board any train, plane or ferry which would bring you here, and
2. The "absolute right" does require that you are able to prove you are who you say you are, which if you turn up empty-handed will no doubt be difficult, time-consuming and expensive!!

[mrwhite]

Well given I can't enter the UK, my place of birth and continuous residence, without a passport I don't see why ANY foreign national should be allowed to come here without a passport. We need to rescind the right for EU citizens with longstanding rights to just wave a poxy ID card to get in too.

I've been a very frequent international traveller for work, and couldn't count how many times I have entered the UK without my passport being checked (though the last 18 months seem to have got more strict)

[Global_Punter]

I've been a very frequent international traveller for work, and couldn't count how many times I have entered the UK without my passport being checked (though the last 18 months seem to have got more strict)

Exactly the advantages of being British means you can do express boarding and make use of the self service gates - in all you still require ID.

[anotherwoody69]

Well given I can't enter the UK, my place of birth and continuous residence, without a passport I don't see why ANY foreign national should be allowed to come here without a passport. We need to rescind the right for EU citizens with longstanding rights to just wave a poxy ID card to get in too.

Most countries, certainly in the EU, issue citizens with national ID cards. If the UK issued ID cards, you could use that and not your passport.
Do you want a UK national ID card?
Last time this question was raised overwhelmingly the voice was no.