Immigratio Bill - Dublin Loophole

Hi everyone, I have just become aware of the 'Dublin Loophole' and wonder if the immigration bill has now been passed to close this loophole.

Many thanks, Maria

Are you refering to the fact that a person will not get a entry stamp upon entering the UK if you've traveled through Ireland first?  I am not aware that any immigration bill was supposed to fix this, but as of today, that "loophole" still remains.

The Immigration Simplification Bill is what the OP is referring to. As far as I know this is still hung up in Parliament and not sure what it's status is at this time. This is what I could find regarding it: http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2009/11/draft-immigration-bill-published/ .

Hi, thanks very much for feeback.

Do you know of anywhere there is more information on this.  Not that I doubt it, but just can't belive it exists and people have done this.

Any help would be great

My daughter is coming from US tomorrow via Dublin and then Gatwick.  She has plans to further travel from here to Spain and Ukraine after which she will return here before traveling home.  She has a return ticket to home.  Will there be any problem for her on her return here if she doesn't get stamped into the UK after landing in Dublin?  She thinks that since she will never leave the airport and will only change flights to London, that she will get stamped on her arrival there.

Last summer, I came through Dublin to London as a tourist. I went through immigration in Dublin and told the guy I was actually just passing through to London when he asked how long I was going to stay in Ireland. He stamped me in but wrote "in transit" on the visa which I assume would have prevented me from actually leaving the airport. I begged and searched and really HONESTLY tried to get stamped into the UK in London, but no one would do it! I figured if I had trouble, I'd use that "in transit" stamp to just show that I had passed through Dublin first.

We went to Spain about a month after that and I hadn't even thought about it until we came back to London. The IO had several questions for me (especially when she found out I was visiting a bf!) I didn't have any of the documentation I'd brought initially, because I just didn't even think about it!! Luckily, she stamped me in officially at that point without too much hassle. I think she wanted to see my return ticket to the US (which I did have)? You might want your daughter to take some documentation with her to the effect of ties to the US and final return ticket. How old is she, though?

the way i understand with regards to the bill, any bill that was introduced by the previous govt and was not passed before parliament was dissolved ceased to exist on the day parliament was dissolved. 

below is the link to the bills currently going throuugh parliament

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/

As far as I know this legislation is still in the system but no progress as of yet.

UKBA hates the CTA & the issues it causes and the abuses that arise from it.


The potential is that by travelling through Dublin it can be seen by UKBA as a specific attempt to avoid UK Immigration control. Granted that most people use it as a cheaper way to get to where they want to go, but it is the minority that use it for illegal entry to the UK that is causing the problem in the first place.


IMO - avoid travel through Dublin thereby avoiding the potential problems that it could cause in the future. Especially if there is an intention to settle or live/work in the UK down the line as it could be seen as an intentional evasion of UK immigration control.

By asking & using the term that the OP did it makes me very suspicious of the nature of their intentions and I would advise that if they, or the person that they are trying to 'help', have any intention of using this route to enter the UK where they have either been refused entry/visa or would not qualify for entry to the UK, to stop.


For background discussion on this issue can be found here: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=58317.0

the way i understand with regards to the bill, any bill that was introduced by the previous govt and was not passed before parliament was dissolved ceased to exist on the day parliament was dissolved.  

below is the link to the bills currently going throuugh parliament

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/

Granted that may be true however, this is an issue that has long been a problem and was attempted to resolve with the BCI Bill last summer but was removed then readdressed with this most recent bill, so expect it to be addressed again in future legislation.

the lack of immigration control between UK and Ireland does seem to create problems for the UKBA and foreigners (non Irish or UK nationals) who later on want to establish that they were in UK at a certain time in history for say settlement or naturalisation application.  For nationals of the 2 countries however it is another issue altogether they would like to travel between the 2 places unhindered and trying to establish border controls between the 2 is a bit of a touchy issue especially between Ireland and northern Ireland.  I think even in the Citizenship that was passed in parliament last year the Govt did try to introduce but had to withdraw the clauses during the committee stages having faced some resistence.  I think they will keep trying (not sure what the Tories position is on it) but i suspect it maybe a while before things change.

IMO they need to have some form 'Schengen visa system' for the CTA, it might not solve the whole problem but it may mean people banned in the UK can stop abusing the 'loophole' by coming through Dublin and vice versa

at one point the UKBA did consider introducing controls between NI and Ireland, when the the Republic of Ireland considered joining the Shengen zone, which would have benefited Ireland but would leave a soft underbelly for illegal immigration into the UK, fortunately for Ireland they decided it would more beneficial to remain in the Common Travel area.