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Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:34 am
by mikerob
Just to add that for the US, you need to have an approved ESTA application before travelling.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

This costs $14 and lasts for 2 years.

The ESTA is specific to a passport so it needs to be registered to the passport you will be using for travelling.

If you turn up at the airport for a flight to the US without an approved ESTA then they aren't meant to let you on board...

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:40 am
by Gary
This all reminds me of a work visit to China some years ago. Flying back from Beijing, one girl from our crew handed her UK passport to the guy at the desk and turned to continue a conversation with me. The problem was that she was from a rather multi-national background and so a slightly puzzled passport official suddenly barked out the question, "Where you visa?" She casually turned back to him and, reaching into her bag pulled out a selection of other passports - Irish, Kenyan and Ecuadorean. She looked at each in turn before handing over the Irish one, apologetically explaining that she forgot which one she had used for the visa. Naturally, at this point I backed away a bit getting ready to deny that I'd ever seen her before. However, the official, who, being Chinese and thus totally inscrutable, just stamped the passport and wished her a good flight. She explained to me that she was always getting these things mixed up.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:01 am
by Rooster
Gary wrote:This all reminds me of a work visit to China some years ago. Flying back from Beijing, one girl from our crew handed her UK passport to the guy at the desk and turned to continue a conversation with me. The problem was that she was from a rather multi-national background and so a slightly puzzled passport official suddenly barked out the question, "Where you visa?" She casually turned back to him and, reaching into her bag pulled out a selection of other passports - Irish, Kenyan and Ecuadorean. She looked at each in turn before handing over the Irish one, apologetically explaining that she forgot which one she had used for the visa. Naturally, at this point I backed away a bit getting ready to deny that I'd ever seen her before. However, the official, who, being Chinese and thus totally inscrutable, just stamped the passport and wished her a good flight. She explained to me that she was always getting these things mixed up.
Reasonable thing to happen back a few years Gary, before direct flights to China from UK you went through Hong Kong but if you went from Hong Kong for a visit to Singapore or Malaysia you then had to return to Hong Kong and stay for 5 days before you could get back to UK.
The way round it was to show your passport with the visa going out of HK then get on the flight to Singapore using another passport when you landed in Singapore then you could fly on home whichever way you wanted as long as it was not via China or HK because as far as they were concerned you were already back in the UK.
It got complex for business travellers as you needed to have it well planned out in advance or you could find yourself barred from entering a country next time you went on tour if you did a trip in the wrong direction of which country you visited first.
Thankfully that all got a lot easier when China opened it borders slightly more than it used to be in the days you had to apply 6 months in advance for a visa and possibly had to visit the Chinese Embassy in London to get one then when you got to Bejing you had an assigned batch of minders who followed you everywhere, wouldn't be surprised if they had your hotel room bugged either at that time and that was only back in early 90's, changed times now.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 12:29 pm
by rumncoke
Is it possible to visit without a visa ?

Not to sure what the position will be but before the referendum you could visit over 50
Countries with a British passport which was more than any other passport .




Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 4:03 pm
by Russ
rumncoke wrote:Is it possible to visit without a visa ?

Not to sure what the position will be but before the referendum you could visit over 50
Countries with a British passport which was more than any other passport .




Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
Wrong

Germany
175
Switzerland
174
UK and 3 others
173

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:04 pm
by Cap'n Grumpy
Russ wrote:
rumncoke wrote:Is it possible to visit without a visa ?

Not to sure what the position will be but before the referendum you could visit over 50
Countries with a British passport which was more than any other passport .




Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
Wrong

Germany
175
Switzerland
174
UK and 3 others
173
I think you'll find that Germany and UK were level on 175 each ....... but Germany won on penalties.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:12 pm
by Shan
We are way too kind to ye.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:20 pm
by Dublin4
It's reported today that the Passport Office in Dublin has taken on 233 temporary civil servants to cope with the demand...
It's an ill wind.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 8:16 pm
by Russ
Dublin4 wrote:It's reported today that the Passport Office in Dublin has taken on 233 temporary civil servants to cope with the demand...
It's an ill wind.
They need to process 300, 000 to break even on that

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:04 pm
by Snipe Watson
Interesting
Image

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:17 pm
by big mervyn
Snipe Watson wrote:Interesting
Image
That is interesting.

Derry and Belfast are surprisingly red. Some other anomalies albeit on a smaller scale - Rathlin/Ballycastle for one.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:29 pm
by Cap'n Grumpy
Snipe Watson wrote:Interesting
Image
Prapper source, Snipe, or did you just get new felt-tips fer Fathers day? :D

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:35 pm
by Snipe Watson
big mervyn wrote:
Snipe Watson wrote:Interesting
Image
That is interesting.

Derry and Belfast are surprisingly red. Some other anomalies albeit on a smaller scale - Rathlin/Ballycastle for one.
I thought the Copeland Islands were a rather strange.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:38 pm
by Snipe Watson
Cap'n Grumpy wrote:
Snipe Watson wrote:Interesting
Image
Prapper source, Snipe, or did you just get new felt-tips fer Fathers day? :D
2011 census.

Re: Irish Passport.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:47 pm
by big mervyn
Snipe Watson wrote: 2011 census.
Was there a question on the census about passports? I don't remember answering that one :scratch: